Edward Burtynsky on the price of prosperity
The Current

Edward Burtynsky on the price of prosperity

B2Upper-intermediateSeptember 21, 202624 min
  • Interview

Edward Burtynsky is world famous for his monumental photographs that reveal in overwhelming detail the impact that human beings have had on planet earth. He has travelled all over the world documenting mines, quarries, recycling yards, tailings pods, refineries and factories — places that are essential to the modern world but few of us get to see. We talk about how his working class upbringing in St. Catharines, Ontario, working at General Motors, and in gold mines of northern Ontario shapes his art and how he wants Canadians to weigh the cost of industrial development at a time when major pr...

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This is a CBC Podcast. Hello, I'm Matt Galloway and this is the Current Podcast. My next guest

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Burtinski takes astonishing large-scale images that document the impact of human industry on

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0:30

This is a CBC Podcast. Hello, I'm Matt Galloway and this is the Current Podcast. My next guest is a Canadian photographer who has become world-famous for a particular kind of landscape. Edward Burtinski takes astonishing large-scale images that document the impact of human industry on vast swathes of this planet, tailing ponds in northern Ontario, oil fields in Alberta, California,

0:55

and Nigeria, lithium mines in Chile, enormous factories in China. And as Canada is set to ramp up major projects, Edward Burtinski has special insight into their benefits and their costs. He's also the subject of a new biography by McMaster University Professor James King

1:12

and Ed Burtinski joins me in our Toronto studio. Good morning. Good morning. Nice to see you.

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