Consider This: It's Time We Thought About What Kind of World We Are Leaving for Keith Richards
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2018
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Environmental Studies
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Abstract
Salisbury University is home to about 8,748 undergraduate students. This is a relatively small college population when compared with the likes of Pennsylvania State University whose undergraduate enrollment is about 41,359 or Ohio State University whose enrollment is about 45,831. However, a group of almost 9,000 people still have a significant impact on our environment. Sadly, few people are educated about, or even consider, how their daily actions impact their local ecosystems, let alone the greater planet. Specifically speaking, the student population of Salisbury University does not seem to be aware of their impact on the largest estuary in the United States, the Chesapeake Bay Watershed. This ignorance is paired with outward claims of loving the beach and our school's location, but habits like excessive burning of fossil fuels, waste production and overconsumption of goods contradicts these claims of love. Our actions do not reflect our words. There are many issues in our global environmental crisis, but for my project I have chosen to focus on issues relating to student behavior. Specifically, regarding over consumption and pollutions. These issues can be further defined as generally relating to waste production, carbon emissions, food waste, electricity usage and product consumption. Sources explaining environmental threats to marine environments have been combined with examples of effective uses of art and advertisements in environmental campaigns to create my own addition to environmentalist art. Artists like Ansel Adams and Mary Frank have paved the way for more contemporary organizations like the Ocean Preservation Society and Exposure Lab to utilize visual aids to educate and inform the public. My goal is to create a photography show aimed at educating the Salisbury University student body on their environmental impacts and provide an open dialogue where the viewers then had an opportunity to further their exploration and education or get directly involved in local sustainability efforts. This gallery exhibition is meant to visually spell out how the environmental impacts of our everyday behaviors translate to our immediate community and the to the coastal beaches of the Chesapeake Bay Watershed. My work is inspired by and uses a collaboration of tactics demonstrated by historical and contemporary artists. Fifteen images, accompanied by a small informational display, will have been exhibited in the Salisbury University owned Gallery 303.