Ultra_eko Drops the Visual For "Viral", From His "Off the Grid" Album
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We are a species living beyond its means.
A species continuing to grow, with a world population figure estimated at 10 billion by 2050.
All this increase means bigger carbon footprints, more waste, more emissions; more housing and infrastructure; more mouths to feed, more water being used.
Ecological overshoot is where we are using up the planets resources faster than it can resupply them. Our consumption is overshooting the planets capability to supply at an increasing rate. We are, by all accounts, approaching critical points, and disastrous consequences. Much of these problems are driven by the capitalist model by which we are live, which not only encourages consumption and increasing amounts, but relies on this growth to survive. But unless we change our ways, or they are changed for us, as we have seen in the Covid crisis, then we are sowing the seeds of our own destruction.
Burning of fossil fuels which took millions of years to form; destroying rainforest and delicate ecosystems which have formed in perfect balances over millions of years, and which once gone will not be replaceable. Overfishing and plastic waste destroying our oceans, which some forecast will be left deserted of fish, filled instead with vast swarms of jellyfish.
‘Viral’ addresses all of these concerns, seeing us humans almost as products reeled off on a production line in a viral fashion, spreading uncontrollably across the earth. Acting and behaving without thought, driven merely by short-termist material gains, and brainwashed by glossy imagery. In many ways we are victims of our own success. We evolved to live in small tribes, who did indeed live day to day, and our brains have not been made to think long term, to see the bigger picture of how our behaviour affects the environment. We evolved to see a piece of fruit on a tree and to pick and eat it, as you never knew if it would still be there tomorrow. We evolved in an environment where it made sense to act and live for today, without long term considerations. Our success as a species means our brains and behaviours need to do some catching up to where we are at now, where everything is at our fingertips, and we don’t need to over consume, as natural as these behaviours may be to us. Food is no longer scarce so we don’t need to overeat; to hoard and gather as much as we can; we have created a world of abundance thanks to our intelligence and mastery over it. Now we must learn to reign in these natural urges and behave in a more conscientious and forward thinking manner. We must start acting in the interests of future generations. Civilizations grow great when it’s people plant trees in whose shade they know they will never sit.
Watch Ultra_eko’s Levmusic directed music video for “Viral” now, stream the “Off the Grid” album now, and connect with him on IG.