The desert of the real itself
The Anthropocene transforms into permanent simulacra. Due to the progressive depletion of natural resources reality is being replaced by simulations, in which nostalgia plays a significant role.
"The desert of the real itself" reflects on the future after warming, deficiencies of organic resources, disappearance of artifacts and the absence of memorable cultural codes.
“Everyone can dream, and must have dreamed his whole life, of a perfect duplication or multiplication of his being. But such copies only have the power of dreams, and are destroyed when one attempts to force the dream in to the real.”
J. Baudrillard
1°C -
It’s predicted that when the global temperature rises 1°C the Great Plains covering thousands of miles in North America will convert themselves into deserts. They are now considered to be one of the most productive agricultural systems on Earth. Due to significant decrease in rainfalls all those fertile prairies will be gradually transformed into sand dunes. Abundant farmsteads, roads and cities will find themselves engulfed by blowing sand.
2°C -
The Greenland ice cap contains enough water to rise the global sea level by 7 meters. If the Earth temperature increases by over 2°C, it’s anticipated that the melting of glacier will dramatically accelerate as a result of crossing a threshold of so-called positive feedback. It’ll rapidly and drastically change the world’s coastline leaving cities like Miami, New York, London, Bangkok, Bombay, Shanghai and fertile lands of Southern Asia under water.
3°C -
On the southern part of Africa lies a country of Botswana - an African success story. Its agriculture is centered around cattle. “Owning the thousand head of cattle would impress Botswanans far more than the possession of posh condominium on New York’s Fifth Avenue.” Sadly if the global warming reaches 3°C the whole area of the country will encounter perennial drought causing famine. The Kalahari Desert - which currently supports the savannah - will become truelly arid.
Based on the book “Six Degrees. Our future on a hotter planet” by M. Lynas
Sand has risen. It covers the hair, seals the eyes, grinds between the teeth. The monotony of dusty terrains is occasionally interrupted by succulents. Shadows come only when the sun hides behind the horizon, when the cloudless sky starts to fill up with star constellations - the only creation that seem to be untouched by time.
Dozens of years ago sands engulfed the woods, the majority of farmlands and water reservoirs. Huge areas with their cities flooded under climbing oceans. Our eyes had to get used to never-ending sand dunes.
A getaway. A much needed vacation. An escape… maybe a one-way ticket to a confidential place, to bring back long gone memories of lost worlds. To recreate and treasure them. Setting up rivers and waterfalls, almost hearing the water running. Planting a garden, believing that it grows. Flying kites like children used to, looking at them as if they were real birds. Dancing how we used to dance. Dreaming of sunsets, nature soundscapes and an abundance of colors.
“When the real is no longer what it was, nostalgia assumes its full meaning. There is a plethora of myths of origin and of signs of reality – a plethora of truth, of secondary objectivity, and authenticity.” J. Baudrillard
Echoes Of Fading Myths
“Reality ⌈…⌉ captures every dream even before it takes on the appearance of a dream.”
J. Baudrillard
