Alvin is 14 years old and lives on Huene – an island the size of a football field on the Tulun Atoll. His illness, which the local doctor has no way of treating, has made him loose his toes and fingers. His parents just recently built a new hut for him on the beach front to get him away from the ants that are eating the plaster from his open wounds. They have no way of sealing them, and although he is now out of reach of the ants, flies still fill up the worn bandages every day from early morning till late afternoon.
Alvin’s family lives 80 km from the nearest neighbor. Their only means of transportation is a wooden canoe. For Alvin to get proper treatment he needs to be sailed to Bougainville and flown from there to Port Moresby in Papua New Guinea. Please help collect money to get Alvin transported to the hospital along with his mother via this donation site.
Bernard Tunim is back in Papua New Guinea and has formed a foundation together with three fellow islanders. Its name is Carterets Beyond 2000 Foundation. Andreas Kaholo, the chairman of the Council of Elders (the council of the 18 chiefs on the main island Han) is among the members of the group. The aim is to make The Carteret Islands (Tulun) inhabitable for future generations. More information to come.
Bernard Tunim, chief and fisherman from Tulun, delivered his second speech in Copenhagen yesterday and will spend the coming days on climate change related meetings. A number of people approached Bernard after his speeches and asked how they could help him. He will give it some thought and send a message through this site within a few days. Alongside Bernard Tunim the following people spoke at Bright Green 12 – 13 December 2009 in Copenhagen:
Dr. Rajendra Kumar Pachauri, Chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
U.S. Secretary of Commerce, Gary Locke
U.S. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu
H.R.H. The Crown Prince of Denmark
H.R.H. The Crown Princess of Sweden
H.R.H. The Crown Prince of Norway
Prime Minister of Denmark, Lars Løkke Rasmussen (Danish COP15 host)
Alvin is 14 years old and lives on Huene – an island the size of a football field on the Tulun Atoll. His illness, which the local doctor has no way of treating, has made him loose his toes and fingers. His parents just recently built a new hut for him on the beach front to get him away from the ants that are eating the plaster from his open wounds. They have no way of sealing them, and although he is now out of reach of the ants, flies still fill up the worn bandages every day from early morning till late afternoon.
Alvin’s family lives 80 km from the nearest neighbor. Their only means of transportation is a wooden canoe. For Alvin to get proper treatment he needs to be sailed to Bougainville and flown from there to Port Moresby in Papua New Guinea. Please help collect money to get Alvin transported to the hospital along with his mother via this donation site.
With the aid of the Confederation of Danish Industry I have been able to invite Bernard Tunim to Bright Green in connection with the UN Climate Change Conference. Bernard is chief and fisherman from Piul island on the Tulun Atoll (The Carteret Islands). He will be speaking both 12 and 13 December.
The pictures from Tulun were taken during January 2009 and will be supplemented with material from a second visit to the islands in the near future. The full length photo essay will be published here on the siteafter two screenings at Bright Green in connection with the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen.
Screenings 12 - 13 December 2009 Forum Copenhagen Julius Thomsens Plads 1 Frederiksberg C
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25 million people will be on the move in the coming decades as a result of climate change according to the UN . The Tulun Atoll in Melanesia is one of the first sources. Within few generations the sea is expected to have submerged the six tiny islands forcing the 1500 islanders to search for new land. 400 years of peaceful existence for the Tulun community is seeing an end and a new life in the money driven world awaits them. The pictures in this video show the time after the December 2008 flooding.
In an attempt to make navigation simpler and faster I have decided on this new layout. The photo essay - which is the central feature of this site – will be posted chronologically on the main page and added to the photo essays page as well. I want to emphasize the most recent work and that is the reason for running this site as a news bulletin. For the most part pictures will be embedded in videos with sounds, citations and text instead of using a traditional grid presentation with arrow navigation. The videos have full screen mode and can be downloaded for laptop or iPod viewing. The site will also features podcast subscription via iTunes (or directly from the site) as well as RSS feeds, if you want to keep up to date.