Realistically, you were not one of the few brave souls who braved the icy weather on Tuesday evening to listen to Tate Lecturer Chris Jordan passionately share about his art and the subject of mass culture consumption and waste.
I had the unique pleasure of sitting in on the student forum. In case you didn’t know, Tate lectures typically occur the first Tuesday of every month. The lectures are at 8 p.m. in McFarlin Auditorium, and student seats are often limited. I prefer attending the student Q&A forums at 4:30 p.m. in the Hughes-Trigg ballrooms. These forums are always more accessible for students and provide a more intimate setting to ask questions.
Anyways, even though I’m a frequent attendee of these forums, I had some special interest in Jordan. I have seen some of his artwork before on the Internet. It is very thought-provoking artwork. I had to meet the man himself.
What impressed me the most about Jordan was the way he carried himself. This man spoke slowly, but intensely, about his artwork. Also, he was very friendly and open in sharing his art. In his “Running the Numbers” series, he contemplates contemporary American culture through visualization of statistics. Each image in this series portrays a common consumerist item – cell phones, brown paper bags, or plastics cups. He then digitally replicates these images until he reaches the number for a specific statistic. For example, he creates a stack of different cigarette boxes and then creates a mosaic of a Van Gogh painting of a skeleton smoking a cigarette. This mosaic depicts 200,000 packs of cigarettes, which equals the number of Americans who die from cigarette smoking every six months.
I find Mr. Jordan’s style of advocacy through art very refreshing. In fact, his style may be one of the better ways to reach out to today’s visually-addicted generation. For example, the number two million does not really evoke a different reaction from one million or even ten thousand for most people. In fact, any number larger than a few hundred is probably pretty difficult to mentally visualize. What Mr. Jordan accomplishes is creating an image that overwhelms you and aids you in visualizing how much Americans consume and waste. I definitely encourage you to visit his website and see some of his work. I recommend Plastic Bottles, 2007 from his Running The Numbers series, which depicts two million plastic beverage bottles, the number used in the US every five minutes. Ironically, I had just bought a Vitamin Water before the lecture.
I have a confession to make. As much as I would like to believe that I am a good son, a good student, or even a good person, I must confess that I have not been a good steward of my resources. I am a spoiled child of consumerist America that has no concept of the environmental impact I have. Did you know that a Google search is equivalent to about 0.2 grams of CO2? Google released a statement on January 11, 2009, stating the following: “The current EU standard for tailpipe emissions calls for 140 grams of CO2 per kilometer driven, but most cars don’t reach that level yet. Thus, the average car driven for one kilometer (0.6 miles for those in the U.S.) produces as many greenhouse gases as a thousand Google searches.”
I often wonder what I can actually do as one individual about this issue of consumption. I have toyed with the idea of freeganism, an anti-consumerist alternative lifestyle. As repulsive as it may sound, freegans succeed in living healthy and “ethically clean” lives by utilizing the garbage of other people. Also known as “dumpster divers”, these individuals have recently been highlighted by many major news sources. After I read more, I realized this lifestyle was not for me. But where does that leave me in terms of my moral or ethical guilt? Should I feel guilty that I am privileged with the resources that I have? I think becoming consciously aware is a good first step.
In spite of the great achievements of SMU students in recent years, we are still known as a school of rich, privileged spendthrifts. SMU is currently participating in a ten-week-long nationwide recycling competition called Recyclemania. There are 509 other schools registered for this competition. SMU is registered with 171 other schools in the Benchmark Division. This week is week two for SMU.
According to the Recyclemania rules, the first two weeks are trial periods. Each week, universities will report their recycling statistics. Last week, SMU reported a 13.84% recycling rate, which averages 6.37 pounds per person. In comparison, Stanford University reported a 26.53% recycling rate and averaged 12.82 pounds per person. I feel that most students are not even aware that Recyclemania is happening right now at SMU. I personally believe that SMU students are not just snobs and big spenders. In this new year, I think it’s time we collectively show the rest of America and the world what Mustangs are capable of doing when we put our minds to a task. Please e-mail me if you are interested in helping spread the word about this competition and the need for recycling at SMU. For starters, after you finish reading this paper, pass it on to someone else. You’ve just recycled something.
Daniel Liu is a graduate engineering management student. He can be reached for comment at [email protected].
