'Earth Cries' is an artwork and poem that I made for Earth Overshoot Day 2023.
High waves of toxic
water drown the land
Dead eyes,
the earth cries
The sun colors the morning
in the hues of dead trees
on the banks of greed
How high may become
the price the future
will have to pay?
As of today, humanity lives by stealing from future generations. And let us have no illusions: the middle- and highly prosperous countries have been living for weeks to months by stealing from poor countries. This year, last year... All years since the first overshoot day in the 70's of lest century.
We live on credit, and there is no way to pay it back: the earth is unable to regenerate what we consume the rest of the year. And just so you realize: this has been true for decades. So the debt of you and me is huge, beyond all comprehension.
Conscience
But we silence our conscience by pretending that we start with a fresh earth every year on January 1.
I will help you out of the dream, or rather, make you realize that we are in a nightmare: the earth has not been clean and fresh for many years, and on many "issues" the damage is beyond recovery.
Disasters follow each other faster and faster. Is payback time knocking on our door?
Think about this, when you place your next order on the Internet for non-essential goods, when you throw away something that can actually be used for years to come, when you replace something because it is no longer fashionable, when you eat more than is good for you, when you use and eat things that burden and pollute the earth in an unaccountable way....
Tell me, who will pay your debt to the earth?
All You Need Is Less
Through my artworks I ask you to reflect for a moment on the nature around you, on the beautiful feeling that nature can evoke, on what we lose when we continue on the destructive path of ever more…
© Jacob Berghoef FineArtPhotography