Photojournalist Sean Gallagher Speaks at CUNY
More than 50 CUNY students and staff gathered to watch celebrated photographer Sean Gallagher connect photography and environment this evening at City University of New York (CUNY)’s Guttman Community College.
Gallagher, an English native, has spent the last decade in Asia photographing the corners of the continent while narrating the region’s response to climate change. Gallagher’s hour-long lecture and Q & A highlighted his past pieces featured in The Atlantic and the New York Times, but also covered his most recent venture — a 7-minute video for National Geographic on China’s growing obsession with exotic pets and the industry’s impact on biodiversity.
“Many of these animals are actually taken from the wild. They are taken from threatened ecosystems,” said Gallagher, the seven-time Pulitzer grantee.
According to the World Wildlife Fund, half of the world’s wildlife has been lost in the past 40 years. Gallagher, who studied zoology in college, captured brilliant pictures of some current at-risk animals such as chinchillas, alligator snapping turtles and fennec foxes nestled with their caregivers. You can find photos and descriptions of the animals feeding this billion-dollar industry at Guardian.com, as it appears the photojournalist double-dipped in his efforts to reach a larger audience on the underreported issue.
Europe is the second largest market for exotic pets, followed by China, with the United States coming in first place for harboring nearly extinct wildlife. In Sri Lanka, however, the tables turn when Gallagher explains how the hunter becomes the hunted.
“Around 1 person per week is killed by elephants in Sri Lanka,” said Gallagher. Tea farming in the area has resulted in vast deforestation, and as a result, diminished natural habitats have forced elephants to raid villages for food.
North of Sri Lanka, in the rural regions of India, villagers worry about a more conceptual invader –– drought. Gallagher’s short film, “The Broken Land – Drought in India” details heart-wrenching stories of drought victims who are forced to leave their villages for the overcrowded city of Mumbai. The desperation of the rain-starved region has resulted in 400 suicides in 2016 and over 1000 in 2015.
Similar environmental changes plague neighboring China. Nearly one-third of China consists of desert lands, but according to Gallagher, rising temperatures have resulted in an increased number of sandstorms, which are causing desert regions to grow. Desertification has pushed farmers and nomads into fixed camps. Equally troubling has been the impact of development, agriculture and industry on the regions disappearing wetlands.
“Nearly two-thirds of the world’s wetlands have disappeared since 1900. Mainly because of development in coastal regions,” said Gallagher.
But expanding industry is to blame for the smog-filled skies of China, of which Gallagher highlighted the familiar story through the lens of mask-wearing Beijing and Shanghai residents. Gallagher’s article, “Beijing –– the Masked City” revealed the workings of the familiar air pollution masks many wear abroad to shield the environment’s impurities brought on by the massive manufacturing facilities and the country’s dependence on coal.
Gallagher stressed China’s pollution problem is globally entwined. He said it is documented that smog found in North America is directly attributed to China’s mass production facilities. The photojournalist recounted a conversation he had with himself when he overheard a couple discussing how difficult it must be for Chinese citizens to breath in the densely polluted country.
“Do you know why they can’t breathe? Because they’re producing all of our junk.”
