Niki Waghani, Divya Goel, Krithi
Looking at the most recent Carbon Dioxide emissions statistics from 2017, we noticed that the top 5 most industrial countries – the United States, Germany, Japan, China, and the United Knigdom – collectively produced more emissions than the rest of the countries on the list combined. The sheer size of the disproportionate impact these five countries demonstrates a blatant lack of concern for the environment. We were shocked, so we decided to go with a data sculpture that was equally shocking.
Our goal is to shock the people of these five countries into realizing that they are part – a big part – of the problem. The tangible call to action would be to encourage them to use public transportation. To do this, our plan is to install our sculpture in the densest city of each of the five countries. This includes London, Shanghai, New York City, Tokyo, and Berlin. The sculpture would be of a wounded bear, painted with each country’s flag, proportional to how much they pollute. The red of the flags is meant to also represent blood. We would have a statement telling how the five countries pollute more than the rest of the world combined. In addition, we would submerge the bear in a tank of colored ice, the amount of each color also representing each country, that would melt day by day to show the bear drowning.