Chichen Itza, Mexico: photo by Marcelo Montecino, 21 August 2006
Another odd degree or 2 @rush hourain't gonna bother ol' Boilin' Froggie
Stept out this evening into thick pall of smoke hanging over Bay from the largest wildfire in California historychoke gasp choke
many sirened giant Albany Fire truck roars up the Ave honking full bells and whistles causing stopt traffic held breath
then one minute later rolls back down bayward w fullmetal tail tuckt 'tween awky hind-extender insect-legs unapologetically
while three large also roaring BPD black and whites pick up th'infernal continuous everywhichway pursuit o' th'Apocalypse
The #MendocinoComplexFires became the largest in #california state history today, at 283,000 acres. On Monday, the fire spotted in to Spring Valley, burning two homes, before fire crews got a handle on it. @NorthBayNews: image via Kent Porter @kentphotos, 6 August 2018
A counter-protester throws a smoke canister back towards police, at yesterday's rally by the Patriot Prayer group in Portland: Photo Bob Strong : image via Reuters Pictures @reuterspictures, 5 August 2018
Donzo the Climate Wizard Opines
"California wildfires are being magnified and made so much worse by the bad environmental laws
which aren’t allowing massive amounts of readily available water to be properly utilized," tweeps Bozo the Clownboss.
"It is being diverted into the Pacific Ocean. Must also tree clear to stop fire from spreading!"
Bozo the Clownboss hasn't a clue and could care less about California, he hates California,it's full of brown people
who do all the mean work for the whites, full of people of all colors who hate himintensely with good cause,
he'd like the smattering of rightwingers who voted for him to be extracted and rescued,
and then the entire state nuked, burned, sunk back into the ocean, and failing these options,
he just wants all potential carbon resources fully and immediately exploited,
all emission standards fully and immediately removed,
to get even with "the enemy"; thanks, boss, that'll definitely help a lot.
#USA California's raging wildfires cause another death Photo Noah Berger #afp: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 6 August 2018
Donald J. TrumpVerified account@realDonaldTrump 2:53 PM 6 August 2018 California wildfires are being magnified and made so much worse by the bad environmental laws which aren’t allowing massive amounts of readily available water to be properly utilized. It is being diverted into the Pacific Ocean. Must also tree clear to stop fire from spreading!
A study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences shows that there is a risk of Earth entering “Hothouse Earth” conditions where the climate in the long term will stabilize at a global average of 4-5°C higher than pre-industrial temperatures and sea level 10-60 m higher than today.: photo by rudy_ath/Wikimedia Commons
Planet at risk of heading towards “Hothouse Earth” state: Keeping global warming to within 1.5-2°C may be more difficult than previously assessed: Stockholm Resilience Center, Stockholm University, 6 August 2018
Even if the carbon emission reductions called for in the Paris Agreement are met, there is a risk of Earth entering what the scientists call “Hothouse Earth” conditions
A “Hothouse Earth” climate will in the long term stabilize at a global average of 4-5°C higher than pre-industrial temperatures with sea level 10-60 m higher than today
Maximizing the chances of avoiding a “Hothouse Earth” requires not only reduction of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions but also enhancement and/or creation of new biological carbon stores
An international team of scientists has published a study in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) showing that even if the carbon emission reductions called for in the Paris Agreement are met, there is a risk of Earth entering what the scientists call “Hothouse Earth” conditions.
A “Hothouse Earth” climate will in the long term stabilize at a global average of 4-5°C higher than pre-industrial temperatures with sea level 10-60 m higher than today, the paper says.
The authors conclude it is now urgent to greatly accelerate the transition towards an emission-free world economy.
"Human emissions of greenhouse gas are not the sole determinant of temperature on Earth. Our study suggests that human-induced global warming of 2°C may trigger other Earth system processes, often called “feedbacks”, that can drive further warming - even if we stop emitting greenhouse gases," says lead author Will Steffen from the Australian National University and Stockholm Resilience Centre.
"Avoiding this scenario requires a redirection of human actions from exploitation to stewardship of the Earth system.”
Currently, global average temperatures are just over 1°C above pre-industrial and rising at 0.17°C per decade.
Places on Earth will become uninhabitable if “Hothouse Earth” becomes the reality -Johan Rockström, co-author
Places on Earth wll become uninhabitable
The authors of the study consider ten natural feedback processes, some of which are “tipping elements” that lead to abrupt change if a critical threshold is crossed. These feedbacks could turn from being a “friend” that stores carbon to a “foe” that emits it uncontrollably in a warmer world.
These feedbacks are: permafrost thaw, loss of methane hydrates from the ocean floor, weakening land and ocean carbon sinks, increasing bacterial respiration in the oceans, Amazon rainforest dieback, boreal forest dieback, reduction of northern hemisphere snow cover, loss of Arctic summer sea ice, and reduction of Antarctic sea ice and polar ice sheets.
"These tipping elements can potentially act like a row of dominoes. Once one is pushed over, it pushes Earth towards another. It may be very difficult or impossible to stop the whole row of dominoes from tumbling over. Places on Earth will become uninhabitable if “Hothouse Earth” becomes the reality," warns co-author Johan Rockström, former executive director of the Stockholm Resilience Centre and incoming co-director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research.
Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, Director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, says, "We show how industrial-age greenhouse gas emissions force our climate, and ultimately the Earth system, out of balance. In particular, we address tipping elements in the planetary machinery that might, once a certain stress level has been passed, one by one change fundamentally, rapidly, and perhaps irreversibly. This cascade of events may tip the entire Earth system into a new mode of operation.”
“What we do not know yet is whether the climate system can be safely 'parked' near 2°C above preindustrial levels, as the Paris Agreement envisages. Or if it will, once pushed so far, slip down the slope towards a hothouse planet. Research must assess this risk as soon as possible."
Global map of potential tipping cascades. The individual tipping elements are color-coded according to estimated thresholds in global average surface temperature (tipping points; 18,43). Arrows show the potential interactions among the tipping elements, based on expert elicitation, which could generate cascades. Note that although the risk for tipping (loss of) the East Antarctic Ice Sheet is proposed at 1.5-2°C, some marine-based sectors in East Antarctica may be vulnerable at lower temperatures.
Cutting greenhouse gases is not enough
Maximizing the chances of avoiding a “Hothouse Earth” requires not only reduction of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions but also enhancement and/or creation of new biological carbon stores, for example, through improved forest, agricultural and soil management; biodiversity conservation; and technologies that remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and store it underground, the paper says.
Critically, the study emphasizes that these measures must be underpinned by fundamental societal changes that are required to maintain a “Stabilized Earth” where temperatures are ~2°C warmer that the pre-industrial.
"Climate and other global changes show us that we humans are impacting the Earth system at the global level. This means that we as a global community can also manage our relationship with the system to influence future planetary conditions. This study identifies some of the levers that can be used to do so," concludes co-author, Katherine Richardson from the University of Copenhagen.
I’m going to run myself ragged trying to thank everyone for the compliments on the air tanker photo. Thanks for the kind words. It’s a remarkable image to be sure and speaks volumes as to the situation in Lake County and California. Be well and be safe @NorthBayNews: image via Kent Porter @kentphotos, 6 August 2018
Mummies, Guanajuato, Mexico: photo by Marcelo Montecino, 31 January 2005
The Veneration of Saint Death
#Mexico People venerate Saint Death, probably a syncretism between Middle American and Catholic beliefs, although strongly condemned by the Catholic church as satanic in Santa Maria Cuautepec, Tultitlan Photo @PPardo1 #AFP: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 6 August 2018
#Mexico People venerate Saint Death, probably a syncretism between Middle American and Catholic beliefs, although strongly condemned by the Catholic church as satanic in Santa Maria Cuautepec, Tultitlan. #AFPphoto by @PPardo1: image via AFP Photo @AFPphoto, 6 August 2018
Devotees during Saint Death celebration at a sanctuary in Santa Maria Cuautepec, Tultitlan, Mexico, Aug 5, venerating Saint Death, probably a syncretism between Middle American and Catholic beliefs, although strongly condemned by the Catholic church as satanic. #AFP @PPardo1: image via AFP Mexico @AFPMexico, 6 August 2018
Devotees during Saint Death celebration at a sanctuary in Santa Maria Cuautepec, Tultitlan, Mexico, Aug 5, venerating Saint Death, probably a syncretism between Middle American and Catholic beliefs, although strongly condemned by the Catholic church as satanic. #AFP @PPardo1: image via AFP Mexico @AFPMexico, 6 August 2018
Devotees during Saint Death celebration at a sanctuary in Santa Maria Cuautepec, Tultitlan, Mexico, Aug 5, venerating Saint Death, probably a syncretism between Middle American and Catholic beliefs, although strongly condemned by the Catholic church as satanic. #AFP @PPardo1: image via AFP Mexico @AFPMexico, 6 August 2018
Devotees during Saint Death celebration at a sanctuary in Santa Maria Cuautepec, Tultitlan, Mexico, Aug 5, venerating Saint Death, probably a syncretism between Middle American and Catholic beliefs, although strongly condemned by the Catholic church as satanic. #AFP @PPardo1: image via AFP Mexico @AFPMexico, 6 August 2018
#Mexico People venerate Saint Death, probably a syncretism between Middle American and Catholic beliefs, although strongly condemned by the Catholic church as satanic in Santa Maria Cuautepec, Tultitlan. #AFPphoto by @PPardo1: image via AFP Photo @AFPphoto, 6 August 2018
#Mexico People venerate Saint Death, probably a syncretism between Middle American and Catholic beliefs, although strongly condemned by the Catholic church as satanic in Santa Maria Cuautepec, Tultitlan. #AFPphoto by @PPardo1: image via AFP Photo @AFPphoto, 6 August 2018
#Mexico People venerate Saint Death, probably a syncretism between Middle American and Catholic beliefs, although strongly condemned by the Catholic church as satanic in Santa Maria Cuautepec, Tultitlan. #AFPphoto by @PPardo1: image via AFP Photo @AFPphoto, 6 August 2018
Donzo the Climate Wizard Opines
"California wildfires are being magnified and made so much worse by the bad environmental laws
which aren’t allowing massive amounts of readily available water to be properly utilized," tweeps Bozo the Clownboss.
"It is being diverted into the Pacific Ocean. Must also tree clear to stop fire from spreading!"
Bozo the Clownboss hasn't a clue and could care less about California, he hates California,it's full of brown people
who do all the mean work for the whites, full of people of all colors who hate himintensely with good cause,
he'd like the smattering of rightwingers who voted for him to be extracted and rescued,
and then the entire state nuked, burned, sunk back into the ocean, and failing these options,
he just wants all potential carbon resources fully and immediately exploited,
all emission standards fully and immediately removed,
to get even with "the enemy"; thanks, boss, that'll definitely help a lot.
Mictlantecuhtli, god of the dead and king of Mictlan (Chicunauhmictlan), lowest and northernmost section of the underworld: Aztec, sculptor unknown, recovered during excavation of the House of Eagles in the Templo Mayor: photo by Thelmadatter, 23 March 2008 (Museum of the Templo Mayor, Mexico City)
Chimalhuacán, EDOMEX 2011... (Los Olivos, Chimalhuacán, Mexico): photo by Fermin Guzman, 29 May 2011
Chimalhuacán, EDOMEX 2011... (Los Olivos, Chimalhuacán, Mexico): photo by Fermin Guzman, 29 May 2011
Chimalhuacán, EDOMEX 2011... (Los Olivos, Chimalhuacán, Mexico): photo by Fermin Guzman, 29 May 2011
Máscara de Xiuhtecuhtli: representation of Xiuhtecuhtli (Lord Turquoise), Central Mexican god of fire: Mixtec-Aztec, c. 1400-1521, mosaic of turquoise inlay and other materials; photo by Manuel Parada López de Corselas, 2007 (British Museum, London)
El mundo es poco. Columbus sucked a thousand years of gold from the Caribbean in two or three, and then extinguished all its human life. The Conquest he not so much inaugurated as carried to the New World now rages all over the globe, including its polar regions. Woods are paved, mountains mined, seas eaten, species annihilated. All the large land and sea animals of the earth, and most of ts birds, are under sentence of extinction. They are being killed not by the rifle, but by a more lethal invention, money. Money is no longer, as Adam Smith thought in an excitable passage, 'a waggon-way through the air' that leaves the earth free for men, but is actually destroying it, in the sense of extirpating its most intimate and precious nature, as the cattle-money of the Masai is destroying the grasslands of East Africa. To say that human beings must accept these losses, and live among their parasites -- learn to love sparrows and magpies and no other birds, hold cockroaches to be the only insects -- in a world of perfect artifice is the final idolatry: that money is our ineluctable destiny, not merely our life, but our death as well. Schopenhauer watched the old men of his age barricade themselves behind money against the siege engines of death. Now all people do that. Humanity itself is transforming into the dragon of the Nibelungen, squatting in a filthy cave amid heaps of dusty treasure. The Ego is satisfied at last, surrounded by annihilating possessions.
James Buchan: from Frozen Desire: The Meaning of Money, 1997
Mictlantecuhtli, god of the dead: Aztec, sculptor unknown: photo by Jamie Dwyer, 19 August 2008 (Museum of the Templo Mayor, Mexico City)
Chimalhuacán, EDOMEX 2017... (Xochiaca, Mexico): photo by Fermin Guzman, 22 January 2017
Chimalhuacán, EDOMEX 2017... (Xochiaca, Mexico): photo by Fermin Guzman, 22 January 2017
Chimalhuacán, EDOMEX 2017... (Xochiaca, Mexico): photo by Fermin Guzman, 22 January 2017
herky-jerk
Photo by @jbmorephoto a metaphor for a policy that is thoroughly herky-jerk. Reposting @jbmoorephoto: #BorderPatrol: agents with detainees, S. Texas.: image via Reading the Pictures #ReadingThePix, 4 August 2018
Mexico DF, Mexico, 91: photo by Marcelo Montecino, 18 February 2007
A counter-protester throws a smoke canister back towards police, at yesterday's rally by the Patriot Prayer group in Portland: Photo Bob Strong : image via Reuters Pictures @reuterspictures, 5 August 2018
Shooting in Hell: What It's Like to Photograph Wildfires: A photographer talks about the dangers and rewards of capturing firestorms: Justin Sullivan / Getty Images Foto, 4 August 2018
Justin Sullivan/Getty ImagesEVER-CHANGING"I don't consider myself a 'fire photographer,'" Sullivan told FOTO. "But there's a group of us in the Bay Area who end up working together on wildfires. We're all drawn to fires for a number of reasons. For one thing, a wildfire is ever-changing. It's not like covering a flood, where you go and shoot a week of receding waters. A fire is fluid from the get-go, and then there are pockets of time during the day, like the late afternoon, when the wind routinely picks up and things can get pretty chaotic really fast." [Pictured: Light from his headlamp silhouettes a firefighter as he monitors a backfire lit near Clearlake, California, August 2015.]
Justin Sullivan/Getty ImagesEVER-CHANGING"I don't consider myself a 'fire photographer,'" Sullivan told FOTO. "But there's a group of us in the Bay Area who end up working together on wildfires. We're all drawn to fires for a number of reasons. For one thing, a wildfire is ever-changing. It's not like covering a flood, where you go and shoot a week of receding waters. A fire is fluid from the get-go, and then there are pockets of time during the day, like the late afternoon, when the wind routinely picks up and things can get pretty chaotic really fast." [Pictured: Light from his headlamp silhouettes a firefighter as he monitors a backfire lit near Clearlake, California, August 2015.]
Justin Sullivan/Getty ImagesWHERE THE ACTION ISSullivan grew up in Los Angeles but has called the Bay Area home since he was 12. Today, he lives in a small town just north of the Golden Gate Bridge. "In the 1990s I was studying to be a paramedic,” he said. “But one day I made the decision to pursue photography instead. I had been taking pictures during 'ride-alongs' as an EMT, and found that I enjoyed the rush of not only racing to wherever the action was, but capturing those moments, too." In the two decades since then, Sullivan has covered more than a dozen wildfires, most of them in California, many of them among the deadliest and most destructive on record. [Pictured: Embers swirl around firefighters as they monitor a backfire while battling the King Fire in Fresh Pond, California, September 2014]
Justin Sullivan/Getty ImagesWHERE THE ACTION ISSullivan grew up in Los Angeles but has called the Bay Area home since he was 12. Today, he lives in a small town just north of the Golden Gate Bridge. "In the 1990s I was studying to be a paramedic,” he said. “But one day I made the decision to pursue photography instead. I had been taking pictures during 'ride-alongs' as an EMT, and found that I enjoyed the rush of not only racing to wherever the action was, but capturing those moments, too." In the two decades since then, Sullivan has covered more than a dozen wildfires, most of them in California, many of them among the deadliest and most destructive on record. [Pictured: Embers swirl around firefighters as they monitor a backfire while battling the King Fire in Fresh Pond, California, September 2014]
Justin Sullivan/Getty ImagesHELPING HANDEvery journalist grapples with the ethics of the profession. For instance, Kevin Carter's unsettling, Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph from South Sudan in 1993 still sparks intense debate today about whether Carter had a moral responsibility to intercede in the grim scene before him. Asked if he had ever found himself in a situation where he was compelled to put down his camera and help a person, Sullivan replied without hesitation. "Yes. During a fire that burned through Napa and Sonoma in October 2017, I came across a man running around frantically trying to save his house (above). The fire surrounded the house but, somehow, hadn't yet reached it. A fence around the house was on fire, and I helped him knock it down and put it out so the flames wouldn't burn deeper into his property. I am first and foremost a human being, and I'm not going to let someone's house burn to the ground so that I can keep taking pictures. I'm just not."
Justin Sullivan/Getty ImagesHELPING HANDEvery journalist grapples with the ethics of the profession. For instance, Kevin Carter's unsettling, Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph from South Sudan in 1993 still sparks intense debate today about whether Carter had a moral responsibility to intercede in the grim scene before him. Asked if he had ever found himself in a situation where he was compelled to put down his camera and help a person, Sullivan replied without hesitation. "Yes. During a fire that burned through Napa and Sonoma in October 2017, I came across a man running around frantically trying to save his house (above). The fire surrounded the house but, somehow, hadn't yet reached it. A fence around the house was on fire, and I helped him knock it down and put it out so the flames wouldn't burn deeper into his property. I am first and foremost a human being, and I'm not going to let someone's house burn to the ground so that I can keep taking pictures. I'm just not."
Justin Sullivan/Getty ImagesJAW-DROPPINGEven after decades of covering fires, Sullivan can still be astonished by what he sees, and by the sheer destructive power at work. "I heard that a neighborhood in Santa Rosa was destroyed during the Tubbs Fire in October 2017, but until I saw it from the air I had no conception at all of the scale of the devastation," he said. "With most wildfires, even in neighborhoods like this one, the fire sort of jumps around, destroying a home here, but leaving another one over there standing. But this was something like a square mile where every house was burned to the ground. It was just jaw-dropping, like nothing I'd ever encountered in all the years I had covered fires."
Justin Sullivan/Getty ImagesJAW-DROPPINGEven after decades of covering fires, Sullivan can still be astonished by what he sees, and by the sheer destructive power at work. "I heard that a neighborhood in Santa Rosa was destroyed during the Tubbs Fire in October 2017, but until I saw it from the air I had no conception at all of the scale of the devastation," he said. "With most wildfires, even in neighborhoods like this one, the fire sort of jumps around, destroying a home here, but leaving another one over there standing. But this was something like a square mile where every house was burned to the ground. It was just jaw-dropping, like nothing I'd ever encountered in all the years I had covered fires."
Justin Sullivan/Getty ImagesFIGHTING FIRE WITH FIREThe physical intensity of covering wildfires is not something the general public might give much thought to. But as Sullivan pointed out, "when photojournalists cover fires we're wearing the same protective gear as the firefighters. We're wearing fire suits, helmets, everything. I remember walking into a restaurant to have breakfast one morning with some other photographers while covering a fire and everyone in the place started applauding. When we told them sorry, we're just journalists, we don't deserve that, people said no, we did deserve it, because we were putting ourselves on the line to get the story out there. That sort of validation of what we do, by the people we do it for, is so gratifying." Pictured: Oceanside Fire Department captain Greg DeAvila shoots a flare into dry brush to try and head off the Rocky Fire on August 2, 2015, near Clearlake, California.
Justin Sullivan/Getty ImagesFIGHTING FIRE WITH FIREThe physical intensity of covering wildfires is not something the general public might give much thought to. But as Sullivan pointed out, "when photojournalists cover fires we're wearing the same protective gear as the firefighters. We're wearing fire suits, helmets, everything. I remember walking into a restaurant to have breakfast one morning with some other photographers while covering a fire and everyone in the place started applauding. When we told them sorry, we're just journalists, we don't deserve that, people said no, we did deserve it, because we were putting ourselves on the line to get the story out there. That sort of validation of what we do, by the people we do it for, is so gratifying." Pictured: Oceanside Fire Department captain Greg DeAvila shoots a flare into dry brush to try and head off the Rocky Fire on August 2, 2015, near Clearlake, California.
Justin Sullivan/Getty ImagesQUIET AND DEEPOn one level, the appeal of photographing wildfires is not hard to fathom. After all, fires are inherently dramatic — they can be simultaneously terrifying and gorgeous. However, Sullivan noted, "a successful fire picture doesn't necessarily need to have any fire in it at all. They can be quiet moments, too. This picture is a good example. These two women, a mom and daughter, are hugging in the middle of this terrible scene because firefighters just found the mom's wedding ring, and returned it to her. So this is one of those quiet shots that, I think, has tremendous resonance." [Pictured: Weed, California, September 16, 2014.]
Justin Sullivan/Getty ImagesQUIET AND DEEPOn one level, the appeal of photographing wildfires is not hard to fathom. After all, fires are inherently dramatic — they can be simultaneously terrifying and gorgeous. However, Sullivan noted, "a successful fire picture doesn't necessarily need to have any fire in it at all. They can be quiet moments, too. This picture is a good example. These two women, a mom and daughter, are hugging in the middle of this terrible scene because firefighters just found the mom's wedding ring, and returned it to her. So this is one of those quiet shots that, I think, has tremendous resonance." [Pictured: Weed, California, September 16, 2014.]
Justin Sullivan/Getty ImagesRED AHEAD"If you're a credentialed member of the press, you can effectively go anywhere within a fire that's burning in California," Sullivan pointed out. "Cal Fire (the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection), the agency responsible for fighting fires statewide, conducts training courses in newsrooms, so journalists know how to act and react in these situations. There's no statute that says you have to have that training — but if you value your life, I can't imagine why any journalist wouldn't take advantage of it." [Pictured: A plane drops fire retardant ahead of the River Fire as it burns through a canyon on August 1, 2018, in Lakeport, California.]
Justin Sullivan/Getty ImagesRED AHEAD"If you're a credentialed member of the press, you can effectively go anywhere within a fire that's burning in California," Sullivan pointed out. "Cal Fire (the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection), the agency responsible for fighting fires statewide, conducts training courses in newsrooms, so journalists know how to act and react in these situations. There's no statute that says you have to have that training — but if you value your life, I can't imagine why any journalist wouldn't take advantage of it." [Pictured: A plane drops fire retardant ahead of the River Fire as it burns through a canyon on August 1, 2018, in Lakeport, California.]
photo Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
photo Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
photo Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
photo Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
Justin Sullivan/Getty ImagesBE PREPARED"To do our jobs the best we can," Sullivan said, "we have to know what we're getting into. The Cal Fire training is so helpful, because we learn about how to react when the wind shifts, what gear we need to bring, what helmet to wear, all of that. I'm not going to say that I've never felt my life was in danger while covering fires, but I can't say that I was ever in such a bad situation that I felt like my number was up.” [Pictured: Homes destroyed by the Carr Fire on July 27, 2018, in Redding, California.]
Justin Sullivan/Getty ImagesBE PREPARED"To do our jobs the best we can," Sullivan said, "we have to know what we're getting into. The Cal Fire training is so helpful, because we learn about how to react when the wind shifts, what gear we need to bring, what helmet to wear, all of that. I'm not going to say that I've never felt my life was in danger while covering fires, but I can't say that I was ever in such a bad situation that I felt like my number was up.” [Pictured: Homes destroyed by the Carr Fire on July 27, 2018, in Redding, California.]
Justin Sullivan/Getty ImagesFIGURINE IN RUINED LANDSCAPEA figurine found at the site of a Santa Rosa home destroyed by the Tubbs Fire in October 2017. The fast-moving wildfire destroyed thousands of structures and claimed the lives of at least 22 people across several northern California counties.
Justin Sullivan/Getty ImagesFIGURINE IN RUINED LANDSCAPEA figurine found at the site of a Santa Rosa home destroyed by the Tubbs Fire in October 2017. The fast-moving wildfire destroyed thousands of structures and claimed the lives of at least 22 people across several northern California counties.
Justin Sullivan/Getty ImagesSCARY BEAUTIFULAny photographer worth his or her salt will , of course, not only look to cover a fire responsibly and thoroughly, but will also try to take memorable pictures. For Sullivan, shooting wildfires is a chance to cover major news while also occasionally capturing the breathtaking sights that can emerge from an inferno. "Flames lighting up smoke or clouds, or an unexpected combination of colors will suddenly grab your attention, and if you're ready for it, if you're in the right spot at the right time, you might get a picture that's not only newsworthy, but beautiful" he said. [Pictured: Cal Fire firefighters watch a large plume of smoke as it rises from the Rocky Fire on August 1, 2015 near Clearlake, California.]
Justin Sullivan/Getty ImagesSCARY BEAUTIFULAny photographer worth his or her salt will , of course, not only look to cover a fire responsibly and thoroughly, but will also try to take memorable pictures. For Sullivan, shooting wildfires is a chance to cover major news while also occasionally capturing the breathtaking sights that can emerge from an inferno. "Flames lighting up smoke or clouds, or an unexpected combination of colors will suddenly grab your attention, and if you're ready for it, if you're in the right spot at the right time, you might get a picture that's not only newsworthy, but beautiful" he said. [Pictured: Cal Fire firefighters watch a large plume of smoke as it rises from the Rocky Fire on August 1, 2015 near Clearlake, California.]
Taking down the messenger
Attack on photo journalist in Dhaka: image via Saif Shamim @saif_shamim, 5 August 2018
Attack on photo journalist in Dhaka: image via Saif Shamim @saif_shamim, 5 August 2018
Students demanding justice for fellow students murdered by buses on rampage. Abdul Karim Rajib and Dia Khanam Meem, students of Shaheed Ramiz Uddin Cantonment School and College were killed on 29th July 2018: image via Shahidul Alam @shahidul, 1 August 2018
Shahidul AlamVerified account@shahidul
Students demanding justice for fellow students murdered by buses on rampage. Abdul Karim Rajib and Dia Khanam Meem, students of Shaheed Ramiz Uddin Cantonment School and College were killed on 29th…
Students Protest Against Reckless Driving Roil Bangladesh while Chhatra League and police collude again to revert to status quo. No wonder there is no trust in the government #politics #Bangladesh #governance: image via Shahidul Alam @shahidul, 3 August 2018
Bangladeshi police clash with students in Dhaka on Sunday. Photo: Munir Uz Zaman/AFP/Getty Images: image via The Guardian, 5 August 2018
#Bangladesh Top Bangladeshi photographer Shahidul Alam arrested for demo interview Photo: Munir Uz Zaman #AFP: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 6 August 2018
Police escort the photographer Shahidul Alam outside the chief metropolitan magistrate court: photograph: Monirul Alam/EPA, 6 August 2018
Shahidul Alam, who was arrested at his home in Dhaka.: Photograph: Alamy, 6 August 2018
Photographer charged as police crackdown in Bangladesh intensifies: Shahidul Alam, 63, had been arrested over 'provocative comments' on student protests: Michael Safi in Delhi and agencies, The Guardian, 6 August 2018
Police in Bangladesh have charged a prize-winning photographer for “provocative comments” made in an al-Jazeera interview about protests that have convulsed the country for more than a week.
More than 100 people were injured at the weekend during a demonstration over road safety as police fired teargas and rubber bullets and crowds of people attacked protesters, photographers and the US ambassador’s car.
At least 20 plainclothes officers picked up Shahidul Alam, 63, at his home in the capital, Dhaka, at about 10pm on Sunday, hours after his comments were broadcast by the Qatar-based TV station, his colleague Abir Abdullah told Agence France-Presse.
Police charged Alam on Monday under section 57 of Bangladesh’s Information Communications Technology Act, a broad law against electronic communication that “tends to deprave or corrupt” or prejudices the image of the state. He was placed on seven-day remand.
Scores of journalists and citizens have been arrested without warrant, prosecuted and jailed under the law, which human rights groups say is draconian and the government admits has been misused.
Friends of the photographer said he was unable to walk by himself in court and told them he had been assaulted by authorities. “He said he was beaten up and had blood all over,” said ASM Rezaur Rahman, a colleague.
Alam is the founder and managing director of the Drik gallery and the creator of the Pathshala South Asian Media Institute in Dhaka, which has trained hundreds of photographers.
His photographs have been published in almost every major western media outlet, including the New York Times, Time magazine and National Geographic in a career that has spanned more than four decades.
–– ADVERTISEMENT ––
In recent days, Alam photographed the demonstrations by tens of thousands of teenagers in Dhaka and beyond, and discussed the protests on Facebook Live.
His partner, Rahnuma Ahmed, told a press conference in Dhaka she was near their apartment on Sunday night when the photographer was taken.
“I was not in the flat, but I heard a scream and I ran down to find out [what had happened],” she said. “We heard from the security guards and our landlord that [Alam] had been forced into a car. There have been about 30 to 35 men in plain dress. They had forcefully taken away the CCTV camera footage, they put Scotch Tape on the CCTV camera.”
The student protests, now in their ninth day, began after a speeding bus killed two teenagers on 29 July, with demonstrators calling for government to address Bangladesh’s chaotic roads.
On Saturday, the Dhaka protests turned violent the Dhaka protests turned violent when more than 100 people were hurt as police fired rubber bullets at demonstrators, according to students and doctors who treated the injured.
There was more violence raged on Sunday as police fired teargas into a large crowd marching toward an office of the ruling Awami League party.
Amnesty International called for Alam to be “immediately and unconditionally released”.
Omar Waraich, the group’s deputy South Asia director, said: “His arrest marks a dangerous escalation of a crackdown by the government that has seen the police and vigilantes unleash violence against student protestors.
“The Bangladeshi government must end the crackdown on the student protestors and people speaking out against it. The students have a right to peaceful assembly and physical security.”
The UN said it was “deeply concerned about the reports of violence” and that worries about road safety were legitimate.
Police have also detained an actor for spreading rumours after she allegedly said in a Facebook post that two protesters had been killed and another had had an eye gouged out.
Agence France-Presse contributed to this report
Students sing the national anthem as they take part in a protest over recent traffic accidents that killed a boy and a girl, in #Dhaka, #Bangladesh. Photo by Mohammad Ponir Hossain/@reuters: image via Saif Shamim @saif_shamim, 8 August 2018
A Dhaka court placed Drik Gallery owner and eminent photographer Dr Shahidul Alam on seven-day remand in a case filed against him under Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Act. @shahidul #FreeShahidul #bangladeshstudent protests: image via Saif Shamim @saif_shamim, 6 August 2018
Bangladesh considers capital punishment for traffic accident deaths #bangladeshstudentprotests: image via Saif Shamim @saif_shamim, 6 August 2018
The cabinet has given its final approval to a draft of the Road Transport Act 2018 that raises the maximum sentence for deaths from road accidents to five years from three in prison and fines. #bangladeshstudent protests: image via Saif Shamim @saif_shamim, 6 August 2018
Police have clashed with student protesters calling for safer roads at East West University in Dhaka’s Rampura and Aftabnagar.: image via Saif Shamim @saif_shamim, 6 August 2018
#ReleaseShahidul @shahidul: image via Saif Shamim @saif_shamim, 5 August 2018
Photographer's Backdrop, Guadalajara 1980: photo by Marcelo Montecino, 27 August 2010
The wash, Mexico: photo by Marcelo Montecino, 6 September2010
Zacapu, Mexico, 1967 -89 -127: photo by Marcelo Montecino, 11 November 2014
Mexico, 1976, -29m: photo by Marcelo Montecino, 5 November2013
Texcoco, EDOMEX 2017... (El Tecojote, Santiago Cuautlalpan, Mexico): photo by Fermin Guzman, 24 August 2017
Texcoco, EDOMEX 2017... (El Tecojote, Santiago Cuautlalpan, Mexico): photo by Fermin Guzman, 24 August 2017
Texcoco, EDOMEX 2017... (El Tecojote, Santiago Cuautlalpan, Mexico): photo by Fermin Guzman, 24 August 2017
Untitled [Dhaka]: photo by Muhammad Imam Hasan, 14 July 2018
Sex in the City [Dhaka]: photo by Md. Enamul Kabir, 15 July 2018
Sex in the City [Dhaka]: photo by Md. Enamul Kabir, 15 July 2018
Sex in the City [Dhaka]: photo by Md. Enamul Kabir, 15 July 2018
