Soul Project

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There is no planet B - Soul Project
Fresh air - Air pollution - Soul Project
Sweater weather, global warming - Soul Project
Clear waters, water pollution - Soul Project
Life, coral reefs - Soul Project
Wildlife conservation, extinction - Soul Project
Plant a tree, deforestation - Soul Project
Ice cold, wildfires and thaw - Soul Project
Leftovers, landfills - Soul Project
Human nature - Soul Project
Make a change - Soul Project

What is Soul Project?

Soul Project is a series of illustrations about climate change. I wanted to create a graphic representation of climate change through a series of portraits. They are meant to show the effects of human behaviour on the planet and how we are destroying it.

 

  • The name Soul Project comes from the fact that the characters have no eyes. That is because it is said that the eyes are a window to the soul and I feel like we are tearing apart the planet’s soul.

  • They are all female because they represent mother nature and they are human-like so that we as humans can relate more, seeing the effects the planet is facing in a human body.

  • This subject is really important to me because I have always cared about the Earth and seeing the facts about climate change makes me so sad and angry, and I wish more people would help and participate in making a change. I wanted to use my art to support a meaningful and important cause and help spread awareness about it.

  • Hover over or tap on the pictures below to read more about each subject.

Climate change is real.

It’s easy to live your life thinking you will be fine and you will be dead when climate change really affects you, but what about your children? What about your future family? It’s selfish to think this way. We have the power to change that, if all of us do even a little effort we can change things. It’s not only about the big industries (which are a big problem, I know) but it’s also about what we as individuals do. It’s ok if you don’t have time to clean up beaches, but at least don’t be the person who throws garbage and plastic on them. Anything like buying a bamboo toothbrush, as stupid as it may seem, it helps. And instead of thinking “oh if it's just me who does it, it won’t make an impact” think that you can encourage other people to do it too and then all of us together will make a change!

Encourage people to be respectful with the environment!

This is what we are doing to the air.

 Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to breathe fresh air everyday and not only when we go up to the mountains?

We are asphyxiating the Earth. And ourselves too!

But there are things we can still do as individuals:  try not to take the car if you can walk or take a bike, try to share a car with friends and family if you are going to the same place or if you can afford it, buy an electric car! These are just some of the things that we can do.

Some of them are not that hard but unfortunately there are still a lot of people who could do these things but they won’t because they are just lazy. To me that’s not okay. I don’t want to be one of those people, what about you?

Burning fossil fuels to power our houses and our cars, deforestation, agriculture and farming at a large scale are some causes of the greenhouse effect. This causes global warming, and although it may not seem that bad from our day-to-day life perspective, it is bad. Storms, floods, wildfires, hurricanes, extreme weather... we are already seeing this happen more often than before, it’s not because of bad luck it’s because of global warming and climate change. If we keep on this path of global emissions the ecosystems will change and be at risk, including us. Evolution is not fast enough to keep up with climate change!

 Since many of the big industries responsible for the biggest amount of emissions are not willing to change yet, we ourselves have to change. Essentially, if we stop using fuel cars the car industry will have to adapt and create more electric and affordable cars, if we stop eating so much meat and overbuying so much food that we then have to throw away because it goes bad, they won’t produce so much. If we decide to use renewable energy to power our homes instead of fossil fuels there will be more and more options for everyone in the future. It may not seem like it, but it all depends on us in the end.

“At least 8 million tons of plastic end up in our oceans every year, and make up 80% of all marine debris from surface waters to deep-sea sediments.” - IUCN

Plastic that ends up in the ocean is the cause of many injuries and deaths of fish and other marine animals. They also accidentally eat it sometimes. Did you know that plastic micro particles have been found inside fish meat? HUMANS are the only ones to blame for this. It’s not okay.

And even if you are not physically throwing plastics on the beach or into the sea, there are ways that we still send plastic particles into it. For example when we wash synthetic clothes, thousands of small plastic fibers are released into the water and end up in the sea. Such a big variety of plastic stuff ends up in the ocean, from small fibers to big plastic bags. If we keep this going, by 2050 there will be more plastic than fish in the oceans. There are some things we can do to try and reduce the amount of plastic we individually send into the ocean, but the obvious one is to avoid plastic as much as we can: stainless steel straws, buying in bulk, natural clothing such as 100% cotton from a sustainable source or using ecological detergents. There are options, we just need to find them and make the effort to get used to them, I don’t know about you but I don’t want any marine animals to die or be intoxicated because of me.

Coral reefs are a really important type of ecosystem that protects coasts, and provides food and shelter to thousands of species of marine animals.  They also create jobs and can even be used for medical treatments and research, according to the Natural History Museum UK. They are basically a source of life. Well, they are dying. Actually humans are killing them.

“Human-caused, or anthropogenic activities, are major threats to coral reefs. Pollution, overfishing, destructive fishing practices using dynamite or cyanide, collecting live corals for the aquarium market, mining coral for building materials, and a warming climate are some of the many ways that people damage reefs all around the world every day.

One of the most significant threats to reefs is pollution. [...] Coral reefs also are affected by leaking fuels, anti-fouling paints and coatings, and other chemicals that enter the water.” - National Ocean Service US

It is important to realize that even if we think that we are not doing anything to the corals directly, from our homes, we might be contributing to their destruction without even knowing it. We need to be careful and know where the products we buy come from and try and pollute as little as possible during our day to day life. Again, there are many ways that we can reduce the damage we do to the environment, for example to protect coral reefs some of the things you can do are: check your sunscreen’s ingredients, eat sustainable seafood or save water.

I bet you don’t feel like having a human’s head hanging up on your wall, do you? Well it looks the same as if there was any other animal’s head on it.

A lot of animals are extinguishing, and humans are the primary reason why that is happening. Habitat destruction, pollution, invasive species, but especially poaching, wildlife trafficking, hunting and fishing.

Poaching is hunting or capturing animals illegally to sell them at a really high price. And is brutally cruel, you can Google it. It is one of the biggest reasons why some animals are so close to extinguishing. There is also trophy hunting, which is legal, and it blows my mind that it is. A trophy is what you win at a competition, that shinny metal thing, not a part from an animal that you just killed for fun. I’m sorry, but I’m not sorry for anyone who does that. It is unfair and unnecessary. And not only that but massive fishing or killing whales and sharks! Killing thousands of animals for their fur so that you can have a pretty jacket? You have great other options that don’t involve killing innocent animals!

- More than 100.000 African elephants were killed by poachers between 2014 and 2017.  90% of the species is gone.

- 96% of black rhinos are gone. On average today, one rhino is killed every 15 hours. The northern white rhino (and many more species) has become extinct in the wild because of poaching.

- Every year more than 38 million animals are taken from Brazil’s wilds by poachers.

- About a million pangolins have been poached in the last decade.

- Only around 3,800 tigers are thought to remain in the wild.

- Around 100 million sharks are killed every year for their fins.

I don’t know about you, but these facts make me so mad. And honestly, the worst part is that I can’t think of a way that we can do something about wildlife crimes from our homes, apart from, of course, not supporting it and maybe donate or volunteer. This is something the governments have to do. What we can do is show our rejection to these practices.

The Earth is losing her lungs

Deforestation is the removal of trees to make room for anything besides forest. This can happen anywhere but right now the majority of it is happening in the Amazon rainforest. The loss of vegetation is one of the many causes of climate change and again, shocker, humans are responsible for it.

Deforestation has many bad consequences, like the destruction of indigenous homes, floods, dry soil, the water cycle is messed up, so rains change their pattern and the soil is ruined, and many more, but two of the most important consequences are:

Loss of habitat, which means that a lot of animals lose their homes. Did you know that between 70% and 80% of land animals and plants live in forests? Losing their habitat contributes to their endangerment and possible extinction.

Greenhouse gases. Plants absorb carbon dioxide and release oxygen during the day. If there are no plants or trees, there will be more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, which will create a greater greenhouse effect. Tropical trees are estimated to provide 23% of the “help” we need to stop climate change, and we are getting rid of them! Also, the act of clearing the forests produces more greenhouse emissions (deforestation produces 20% of greenhouse emissions)!

The upside of all this is that forests can be restored by planting more trees in the cleared areas. But this will not be enough if we keep on destroying them all the time.

There are many things that we can do from our homes, some are really easy like printing on both sides of the paper or using an internet search engine that plants a tree for every search, like Ecosia. We need to be mindful of where the products we buy come from, check that your wood and paper products are certified and come from a sustainable source and responsibly managed forests. Avoid using paper if you can or use more recycled paper, reuse paper and avoid palm oil! Or even plant a tree yourself! I know we can’t stop deforestation right now, but we can certainly do little things as individuals to have a more mindful approach to this subject.

Global warming causes a drier and warmer climate, that helps wildfires spread a lot faster, and also makes some areas be at a higher risk of lighting up. These conditions also make the fires harder to put out, so the damage is a lot bigger. When an area is affected by wildfires thousands of animals die, get hurt or lose their habitat. Not to mention that trees and plants are completely destroyed. Whenever a wildfire spreads we lose so many acres of life.

It’s easy to think that it’s not our fault if a wildfire starts but not only we are responsible for global warming, but also did you know that 90% of all wildfires worldwide are caused by people?

The only thing we can do is donate or volunteer to help those affected by wildfires. But what can we do to help prevent them? Well, stop climate change, of course, but also, for example don’t smoke, don’t throw the leftovers of your cigarettes, be really careful if you light a bonfire and be 100% sure that you actually put it out and don’t throw glass on the forest!

- The ice is melting and the sea level is rising. Ice protects the planet and helps regulate the temperature. We are causing temperatures to rise so much that the ice is melting away a lot faster than before. If the ice melts, sea levels will rise and ocean currents change. Polar bears and other animals will be affected. They play a really important role in the Arctic ecosystem, and it’s going to be messed up if we lose them. Scientists predict that by 2050, polar bear numbers are going to decline by 30%.

- 95% of the sea ice in the Arctic is already gone. By 2040, the Arctic could be ice free in the summer.

- New research shows that 150 million people live in places that will be underwater by 2050.

We need to do something about this. Don’t wait around for governments to make the first move. Be aware of your carbon footprint and try your best to erase it. Some little things we can do to start: choose organic and local products, buy in bulk, save electricity, save water, drive less, consider electric cars and/or power your house with clean energy.

Be the person who makes the first move! Encourage others to join you!

91% of plastic isn’t recycled.

Half of all plastic produced  becomes trash in less than a year! It blows my mind how much plastic that really is, think about all the single use plastic we throw away every single day. Take a look around your house and see for yourself how many things are made of plastic, single use or not. Spoiler alert, almost everything has plastic on it. Do we really need to cover a single orange in plastic when they are already protected by their own peel and then cover a bunch of them in more plastic and then put the pack of oranges in another plastic bag to take them home?

Most of the trash, especially plastic will take 500 years to decompose, which means that basically ALL the plastic that has ever been produced since the start of it is still on the Earth. It’s still here! All of it!

It's hard to imagine our lives without plastic nowadays, but humans have been living just fine without it for millions of years! Your own grandparents didn’t even have plastic when they were young. And especially now that we have so many options like plastic-like materials made out of plants, its really not that hard to change!

It’s really not that hard to find plastic-free substitutes for so many things! Bamboo toothbrushes, glass tuppers and containers, reusable cups and bottles, reusable bags, bamboo hairbrushes, stainless steel straws and razors, plastic-free toothpaste tabs, plastic free dental floss, buying in bulk, solid shampoo and conditioner, cloth diapers and pads, menstural cups, you name it! Look, I’m not asking for you to give up all plastic at once (even though it would be great) I know it can be a little time consuming but you can start by changing some of these little things on the list and work your way up.

Plastic free is the new way of living. People had to adapt their ways when plastic arrived, and now we have to do the same to stop it since we now know it's horrible for the planet. It’s a change for the better.

So, humans are basically destroying the Planet.  It was all great at first, the fact that humans are so intelligent, and we can create and investigate and learn so many things. Humans are pretty great. But this whole intelligence thing has gotten out of control. We became selfish, heartless and ungrateful. We started mistreating the planet, our home. And here is when I start to wonder if we are really that smart in the end, or if it is just human nature to destroy everything.

The things we humans have been doing to the Earth, destroying it for our own good thinking that we were creating great things, without thinking about other species or nature at all, thinking that we own the planet. Here’s the thing, we don’t own it. Nature owns it. And nature owns us. We are so small compared to it and with our way of living we have created a situation where nature is going to take control again and destroy not only us but so many more species. We have been creating our own extinction because we thought we were smarter than nature.

But there’s a twist. We can change this. We can make up for it. But the first thing we need to do is look in the mirror and start acknowledging that we came to a point where all these great things got out of hand, that we didn’t manage it really well and that we were selfish and misinformed! But now that we know, (actually we have known it was bad for so many years but whatever) now that we know, we have the opportunity to change! Change our ways and use our abilities and potential to find ways that won’t destroy everything as we go! Humans are awesome, when we think about others and when we create things to help the Earth, when we are grateful for the beautiful planet we call home.

We got more than we gave, and now we need to give more than we got in order to change things. We can do it, but start by changing yourself if you want others to change, work on the many things we can do from our homes that I’ve been mentioning and work your way up, or even look up some new ones!

Well, this is it! This is Soul Project.

A project to bring awareness to this situation and encourage people to make a change because I believe that if we all start right now, together, we can fix it.

I hope it didn’t leave you indifferent and thank you for dedicating some of your time to viewing my work.

 
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