ZEKE Magazine: Spring 2022

ZEKE
THE
MAGAZINE OF
GLOBAL DOCUMENTARY
Published by Social Documentary Network
Dear ZEKE Readers:
I am incredibly excited to have guest-edited this issue of ZEKE
magazine dedicated to showcasing sustainable solutions to the
climate crisis. As image makers, we hold a unique power to confront
audiences with uncomfortable truths, advance cultural understandings,
and promote social justice. But the image is only the beginning of the
conversation. The real work of social transformation lies in the removal
of barriers – physical, social, economic, and spiritual – that restrain
us from forging futures that are more equitable, just, and sustainable.
By way of example, the Earthrise photograph of 1968 radically
changed our conceptions of ourselves and this incredibly precious
world that we call home. But it was the legislation that followed – the
Clean Water Act of 1972, the Endangered Species Act of 1973, the
Superfund Act of 1980 – that created the structural change that the
new realization of our planet required.
In the 21 st century, we must move beyond merely documenting the
consequences of global warming—floods, fires, hurricanes, rising
seawater, and other environmental anomalies—since this is all now
known as fact. Rather, we must now shift our focus to stories of hope,
leadership, and sustainable solutions that communities across the
planet are pioneering to reduce global warming and prevent climate
change from causing cataclysmic destruction to the global human
community. Critically, for a solution to be truly sustainable, it has to
tackle not only the climate crisis (which is the fire in our house) but
also the systemic conditions that gave rise to the fire in the first place:
the broader social-economic paradigm of extraction, colonialism,
and unchecked consumption. If we support such systemic solutions,
not only will we put out the fire, but we stand to create a world that is
more equitable, diverse, inclusive, and beautiful.
Right now, all over the planet, these innovations are quietly coming
online, driven by people who I like to call ‘everyday visionaries’:
compassionate, hardworking, often ordinary folks who are fighting
for their families and their homelands by molding the political will,
building the cultural frameworks, and inspiring the imagination that
we need to make the transition towards a more sustainable world.
It may not be happening fast enough, and it may not be getting the
press that it deserves, but a new world is being born. I’ve seen it.
The fact is, we have a choice in the stories we tell, and the choices
we make today will give rise to the world we inherit tomorrow. So, let’s
choose to tell the stories of those who are laboring to bring forth a world
befit of our children. As a parent myself, I can think of no worthier cause.
Michael O. Snyder
Guest Editor
It has been such an honor to work with guest editor
Michael O. Snyder and all the photographers and
writers who have contributed to this issue of ZEKE. I
also want to thank the Foundation for Systemic Change
for their generous financial support both for the ZEKE
Award for Systemic Change and for this issue of the
magazine.
When we began planning the theme last
September, it was clear that climate change was the
greatest existential threat facing our planet. Now, in
just the past four weeks as of writing this letter the
world has been turned upside down, yet again. This
time by the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the threat
of the first use of nuclear weapons (excluding testing)
since atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and
Nagasaki 77 years ago.
As the war continues unabated, much of the world
is also reeling from the skyrocketing costs of energy
and grain. Putin would not have been able to launch
this war without the wealth afforded to him through
the extraction and sale of oil and our dependence on
fossil fuels. Now that the war is underway, the world
could have been more resilient to the rising price
of fossil fuels and grains if we had relied more on
renewable energy from solar, wind, hydro and other
sources, and had been further along with sustainable
agricultural practices.
The solutions to the climate crisis presented in this
issue of ZEKE largely focus on a recognition of the
fragile ecology of our planet and a move away from
extractive mining that ravages the environment. Also
evident is the understanding that Indigenous cultures
have always had about the interdependence of homo
sapiens and other species. While some may quiver at
the thought of the sacrifices we will need to make in
order to live in a sustainable world, just the opposite
may be true. As we learn to embrace a new respect for
the land that supports all life on this planet, humanity
will become richer spiritually and in our health and
well-being.
Glenn Ruga
Executive Editor
Matthew Lomanno
ZEKE SPRING 2022/ 1