Are the kids putting us to shame?

Amelia Collins

22 November 2012

The results of the Children's Eyes on the Earth International photo competition do not disappoint. If anything they should be a wake up call. 4 out of the 6 winning expose an environmental issue. If children as young as 8 (the age of the winner) are so frequently facing these issues that they choose to photograph them, surely we should sit up and listen?

Anastasya Vorobko said on winning the competition, "It's really inspired me to keep taking photographs to tell stories. I wanted to show everyone how bad the air is in our city. I see the bird in this picture as carrying a message around the world, with the hope that adults everywhere will start to care about the air that we breathe. If we don't look after our planet, then who will?"

Second prize winner Juan Carlos Canales commented that he worried about such issues as oil spills threatening our coastlines and pollution being emitted by factories, while third prize winners Bianca Stan and Michael Theodric stated we should cherish our environment as it is our future. Special prize winner Sophie Vela said that the environment is one of the most important things on Earth and public vote winner Kseniya Saberzhanova hopes the images in the contest would encourage people to think more carefully about how they treat the environment.

The simplicity of some of the images, such as In the wind by Sophie Vela (above) suggests that in an adult world, we might over complicate things. Not that the solutions are easy. But maybe if younger people are so good at seeing the challenges, we should also engage them in finding the solutions?

The subtlety of the The Last Breath by Kseniya Saberzhanova (above) is enough to convince me that we should speak to the next generation in when we're looking for solutions. Maybe we should recruit these photographers to our Youth and Education Network, where young people can get involved with Friends of the Earth's work.

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