Drawing Water

Artist David Wicks created a visualization of where rain falls and the vectors it follows on its way to being consumed. His latest work Drawing Water uses water consumption data collected by the U.S. Geological Survey and rainfall data from the National Weather Service and it shows how water is siphoned and diverted to areas far from where it fell.

The installation's interactive map dramatically demonstrates that your water—especially if you live in a city—most likely travels quite some distance before it comes out your tap.  BP

SeanChron - Chris Jordan's Midway Project

This video comes via photographer Chase Jarvis who is actually commenting on a video by a Riley Morton about the work of another photographer, Chris Jordan. I happen to be a big fan of all of them.

The topic is Jordan's multi-year effort to document the fate of albatross chicks on Midway Atoll who are dying from ingesting large amounts plastic detritus collected by their parents in the Pacific Ocean. The video and project are poignant reminders of the impact human activities have on both human health and the environment. Jordan and Morton's creative work on the natural history of the albatross and how our culture of consumption and waste is affecting the birds is particularly profound to me given my background in conservation biology. It is a great example of the kinds of projects that occur at the intersection of science, design, and culture.