[Kamal]

Hi Everybody,
I'm posting this illustration I finished recently. Please let me know what you think. I did most of the shading with pencil and then colored and refined it in photoshop. It's about Gluttony in the world (primarily the U.S).

These were some of the facts that inspired me to do this illlustration:

The U.S. consumes about 35% of the worlds energy supply

About one-third of the world's total grain harvest is fed to livestock while 1.3 billion people suffer from chronic hunger and malnutrition and 40-60 million people die each year from hunger and related
diseases.

In the U.S, where people eat more meat than in any other country in the world, cattle and other livestock consume over 70 percent of all grain produced. And what about U.S. grain exports? Sixty-six percent of all grain exports goes to feed livestock rather than hungry people.

70 percent of all water consumed in the U.S. is used to grow feed and provide drinking water for cattle and other livestock such as sheep, goats, and chicken.




[ May 27, 2002: Message edited by: Kamal ]

[ May 27, 2002: Message edited by: Kamal ]

[Kamal]

[ May 27, 2002: Message edited by: Kamal ]

[PixHortHiT]

I LIKE IT!!

[unraveled]

nothing like a well done illustration to get people thinking. I never think about politics if I can help it. The numbers in the info you provided are shocking. Very nice job.

[hamilton]

you wanna think about something? wrap your head around this one. how quickly would the world over populate if there weren't people moving out all the time. war is not just a horrible sequence of battles, it is also a way of stemming population growth. but considering that the livestock then become food themselves, that statistic is not nearly as alarming. everything has it's purpose in the grande scheme of things.


and oh yeah, really excellent illustration. if a bit misguided. i'm sure china consumes more food then we do.

[ May 28, 2002: Message edited by: hamilton ]

[sfr]

Nice illustration Kamal! Clean style, and the mood and diffuse lighting work very well.

Hamilton...

quote:

---

Originally posted by hamilton:

and oh yeah, really excellent illustration. if a bit misguided. i'm sure china consumes more food then we do.

---

I wouldn't be so sure. The point here is that feeding grain to livestock is an extremely inefficient method of producing food. According to the numbers I found with a very quick search, only 11% of the feed goes to produce the beef, the rest is obviously burned off by the animal to keep itself alive. And only 6% of the plant protein ends up as flesh protein.

With such efficiency numbers, it's not impossible that the US would produce more grain to keep up the hamburger supply than China does to feed its 1.2 billion people. (I don't have any numbers though, and I don't think this is really the case, but it's still something to think about...)

quote:

---

you wanna think about something? wrap your head around this one. how quickly would the world over populate if there weren't people moving out all the time. war is not just a horrible sequence of battles, it is also a way of stemming population growth.

---

That's really a quite disgusting argument for this discussion. If you think that the lifelong suffering and death of millions of children is acceptable because it represents some kind of "survival of the fittest" (and since the problem of hunger is mainly one of global economics, it's more like "survival of the fortunate"), there's not much to say...

But the fact remains that there's enough food for everyone on this planet, it's just being used inefficiently. If agricultural production were shifted from livestock feed to food grains, a large part, or probably all, of the world's over 1 billion hungry people could be fed.

If this information puts someone off hamburgers just for a day, good

Saffron

[ELLioT]

Kamal: It's a good thing to see that not all US people has the same fascist way of thinking as Mister Hamilton....

Hamilton: Is there a world outside the USA? who cares anyway...

[Fredrik]

quote:

---

Originally posted by hamilton:
you wanna think about something? wrap your head around this one. how quickly would the world over populate if there weren't people moving out all the time. war is not just a horrible sequence of battles, it is also a way of stemming population growth. but considering that the livestock then become food themselves, that statistic is not nearly as alarming. everything has it's purpose in the grande scheme of things.

[ May 28, 2002: Message edited by: hamilton ]

---

That is wery easy to say when you live in a non starving country, and wery stupid. Do you think that the peoples in those countrys deserve or Want to be killed? Or that they'we got a chans at all to straiten(<--not know the spelling) up their lives? It could be your father who dies in another man's war in a foreign country, or your little sister who starves to death. Just because you were born in a rich country doesen't give you the rights to say that other people 'need to die because otherwise, we would have overpopulation'. The time you're willing to sacrifice yourself or a familymember so the world won't be overpopulated, then I(we) will listen to your stupid thoughts.

Syrry that I'm so OffTopic, but I get so mad when people say things like that.

[ceenda]

Nice illustration, cool style.

quote

Quote:

The U.S. consumes about 35% of the worlds energy supply

Umm, probably because it produces 35% of it (???) (e.g., only a small number of nations (relatively speaking) have nuclear technology and america probably has a few in every state compared to, say, France or the UK). Not dissin' your statistics, but flat out numbers aren't really helpful.

[SolarC]

Kamal: Really nice looking pic with important message! Good job!

Ceenda:

"Umm, probably because it produces 35% of it (???) (e.g., only a small number of nations (relatively speaking) have nuclear technology and america probably has a few in every state compared to, say, France or the UK). Not dissin' your statistics, but flat out numbers aren't really helpful."

Actually an average u.s. citizen comsumes many times more than he/she produces. We have a limited amount of resources on this planet so this over consumption is straight away from others. (read from less developed countries)

And how does the nuclear technology fit into this discussion? Ofcourse it's actually much more environment hostile energy than your country implies. The pollution comes from digging uranium and not from the actual factory so it's easy to market as environment friendly solution. (and the uranium is digged out elsewhere so you don't even have to deal with the environmental problems uranium mines cause in u.s.)

[sfr]

quote:

---

Originally posted by ceenda:
Umm, probably because it produces 35% of it (???) (e.g., only a small number of nations (relatively speaking) have nuclear technology and america probably has a few in every state compared to, say, France or the UK). Not dissin' your statistics, but flat out numbers aren't really helpful.

---

Actually France is the world's number one user of nuclear power (two thirds of consumed energy produced in local nuclear power plants).

But you're right, the 35% number on its own doesn't really tell anything. A more useful statistic would be average energy consumption per person. Here's one I found with a quick search (BTUs per capita is the relevant number in this table) - these are old numbers (1995), but according to this, US consumes twice as much energy as many other developed nations.

Saffron

[ceenda]

Sorry, got my wires crossed. I assumed that most of America's energy came from nuclear plants which were on home turf, so they weren't techinically 'stealing' energy from the rest of the world, which is what I thought was being implied. But yeah, the Uranium comes from somewhere.

PS - Hehe, SolarC, America is not my country. (though the proliferation of Starbucks on every street corner might be hint of it's presence)

[B]

one wonders how much extra energy is wasted continuing out this discussion. as opposed to drawing?

there are millionns of way to go on about this topic. let's merely critique' the image above, and if it is necessary to continue the discussion let's take it to a different Forum.

my 2 cents of wasted enegry

[vigilo]

Nice work Kamal. Overbloated fat US of A is extorting food from the rest of the world. I think the livestock issue is not as important as the overall feel and message of the picture. The worlds bully, taking the worlds lunch. Kinda goes along with 60% obesity of US population. Hehe.

Self serving nation #1. You don't think so? You are probably an American.

[SolarC]

Ceenda:

My bad! I remembered you to be american, I guess I've mistaken you for somebody else here at sijun.

I've got nothing against americans, but I do feel that the u.s. politics just fucks this world up big time...ofcourse we are pretty much in the same boat here in europe in many issues.

[egerie]

I really like (and honnestly quite suprised) on the tangent the discution took. i.e. : civilised and polite. Weeh.

B: or we could argue on the topic not with blabber essays but with illustrations in the same way Kamal did (lovely btw).

[Kamal]

wow!

I posted last night and woke up this morning to read an explosion of feelings and emotions.

First off, thank you so much for your responses. I'm actually glad that everybody started talking about the issue more than the image. That was my goal in creating the image but not when I posted it. It's amazing what art can do. It can communicate ideas and spark discussions and hopefully lead to problem solving.

I think there is obviously a lot more research that we all have to do in order to have enough facts to back up any kind of argument. To tell you the truth, I personally think that America isn't to blame for it's own downfalls. I think it's ourselves. The problems with America are the problems that are innate in our selves (the lower nature part of us as humans). I believe that if history had taken a different turn and another country had the opportunity to develop as much power as the U.S. then they would have taken it and they probably would have become just the same as the U.S. is now. The best way to change the world is to change ourselves. We need to overcome our own greed and selfishness. Stop eating so much. Become a Vegan (I'm far away from it). Take what we need and not so much what we want. We need to raise children responsibly and have no more than one or two. Make birth control available to everybody and education available for everybody.
There are so many small things we can do. Like turn off the lights when we're not using them. Turn off the computer at night.
Don't eat more than you need. Eat small portions. Don't eat out; try to cook your own food. Be content with what you have. I'm trying to work on these things myself. It's hard, especially when I live in the nation of choices, large portions, available resources and unlimited energy.

A big problem is the media but that's another story. I'm going to paint something on the media pretty soon. That has some issues that bother me as well. But once again, the media won't change till we change ourselves.

Lets leave the issue at that.
Like "B" said, there are probably other forums where we can discuss these kinds of issues. Lets critique the image.

One of the things I was wondering about was what you all thought about the person that symbolizes the world. I was thinking of putting a child there instead. Can you tell the person is carrying a hamburger?

Kamal

[ May 28, 2002: Message edited by: Kamal ]

[Mysen]

That is a powerful piece of Art man. I think it has a great message for many people to listen to and think about thier own countries.

It kicks ass I enjoyed it.

[Vesuvius]

I haven't read all of the discussion, but the majority of US power does not come from nuclear plants ceenda, and nuclear plants are no longer even being constructed in the US, although many are being decommissioned.

[Zorglub]

Excellent picture Kamal. One of the best I've seen in a while. And the message is crystal clear. Keep up the great work. Art has a great role in public awareness and I think yours serves that purpose very efficiently.

[Lukiaz]

Awesome pic, clear message indeed.

Just like to say I'm in full support of what you had to say. About we humans made an effort to change.

[zeitzeuge]

the image works perfectly.. already 20 replies and a discussion about the content.

great work :]

[Guy]

great work there . i feel it gets the message across. although i couldn't tell that it was a hamberger that the person was holding. perhaps adding some lettus and what not around it might help. also. what are the brick walls for? i'm just curious. i really like them. they really fit in the pic. i'm just wondering if there is any meaning to them.

[Poxin]

It's easy to say we need change, it's easier still to actually experiance it.

A beginning... question everything. Easy.

To find the answers, view everything as objectivly as you can.

Having trouble?

Marijuana, Psilocybin mushrooms, and LSD can be used as tools. Offering you a safe and enlightening way to objectivly view our reality.

Don't believe in drug use? here: Doubters of drug use

Love the artwork man, i'm working on some client work thats right along the same subject.

I'd love to see more stuff like this MORE!!

[tyron]

i love the picture as much as the debate you started! awesome work!

[Kamal]

Once again thanks everybody for your positive encouragement. It's my first political cartoon and after this post, I feel pumped up to do much more.

"Guy", regarding your question about the brick walls. They're symbolic. Everything in this image is symbolic. If you notice, the big U.S. character is in-between tall towers of brick and a weird mountain (in the foreground). I did this so that the U.S. character would feel visually contained in it's own little space/world. The water and the mountain (in the foreground) represent the natural boundaries that separate America with the rest of the world. The brick towers represent the artificial boundaries/veils that the U.S. has built to prevent it's own people from seeing the "light". (Notice that the sun is behind the brick towers). The Sun represents Truth, God, Nobility, Virtue, and all that good stuff. One of the tallest brick towers the U.S. has built in this century is the media. (Next painting)

Thanks for the tip on the hamburger. I'll see what I can do.

Kamal

[Beowulfthefallen]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Poxin:
It's easy to say we need change, it's easier still to actually experiance it.

A beginning... question everything. Easy.

To find the answers, view everything as objectivly as you can.

Having trouble?

Marijuana, Psilocybin mushrooms, and LSD can be used as tools. Offering you a safe and enlightening way to objectivly view our reality.

Don't believe in drug use? here: Doubters of drug use

Love the artwork man, i'm working on some client work thats right along the same subject.

I'd love to see more stuff like this MORE!!

---

Looks like Timothy Leary has come back to haunt us .

[landmaster]

It is very clear to many of the people here that you are a very intelligent, talented and thought provoking artist.
Many props to you my friend.
Oh, I gave you a five cause that's what I truly believe you deserve..

[Mb]

I think this is a fantastic illustration that conveys your viewpoint perfectly, but I feel like I have to chime in, just very quickly. It's somewhat unfair to depict the US as stealing the world's food supply considering the fact that it is the #1 exporter of foodstuffs in the world. It may not be taking the initiative to give food away to starving people, but the vast majority of countries export nothing at all simply because they can't. Perhaps being in this position gives the US a responsibility to help others on which it does not follow through, but it still does more to feed the rest of the world than any other country.

Anyways...awesome illustration (I especially like the shading and the sun), but I disagree with your message.

PS--Sorry to reply after the debate has ended, but I just felt that I needed to share my viewpoint.

[ May 28, 2002: Message edited by: Mb ]

[roundeye]

quote

Quote:

but it still does more to feed the rest of the world than any other country.

whatever, fatbody!