Pep Bonet, Iceland, August 2010
Last year our group project Consequences by NOOR - an eyewitness record of the effects of climate change around the globe - was launched during the UN climate summit in Copenhagen. As representatives and organizations from different countries are gathering again for this years summit in Cancun, we herewith proudly present our multi-year climate change group project: Solutions by NOOR. Produced this autumn with the participation of all ten NOOR photographers, we focused on human stories about alternative power sources, renewable energies and attempts to alleviate, adjust or cope with the rise of global temperatures. The biggest challenge our world has ever faced.
© Nina Berman, the Bronx, US, August / November 2010 - Greening the Ghetto - What was once America’s most famous slum is now at the forefront of a national movement tackling climate change with environmental justice, one street at a time. What’s good for the planet is also good for the ’hood.
© Francesco Zizola, Brazil, October 2010 - Brazil's Sweet Solution - What started as a way to reduce oil dependence in a decade threatened by the first oil crisis and its resulting oil shortages, has brought Brazil to the forefront of the battle against climate change.
© Kadir van Lohuizen, China, November 2010- Wind Energy in China - The Mongolian herdsmen have received compensation from the energy companies to allow them to build these high-tech wind parks on their land. Now the old and the new meet and mingle on the steppes.
© Pep Bonet, Iceland, August 2010 - Steamland: Geothermal Energy in Iceland - Nearly all homes in Iceland are heated by geothermal heat, one of Iceland's greatest natural resources. The geothermal water is also used in swimming pools and greenhouses and for soil warming, fish farming, animal husbandry, and many other ways.
© Yuri Kozyrev, Russia, November 2010 - Russia's Green Exodus - The back to the land movement is drawing thousands of professionals - weary of consumerism, state policy and corruption - to far corners of Siberia, the Altai Mountains and the Karelian woods in search of happier, alternative forms of living.
© Philip Blenkinsop, Dhaka, Bangladesh, October 2010 - Human-Powered Transport - Rickshaw cays, filtering swirling, carbon-monoxide-blues, invite glances from within, both furtive and not, and cageless, steel-pressed-boxless proximity ensures a constant theatre of exchanges, bells and laughter pealing and ringing in the islands' collective wakes.
© Jon Lowenstein, Cuba, October 2010 - The Cuban Solution - Globally there are more countries with few resources and people forced into environmentally conscious decisions by necessity than places with ‘whizz bang’ gadgets. Much can be learned from Cuba's initiatives and innovations.
© Alixandra Fazzina, DRC, November 2010 - Tupande Miti! Sustainable Forestry in Eastern Congo - Deforestation produces about one fifth of global greenhouse gas emissions. Protecting the world’s remaining tropical forests is a key part of the solution to tackling the climate crisis.
Coming Soon - Stanley Greene is still working in Kenya to document the different uses of solar energy throughout the country. Picture left: © Stanley Greene, Kenya, November 2010. Jan Grarup went to Samso, Denmark's green island: a 100% self-sufficient island powered by wind-generated electricity. Coming soon.
Solutions by NOOR is part of a multi-year group project. The Consequences by NOOR project comprised of thirteen projects covering a variety of climate change subjects. Each story is accompanied by a multimedia presentation.
During the past 12 months, the project has been on show as in- and outdoors exhibitions in Brazil, Denmark, France, Germany, the Netherlands, the Balearic Islands and Turkey. Yesterday a Consequences by NOOR street exhibition officially opened at the Circulo de Bellas Artes in Madrid (Spain). Tomorrow, a Consequences by NOOR gallery show opens in Brussels (Belgium). The work has been widely published in the international print and online media.