International Collage Exchange # 9 & 10

Collage # 9. National Geographic Images
Title: Cocaine

Collage #10. National Geographic Images. The words say "How often do you get to connect wolves with warblers?"
Title: Natural Balance


After swimming yesterday I managed to go to several 2nd hand shops on a magazine trawl and they resulted in these 2 new collages.



The boy in the first collage "Cocaine" is cutting Coca plants to plant into new fields (created by burnining of the rainforests that formerly thrived on it.) The Coca beans will be harvested and the remaining leaves will be dried and crushed- becoming coarse base material for Cocaine. The village official's know this goes on but choose not to see, farmers say they have no choice- the government dosn't help them and the children do as they are told. Base, as it is called is purchased by the dealers and turned into the real deal, without base these children would likely starve yet because of the need to farm it they are kept out of school and in the fields instead.There part of the nest would fall apart without Cocaine yet it's falling apart because of it. Like the malaria carrying mosquito on either side of the boy, there need to survive is at a great cost. This a vicious cycle which extends far beyond these fields and into the mansions of the rich and famous and the thin pockets of the homeless...and still their Government dosn't help.




Collage 10"Natural Balance"
Man removed the wolf from the forest in this area and the elk's came to graze. They over-grazed with out fear of predation but in turn become the predators. Their grazing killed trees and plants that many other animals relied on for survival. When the trees are gone so too are the birds, without birds the natural regeneration of their habitat is broken. We blamed the elk but it was man who damaged this nest by removing the wolf.
The right hand side of the photo shows a warrior who's ability to hunt and kill elephants has made him a hero in his village. The ivory will help provide an income which will help them survive but the loss of the elephants will have the same impact on the environment as the loss of the wolves..and still the government dosn't help.