The Anthropocene

Ever since we first formed civilizations, we humans have been shaping our environment. In the course of our expansion, we destroyed natural spaces, subdued and even eradicated species we considered useless - and undesirable, polluted our atmosphere, the surface of the continents, the deepest oceans, even triggered earthquakes. In the space of just two centuries, we humans have appropriated all the mineral, vegetal and animal resources of value to us, at the risk of exceeding planetary limits. By what right? With what consequences? Some answers in pictures, below.

sous-menu Life on Earth : Introduction|3.5 billion years of evolution|Human-Nature Cohabitation>The Anthropocene

« Green City »

This photograph was taken on an autumn afternoon on the shores of the Lake Saint-Ferréol (Occitanie). By conferring a vertical movement to the sensor, the yellow flowers draw lines whose length, thickness and spatial distribution evoke a series of skyscrapers. Read more ...

Flowers on the shores of Lake Saint-Ferréol

« CO2 stripes »

This photograph was taken on an autumn afternoon on the shores of Lake Saint-Ferréol (Occitanie). By conferring a vertical movement on the sensor, the pine trunks create vertical stripes whose thickness and spacing evoke the famous « warming stripes ». Read more ...

Pine trunks on the shores of Lake Saint-Ferréol

« Winter in summer »

This photograph was taken one summer afternoon along a small road running through the Montagne Noire (Tarn, Occitanie). The intense sunlight seems to pierce the leaves of the trees, to the point of depigmenting them. It was like winter in the middle of summer. Read more ...

The summer sun bleaches the leaves of Montagne Noire trees

« The world after ... »

This photograph was taken on an autumn afternoon on the shores of Lake Saint-Ferréol (Occitanie). By decreasing the exposure time and increasing the depth of field, the landscape appears dark, despite the radiant sun. What does this other reality mean? Read more ...

A bare tree on the shores of Lake Saint-Ferréol

« Energy sobriety »

This photograph was taken on a full moon evening from Revel (Haute-Garonne, Occitanie). As our natural satellite made its appearance over the Montagne Noire, the orange-colored disk turned into an ever-diminishing lamppost. Read more ...

« Castrum moderne »

This photograph shows the possible evolution of a medieval village into an industrial city and then into a contemporary megalopolis. It was obtained by applying several image processing algorithms to a photograph of the Château de Saissac (Aude, Occitanie). Read more ...

Photographism of the castle of Saissac in the Aude

« Bras de mer »

This photographism shows the transformation of a landscape under the dual effect of rising sea levels and coastal erosion. It results from the application of image processing algorithms to a photograph of a field of sunflowers in the Lauragais region (Haute-Garonne, Occitanie). Read more ...

Photographism of a field of sunflowers in the Lauragais

« Summer clouds »

This photograph was taken on a summer evening, in the Lauragais region (Tarn, Occitanie). This vast plain is home to a large number of crops - some of which are grown on a sustainable basis. The others, far more numerous, require frequent irrigation due to the lack of suitable weather conditions. Read more ...

« Resist! »

This photograph was taken on summer in the Lauragais (Tarn, Occitanie). It features a conifer surrounded by brooms. Vestige of a distant past, memory of the Lauragais plain, of its many steep hills once covered with moor, broom and pastel flowers shining lemony. Read more ...

« Renewable ? »

This photograph was taken on a winter evening, after the Sun had disappeared behind a wind farm (Tarn, Occitanie), tinting the sky with that characteristic pink color. Read more ...

« Golden sky or starry sky ? »

This photography was taken on a summer evening from the village of Rennes-le-Château (Aude, Occitanie). It shows the light pollution generated by a few artificial lights in the sky over the Pic de Bugarach. Its harmful effects on flora and fauna are now well documented. Read more ...

Light pollution over the Pic de Bugarach

« It was an April 26 ... »

This photograph was taken on a spring day - April 26 to be precise - from the city of Revel (Haute-Garonne, Occitanie). It shows a vast cumulonimbus cloud at the foot of the Montagne Noire. An opportunity to remember the Chernobyl accident that occurred a few decades earlier. Read more ...

A cumulonimbus cloud at the foot of the Montagne Noire

« Lighting the Sky »

This photograph was taken on a summer evening from the village of Rennes-le-Château (Aude, Occitanie). It shows the light pollution generated by a few artificial lights in the sky over the Pic de Bugarach. Its harmful effects on flora and fauna are now well documented. Read more ...