Reflection

On October 5, 2011, New Zealand experienced our worst environmental disaster. The Rena, a cargo ship, tipped near the Bay of Plenty and spilled 360 tonnes of fuel oil. Beaches were closed, and it is estimated 20,000 seabirds were affected. I was small when it happened, but I remember it was all anyone could talk about for weeks. In comparison to the amount of oil spilled in the Gulf of Mexico, it’s not a lot, but for us, clean green NZ, it was hard. We are small. We didn’t think it would happen here. In these situations, it is easy to blame the captain, the ship, the company. It is easy to point fingers and hope it won’t happen again. But our constant demand for more oil, for more product (and then our ignorance to how it gets to us) is killing our oceans. There were eight crates of hazardous material on that ship, but no one cared until it tipped. In my piece, I showed this with the black claws digging into the figure, which represents our greed. The flashing dollar and toxic signs in her eyes symbolise the danger that comes with our constant desire for more. It’s a simple metaphor, but it gets the message across: We are the problem!