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  The Straits Times 4 Nov 05
Photos tell the story of a fragile planet
 by Radha Basu

FOR more than a decade, Frenchman Yann Arthus-Bertrand has flown over 120 countries, taking aerial photographs which chronicle the majesty and fragility of the planet we call home. From the golden deserts of Mauritania to icy Alaskan glaciers and the nuclear explosion-ravaged shell of Chernobyl, his roving lens has captured it all.

Yet, tiny Singapore, which he flew over last week, managed to surprise him. 'I expected a concrete jungle, but there were so many refreshing patches of green,' the flamboyant 59-year-old said, after three days of photographing Singapore from the air. 'It looks like a city in a park.'

Instead of the drab greys and whites which make up most cityscapes, the colourful terraced homes he flew over in Yew Tee in north-western Singapore set his camera clicking. 'It was very graphic,' he said, of the symmetrical rows of red, blue and orange-roofed homes fringed with neat lines of trees.

'What you'd expect in a picturebook.' Singapore is indeed clean and green, but its beauty may be deceptive.

'We need to conserve limited natural resources,' he said. 'And here in Singapore, I have not seen much recycling, there are no electric cars, and the air-conditioning is freezing!'

As Singapore kicks off Clean and Green Week - its annual celebration of the environment - tomorrow, that's a concern more Singaporeans are already becoming familiar with, thanks in part to the photographer's collection of 120 stunning images on display in the heart of Orchard Road.

Since last week, clusters of curious passers-by have been lingering along the stretch of Orchard Mall between Wheelock Place and Forum The Shopping Mall to survey the fruits of his labour - an exhibition entitled Earth From Above. It is on until January.

His photographs, he hopes, will warn ordinary individuals that the earth today is teetering on the brink of environmental devastation. Rivers and forests are disappearing, fertile farmlands are turning arid and floods, hurricanes and other natural disasters are forcing millions to lose what little they have.

'It's like we are all dancing on the Titanic, unaware that we're minutes away from sinking,' said the silver-haired photographer.

From urchins foraging through mountains of waste in Mexico City, to the helpless desolation of a Mali village without electricity, to tenacious survivors battling floods in Bangladesh, the pictures drive home the same uncomfortable message: one-fifth of humanity living in affluent countries consumes four-fifths of the world's resources.

'If everyone on earth lived like we do in Paris or Singapore, we'd need six planets,' he said.

His exhibition combines artistic value with a strong ecological message, said French Ambassador Jean-Paul Reau, who helped bring the collection to Singapore. Since its Paris debut five years ago, it has visited 70 cities including London, Chicago and Tokyo.

'Our planet is beautiful but it is endangered due to human oversight and folly,' said Ambassador Reau. 'That's what we hope the pictures show.'

Mr Arthus-Bertrand, a father of three who prefers to be known as a journalist rather than an artist, uses his striking aerial shots to hook the passer-by. Then the captions provide details he hopes people will remember.

Next to a picture of abandoned boats stuck in the mud that once was the Aral Sea in Kazakhstan, for instance, it says that in 1998 alone, environmental deterioration forced at least 25 million to leave their homes worldwide.

Elsewhere, you are reminded that one in four people worldwide still have no access to electricity, one in five do not have clean water to drink and about one in seven are underfed. The information is from various United Nations development agencies and the United States-based environmental research organisation, World Watch Institute.

'We should tell ourselves to never underestimate the power of one,' Member of Parliament Amy Khor told The Straits Times, shortly after viewing the exhibition.

Most people think that their using less air-conditioning or recycling waste can hardly make an impact on saving natural resources, said Dr Khor, who heads the government parliamentary committee on environment and national development. 'But when millions of people do it, the impact is not tiny at all.'

Another practical way of reducing wasteful consumption is to use greener cars, says the executive director of the Singapore Environment Council, Mr Howard Shaw.

The government has just announced bigger rebates for those who buy hybrid cars, which run partly on electricity and therefore use less fuel. 'But even if you don't want to use a hybrid yet, simply choosing a sedan over an SUV will make a difference,' he said, referring to the petrol-guzzling sports-utility vehicles that appear to be a favourite among many Singaporeans.

Protecting our precious bio-diversity is another step that can be easily taken, said National Parks Board chairman and conservationist Leo Tan, who has been working to spread awareness on the issue.

Simple things - like not squashing tiny crabs and other creatures when you walk on the beach - can help maintain nature's balance. These tiny sea creatures provide food for the fish that much of the world depends on. 'Kill them and you could be endangering the world's major food source,' he said.

In Orchard Mall, some messages were hitting home.

Full-time national serviceman Charles Buchanan, 19, spent half an hour or so lingering over the photographs. Struck by a picture of a rainbow streaking across a sun-kissed glacier, he said: 'Articles about global warming always talk about how glaciers will disappear. Till I saw this, I had no idea how beautiful glaciers could be.'

He went away saying he would try to use less water and electricity. He had no idea that so many people did not have easy access to either.

Events executive Tiong Xin Wei, 22, also resolved to waste less after seeing the photographs. 'I just wish these images could stay in Singapore as a permanent reminder for us to want less and waste less,' she said.
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