I was offered a 6 metre long wall at Te Uru. I contemplated filling it with wearable jewellery of varying sizes, but decided to fill it with a graphic representation of temperature change in our Pacific environment, something on top of my mind.
Industrialisation started the process of global warming, when the decision was made to use fossil fuels to power progress. It began in Britain in the 18th Century, and rapidly spread to other parts of the world and became known as the Industrial Revolution. The textile industry was one of the first to use the modern methods of a mechanised factory. It was a major turning point in history, influencing daily life in almost every way. Incomes, population and the standard of living increased, and it was the start of todays capitalist economy.
Other innovations quickly followed: locomotives, steamboats, iron smelting, the electric telegraph. What is known as the second industrial revolution began which included new steel making processes, mass production, assembly lines, advanced steam powered factories.
It has now become unsustainable and life threatening in many ways – fires, floods, weather events. The planet is speeding towards (some say passed) tipping point.