Edward Burtynsky photographs the landscape of oil

Translator: Aija Dimanta Reviewer: Kristaps Kadiķis

I started my journey 30 years ago.

Savu ceļojumu es uzsāku pirms 30 gadiem.

And I worked in mines. And I realized that

Es strādāju raktuvēs un aptvēru, ka citiem tā ir nezināma pasaule.

this was a world unseen.

And I wanted, through color and large format cameras

Es vēlējos ar krāsām, platleņķa fotoaparātiem,

and very large prints,

un lielformāta fotogrāfijām radīt darbus,

to make a body of work that somehow

became symbols of our

kas kaut kādā veidā kļūtu par ainavu izmantošanas simboliem,

use of the landscape,

how we use the land.

simboliem tam, kā izmantojam zemi.

And to me this was

Man tas bija ārkārtīgi būtiski –

a key component that somehow, through this medium of photography,

kaut kā caur fotogrāfiju ļaut apcerēt šīs ainavas;

which allows us to contemplate these landscapes,

that I thought photography was perfectly suited

manuprāt, fotogrāfija šāda veida uzdevumam ir ideāli piemērota.

to doing this type of work.

And after 17 years of photographing large industrial landscapes,

Pēc 17 gadiem lielu rūpniecisko ainavu fotografēšanas man ienāca prātā,

it occurred to me that

ka nafta ir mēroga un ātruma pamatā,

oil is underpinning the scale and speed.

Because that is what has changed,

jo tieši tas ir mainījies – ātrums, ar kādu izlietojam resursus.

is the speed at which we're taking all our resources.

And so then I went out to develop a whole series

Tā es sāku strādāt pie veselas sērijas, kas veltīta naftas ainavām.

on the landscape of oil.

And what I want to do is to kind of map an arc

Es vēlējos attēlot tādu kā loku,

that there is extraction, where we're taking it from the ground,

sākot no naftas ieguves, kur to iegūst no zemes un pārstrādā.

refinement. And that's one chapter.

Tā būtu viena nodaļa.

The other chapter that I wanted to look at was

Citā nodaļā es vēlējos apskatīt to, kā mēs naftu izmantojam –

how we use it -- our cities,

our cars, our motorcultures,

parādot mūsu pilsētas, automašīnas, motokultūru,

where people gather around the vehicle

kur cilvēki priecīgi pulcējas ap transportlīdzekli.

as a celebration.

And then the third one is this idea of the end of oil,

Trešajā nodaļā attēlota doma par naftas beigām, šo entropisku galu,

this entropic end,

where all of our parts of cars, our tires,

kur redzamas automašīnu daļas, riepas, eļļas filtri, helikopteri, lidmašīnas –

oil filters,

helicopters, planes --

where are the landscapes where all of that stuff ends up?

vietas, kur tas viss galu galā nonāk.

And to me, again, photography was

Kā jau teicu, fotogrāfija man bija veids, kā pētīt šo pasauli un atrast šīs vietas.

a way in which I could explore and research the world,

and find those places.

And another idea that I had as well,

Vēl viena doma, kas man bija prātā, uz kuru uzvedināja ekologs –

that was brought forward by an ecologist --

he basically did a calculation where

viņš būtībā veica aprēķinu, lai noskaidrotu,

cik daudz oglekļa un organiskā materiāla vajadzētu vienam benzīna litram.

he took one liter of gas and said,

well, how much carbon it would take, and how much organic material?

It was 23 metric tons for one liter.

Vienam litram degvielas vajadzētu 23 tonnas.

So whenever I fill up my gas,

Tādēļ vienmēr, kad uzpildu degvielu,

I think of that liter, and how much carbon.

domāju par šo litru un to, cik daudz oglekļa tam vajadzīgs.

And I know that oil comes from the ocean and phytoplankton,

Zinu, ka nafta nāk no okeāna un fitoplanktona.

but he did the calculations for our Earth

Tādēļ viņš veica arī aprēķinus,

cik ilgu laiku Zemei vajadzētu, lai radītu šādu enerģijas daudzumu.

and what it had to do to produce that amount of energy.

From the photosynthetic growth,

Izmantojot augu fotosintēzi, vajadzētu 500 gadus,

it would take 500 years of that growth

to produce what we use, the 30 billion barrels we use per year.

lai radītu to, ko mēs izmantojam – 30 miljardus barelu gadā.

And that also brought me to the fact that

Tas man arī lika saprast, ka tas ir milzīgs drauds mūsu sabiedrībai.

this poses such a risk to our society.

Looking at 30 billion per year,

30 miljardu patēriņš gadā, un divas lielākās naftas piegādātājas

we look at our two largest suppliers,

Saudi Arabia and now Canada, with its dirty oil.

ir Saūda Arābija un Kanāda ar tās netīro naftu.

And together they only form about 15 years of supply.

To kopējo resursu pietiks vien 15 piegādes gadiem.

The whole world, at 1.2 trillion estimated reserves,

Visas pasaules rezervju, tie ir aptuveni 1,2 triljoni,

only gives us about 45 years.

pietiks vien aptuveni 45 gadiem.

So, it's not a question of if, but a question of when

Tādēļ runa nav par „vai”, bet gan „kad” iestāsies naftas ieguves maksimums.

peak oil will come upon us.

So, to me, using photography --

Es izmantoju fotogrāfiju un uzskatu, ka mums visiem tagad jāsāk rīkoties,

and I feel that all of us need to now begin to really

take the task of using our talents,

jāizmanto savi talanti, domāšanas veids,

our ways of thinking,

lai sāktu risināt vienu no, manuprāt, vissarežģītākajām mūsdienu problēmām –

to begin to deal with what I think is probably

one of the most challenging issues of our time,

how to deal with our energy crisis.

enerģijas krīzes jautājumu.

And I would like to say that, on the other side of it,

No otras puses es vēlētos pēc trīsdesmit, četrdesmit gadiem

30, 40 years from now, the children that I have,

saviem bērniem skatīties acīs un teikt:

I can look at them and say, "We did everything

„Mēs darījām visu, kas cilvēku spēkos, lai mazinātu šo krīzi,

we possibly, humanly could do,

to begin to mitigate this,

what I feel is one of the most important and critical

kas, manuprāt, ir viens no būtiskākajiem un nozīmīgākajiem mūsu laika mirkļiem.”

moments in our time. Thank you.

Paldies.

(Applause)

(Aplausi)