Climate Conflict
My serie called 'Climate Conflict' is about the major climate polluters from the industry and energy sector in the Netherlands. Our society is inseparable from industry. The additional effect is climate change, a problem that worries me deeply. An important cause of climate change is the overproduction of CO2. Industry and energy producers together produce for about half of the Dutch national CO2 emissions. The two largest emitters in the Netherlands, TATA Steel and RWE, emit together more than all the natural gas consumption of households in the Netherlands combined. There is a lot of profit to be made here in terms of sustainability.
In addition to CO2 emissions, reports claim that Tata Steel also causes an above-average number of cancer cases in the immediate vicinity. The air quality in surrounding villages from Tata Steel IJmuiden is also poorer than in the rest of the Netherlands. The question is whether the major nuisance such as CO2 emissions, social nuisance and health risks are worth the economic profit?
I want to bring up the topic of climate change and open the discussion about it. The urgency of climate change is high. By aesthetically photographing the biggest polluters, I try to get people look at a subject from which we prefer to look away.