Living in a precarious but carbon negative existence, the seaweed farming families of Beniamina (pop.130) inhabit a rapidly eroding Solomon Islands atoll. Their part of the South Pacific Ocean is a sea level rise hotspot where waters are rising 7-10mm per year, and accelerating.
No passive victims however, the islanders’ aquaculture is in fact carbon negative: their seaweed crops sequester the CO₂ that we emit a world away.
The project showcases climate justice: how those living low-carbon (or even carbon-negative) lifestyles are existentially affected by actions, decisions and pollution a world away. In Beniamina we see why climate justice is central to successfully addressing the global climate crisis.
INTERACTIVE 360º
SOS Beniamina is also an interactive 360º work (below) for schoolchildren.
Beginning with a view of the village children forming (in human letters) an “SOS” on their rapidly eroding island, users can move around a full 360º aerial panorama, clicking on hotspots to find documentary stories about Beniamina that relate to Pacific Ocean sea level rise, loss and damage, climate change adaptation, local resilience, and sustainable smallholder agriculture using carbon negative sinks.
It’s a crucible of the issues underlining the need for “climate justice” and a just transition.
🏆 Winner, 1st prize, "Climate Change - The Grand Challenge” (Shylock University Theatre Centre of Venice in cooperation with Ca'Foscari University of Venice), 1 Dec 2023.
🏅 Finalist, 2023 Climate Change Communication Award (Euro-Mediterranean Centre for Climate Change).