WORLD WATCH
Amazing images that celebrate the beauty and diversity of the incredible world we all share.
MIDDLESBROUGH, ENGLAND
It may look like the stuff of horror films, but this statue in Middlesbrough, England, actually has a positive and powerful social message. Created by artist Alfie Bradley, and known as ‘Knife Angel’, it’s a tribute to the lives lost to knife violence.
‘Knife Angel’ stands 8m tall, and is made from more than 100,000 knives that were turned over to police stations around the UK during confiscations and amnesties. Around a third of the knives were bloodied on arrival. Bradley then had to disinfect and blunt the weapons before welding them together to form the angel. While this proved to be very technically difficult, Bradley said it was the emotional challenge that took the biggest toll. As part of his process, he met with more than 80 families who had been affected by knife violence, then hand-engraved their messages on the blades that form the feathers of the angel’s wings.
Bradley got the idea for the piece while he was working as a sculptor at the British Ironwork Centre. After noticing the rise in stabbings around the UK, the artist wanted to create something that would help bring the issue of knife crime into the light. The number of crimes related to knives and other offensive weapons dealt with by British courts reached its highest level in nine years last year. The UK Ministry of Justice revealed that 21,484 offences were dealt with in England and Wales in 2018 – the highest number since 2009 (25,103). ‘Knife Angel’ is currently touring the UK to boost awareness and highlight efforts to curb knife violence.
ILULISSAT, GREENLAND
We might be feeling thankful that the weather is finally starting to warm up after winter, but the recent heat was not quite so welcome in Greenland. Higher than normal temperatures have caused widespread melting of the country’s ice sheet, sending rivers of meltwater rushing across its surface.
Caused by the same heatwave that wreaked havoc on Europe in late July, more than 10 billion tonnes of ice was lost to the oceans by surface melt in one day alone – and an estimated 248 billion tonnes have been lost this year in total. To give a sense of exactly how much this is, the Danish Meteorological Institute explains that just one billion tonnes of ice loss is equivalent to approximately 400,000 Olympic swimming pools.
This is the second major hot stretch to cause extreme melting of the ice sheet this year. The 2019 heatwaves have been especially impactful as they arrived after a very mild, dry winter and spring – which primed the ice sheet for melt. The result is a summer melt season so intense that it rivals the record for the most water loss ever recorded.
The rate of ice loss in Greenland has increased sixfold since the 1980s, according to a recent study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. The article also says the ice loss is responsible for raising global sea levels by 13.7mm since 1972. But the warmer conditions don’t only affect the landscape. If the sea temperatures rise, it could have a negative knock-on effect to the local fish and whale populations.