Helping the environment, as a community

Mark Berberena

Me watering plants to survive autumn.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thousands of students skipped school September 20th to protest the government inaction on climate change.
A girl stands triumphantly as the Freedom Tower looms over, representing Greta Thunberg and her heroism.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A new hybrid city bus takes commuters home at night in Riverdale.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Not a day goes by that I don’t think about the environment, or something having to do with the environment. Whether I’m posting a photo of its havoc on different parts of the planet, or simply organizing what should or can be recycled, I live with a sort of fear in the back of my head that in a few decades, survival is going to be much harder. Climate change is a pressing issue that affects every living thing on Earth, and the destruction of many animal species and ecosystems is atrocious. I chose these images to represent my love for the planet and to show emphasis of the importance of climate change awareness. The environment was the root of my inspiration for every photo. They all share this common goal of stopping climate change by doing anything that can help. I decided on the environment as my theme because it’s important to me, and I have a lot to say about it. Three of these photos were taken in daytime around Lower Manhattan, while the fourth was taken at night in the Bronx. One of which featured me in it, watering a plant. The protest photo was taken in Foley Square, the photo with Diana was taken on the iSchool’s roof, the one of me was taken in Spring Street Park, and the one of the bus was taken in Riverdale. The first photo (in order of up to down, left to right) shows directly how the environment is important to me, the second photo exemplifies the climate hero, Greta Thunberg, the third photo shows the public getting together to do something about the climate, and the fourth photo shows how our world is slowly getting greener with hybrid buses. I expected my photos to look worse than what they came out as, since these are all iPhone photos being taken without staged lighting. However, they defied my expectations to be made into something that tells more than what’s in the photo itself–it tells a story. In these photos, I wanted to achieve a feeling of positivity that our world is getting greener, and I think I successfully did so. From the colors in each photo, to the lighting, one can tell that these photos exemplify a rapidly greener community in a slightly greener world. There was a lot of different inspiration for each of my photographs, but I went into planning these ones specifically with the environment in mind. Each of these photos represent different aspects of my theme, however. When viewers see my photos, I want them to think about how they can help the planet and spread awareness about climate change.