Human activity is challenging the biophysical limits of our planet, as consumption, continuous expansion of the built environment, and the quest to control and manipulate nature intensifies across the globe. Inhabiting a world with finite natural resources while pursuing continuous growth—the illogical economic and industrial pursuit of the Anthropocene, a proposed new epoch in the history of Earth—has changed the face of our planet and had a drastic impact on those hidden in the background: human beings and a biosphere forced into servitude for an exploitative system. Our Earth: Breaking Limits, a thematic section at Verzio, will showcase films which visualize the radical environmental and social impacts of contemporary society, while offering stark depictions of the lengths to which humans go to find means of survival.

The consequences of consumer society have reached across the globe. While the internet has vastly increased our ability to view images, video and media from around the world, the negative social and environmental externalities of modern life still seem distant to many. As the quest for increased production output, development, economic growth and the “technologicalization” of everyday life still dominates global policy and governance, we head deeper into an unknown territory of challenging the natural systems which make life on this planet possible.

Have you ever wondered what becomes of the ever-increasing number of short-term use electrical items that have reached the end of their lifecycle, where and how rare earth metals are extracted from the ground and the impact on those forced to work in mining and informal material reclamation sites? Do you ever think about your relationship to ecosystems, and the ways we are restructuring nature through man-made trade-offs in forestry, agriculture, energy production, etc? Can you begin to imagine realistic alternatives which might secure the right to a healthy and fair living environment for present and future generations?

The five films featured in the Our Earth: Breaking Limits section of the Verzio 2018 program challenge the pervading myth that we can continuously increase our control over and impact on the Earth’s natural systems without breaching the limits of our planet and those who inhabit it. We invite you to view Welcome to Sodom, The Time of Forests, Blood Amber, Beautiful Things, and Little Yellow Boots to consider these notions yourself.

Logan Strenchock is the Environmental and Sustainability Officer at Central European University and is the Co-Founder of Cargonomia