Anthony Holdsworth: Dispatches from the Street

This year I have chosen to feature my Global Warming series at my December Open Studio to coincide with the World Conference on Global Warming in Copenhagen.

I will also  be showing  a selection  of other works from the past two years.

‘SELECTED WORKS 2007 – 2009′

STUDIO EXHIBITION  Dec 12-13 / 19-20

Sat – Sun 11 am – 6 pm           510.836.1681

351 Lewis Street (near Oakland West BART)

You may also explore my inventory of artwork, archival prints and recently published books over wine, cheese and   cappuccinos. I look forward to seeing you!

Preview a short video of the six Global Warming paintings on YouTube.

Those of you who appreciate the meditative experience of viewing a real  painting should pass by my studio to fully appreciate these and many other recent works:

About the Global Warming Series:

These paintings are, of course, an exercise in science fiction, intended to make us think. We are not likely to see oceans rise to this level in our lifetime. But ultimately, global warming, unchecked, will result in scenes more extreme than these.

Today, we are witnessing accelerating melt of the Greenland and the Antarctic ice shelves resulting in rising sea  levels that  already threaten some island  cultures. The full loss of all this ice would cause oceans to rise about 171 feet!

Glaciers, which feed many of the world’s great rivers, have been shrinking for a hundred years. The Ganges, the Mekong and  the Yellow rivers which sustain a quarter of the world’s population draw much of their flow from glaciers in the Himalayas.  Scientists predict these glaciers will disappear within two or three decades.
Of more immediate concern are the  increasingly unpredictable weather patterns world-wide. Large scale agriculture requires stable weather. The increasing frequency of droughts followed by inundation are inimical to agriculture. Some experts view the Murray-Darling Basin drought in Australia as a wake up call to California whose water resources are becoming stretched to the limit. World food reserves are at their lowest level in many decades, so the first great blow of unchecked global warming may well be world famine.

Halting Global Warming and Copenhagen:

American intransigence has so far torpedoed any meaningful global warming agreements.
The European Union, which is as developed as the United States with a larger population, currently emits 50% less pollution than we do. It has offered to reduce it’s green house gas emissions by 25% from 1990 levels by 2020 – provided that other nations are willing to follow suit.
President Obama, in a much heralded move, has offered a reduction of 17% by 2020. But here’s the catch. He’s talking about a 17% reduction from 2005. This offer translates into less than a 4% reduction since 1990.
Climate scientists generally agree that we need to return to a carbon dioxide level of 350 parts per million ( we are currently at  387).  This would require an  80% reduction of emissions by 2050. From this perspective the European proposal seems modest. While Obama’s offer is nothing short of a cruel joke. Coming, as it does, from the nation that has dumped most of  the carbon dioxide into the world’s atmosphere in the past century.

Americans need to wake up and take action. We have reaped enormous benefits from modern science and technology. Now we must shoulder the responsibilities that come with these benefits. Contact your friends and elected representatives. Forward them my video. It is designed to get people talking.

Above all:   Log on to www.350.org for up-to-date information and calls to action.