Words About Things

Helena Christensen was one of the most recognizable supermodels of the 1990′s, she stared in the video for Wicked Game by Chris Isaak and was a Victoria’s Secret Angel. Now she has turned her hand to photography in order to document the effects of climate change in Peru. Her latest exhibitions is called Meltdown and focuses on the farmers and Alpaca herders of  the Peruvian alps.

Helena’s mother is Peruvian so she was keen to show how the environment in Peru is being effected by the pollution from more developed countries. She wants to highlight the effects of climate change on farming communities  as she feels that it is easy to get caught up in the scientific side of climate change and overlook the impact on individuals. she says the the effects of global warming are already visible in Peru:

In some pictures you can see a bit of snow but these were mountains that were, until 10-20 years ago, entirely covered. We saw firsthand how the rivers are drying out, and it’s raining less frequently so the sources of income the local farmers and alpaca herders have been living on for generations cannot be relied on.

An exhibition of Helena Christensen’s photographs will be shown at the Proud Gallery in London from November the 23rd. The exhibition has been organised by Oxfam who are trying to highlight the effects global warming in advance of the Climate Change talks in Copenhagen. The Copenhagen climate summit will be attended by delegates from 192 countries with the aim of establishing a new global treaty on climate change.

For more information on the exhibition see Oxfam’s Climate change page or the Proud gallery‘s website.

When Ricky Gervais invented Flanimals he had no idea that one day they would be doing their bit to save the world. Gervais invented the characters 25 years ago to make his nephew laugh. Since then Blimble Sprent, Plumboid Doppler, Sprot Guzzlor and the rest have become the stars of bestselling books and a forthcoming movie. Now they are doing their bit to help the victims of HIV/AIDS by appearing on a series of charity Christmas cards.

The cards are part of a series of charity gifts being sold this Christmas by Oxfam as part of their Oxfam Unwrapped campaign. The money raised will go towards helping to prevent the spread of AIDS in developing countries.

“Everyone thought Flanimals were useless – I did. But this year they’re helping Oxfam change the world. There are five Flanimal gifts to choose from and the money goes to different things. It might improve sanitation – give someone clean water. It might give people a voice if they’re oppressed. It might help general humanitarian work work or it might go towards the prevention of HIV and Aids.”

Oxfam also sell less traditional gifts such as clean drinking water or a goat to help families in developing countries. More info can be found on their site here.