Over: The American Landscape At The Tipping Point Download Free (EPUB, PDF)
For more than 30 years, Alex MacLean’s aerial photographs have captured the evolution of the American landscape and the complex relationship between its natural and constructed environments that contribute to climate change. Over: The American Landscape at the Tipping Point is an ambitious and visually breathtaking catalogue of the extraordinary patterns and profound physical consequences brought about by natural processes and human intervention. The book allows readers to visualize climate change and our culture's excessive use of resources and energy, which account for our oversized carbon footprint. It demonstrates the extent to which the human ecosystem, and our economic and social well being, are dependant upon our wise use of land and its resources. Over is divided into sections covering such as Atmosphere; Way of Life; Automobile Dependency; Electricity Generation; Deserts; Water Use; Sea-Level Rise; Waste and Recycling; and Urbanism. MacLean’s powerful photographs and insightful text make it clear that maintenance of the current American lifestyle is incompatible with a planet of diminishing natural resources and a finite atmosphere. Over compels us all to reconsider our basic assumptions about how we live, work, and play, and reveals that, while the challenges we face today are not insurmountable, the future depends on our collective vision, passion, and commitment.
Hardcover: 336 pages
Publisher: Harry N. Abrams (October 1, 2008)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0810971453
ISBN-13: 978-0810971455
Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 1.4 x 13.2 inches
Shipping Weight: 5.7 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
Best Sellers Rank: #852,987 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #69 in Books > Arts & Photography > Photography & Video > Aerial #194 in Books > Arts & Photography > Photography & Video > Architectural > Cities #1374 in Books > Arts & Photography > Photography & Video > Photojournalism & Essays > Photo Essays
While some may struggle to verbally explain abstractions like ‘auto-dependency,’ ‘resource depletion’ or ‘density,’ aerial photographer MacLean heeds the ancient wisdom about the power of a picture.Transcending usual limits of geography and scale, he rises above and captures in rich detail those scenes we only catch brief unsatisfying glimpses of during our own infrequent takeoffs and landings from commercial airspace. With nothing more than a ‘click,’ he makes all of those abstractions and subjective arguments fade away into beautifully composed, sometimes frightening, always arresting images of our American landscape.When architect Alex MacLean started photographing the American landscape with a plane’s yoke in one hand and a telephoto lens in the other more than 20 years ago, it kicked off an aerial exploration that would carry him across the country. Through the years, he’s flown over much of the United States, from coast to coast, freezing the American landscape in time.Early on in his work, the tone of his commentary was cautious at times, leaving the reader or viewer to draw their own conclusions about the wisdom of things like subdivided tract homes and swimming pools far from town in a vast western desert. In retrospect, this was perhaps a fitting tone for an explorer currently on the journey, before he’s seen enough to render his own verdict.Now, after several decades of seeing and learning about all of the best and worst that America has to offer, MacLean seems confident in the conclusions he asserts about the wisdom and sustainability of the way we live with our land.
Over: The American Landscape at the Tipping Point The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference The Miracle of Freedom: 7 Tipping Points That Saved the World West Point Atlas for the American Civil War (The West Point Military History Series) The West Point History of the Civil War (The West Point History of Warfare Series) Theory in Landscape Architecture: A Reader (Penn Studies in Landscape Architecture) Landscape Ecology Principles in Landscape Architecture and Land-Use Planning The Inspired Landscape: Twenty-One Leading Landscape Architects Explore the Creative Process Landscape Graphics: Plan, Section, and Perspective Drawing of Landscape Spaces Landscape Photography: The Ultimate Guide to Landscape Photography at Night Photography: Landscape Photography: 10 Essential Tips to Take Your Landscape Photography to The Next Level Landscape Meditations: An Artist's Guide to Exploring Themes in Landscape Painting Oil Painter's Solution Book - Landscapes: Over 100 Answers and Landscape Painting Tips America The Black Point of View - An Investigation and Study of the White People of America and Western Europe and The Autobiography of an American Ghetto Boy, The 1950s and 1960s Frederick Law Olmsted: Designing the American Landscape National Park Roads: A Legacy in the American Landscape Hudson Valley Ruins: Forgotten Landmarks of an American Landscape The Highwaymen: Florida's African-American Landscape Painters American Landscape Pocket Monthly Planner 2017: 16 Month Calendar Trace: Memory, History, Race, and the American Landscape
