Bosch's Garden

The issues facing us today appear both adverse and diverse in nature: A treacherous environment, the growing wealth gap and the abuse of human-rights to name a select few. It seems an overwhelming task to quell these social harms. However, for the variety of their manifestations, all social issues, whether it is environmental, medical or political, contain a common root: Excess. Whether we are driving or eating more than we need or consuming cheaper products at the expense of others, we live a life of continuous “too much”, and its effects resound, exemplified in the cause of our current recession; Wanting too much harms all involved. This inherent problem of excess however, stands at stark paradox with humanity’s most basic strength: Ambition. Civilizations progress by individuals reaching out and wanting more and more. However, a shift has occurred. The world is getting so small and so crowded, now taking more than our share means taking someone else’s. Icarus has flown too close to the sun.

My destination is that of California, because no where else does the problem and solution of excess mingle in such proximity. As author Arthur Miller states, California is “a place of extremes”: Sustainable living communities rub shoulders with the overindulgence of Hollywood, a geographic manifestation of Bosch’s garden. My hope is to analyze the state of excess as well as elevated living, and California offers this holistic range to best portray the current global disparity.