Environment cartoon book

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Environmental cartoon book

The Beast That Ate the Earth
Environment cartoon book

Versions of many of the environmental cartoons on this site can be found in my book, The Beast That Ate the Earth.


I’ve been drawing cartoons on environmental matters since the early 1970s.
The book was published in 2004 and contains about a hundred cartoons in black and white.

The book is available through Amazon.
Such as at:
Amazon UK

Amazon USA

Amazon Germany

Easter Island statue – a cartoon about hubris and the degradation of the natural world

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easter island statue hubris cartoon

Easter Island statue – a cartoon about hubris

A cartoon showing Easter Islanders erecting a statue

There is a theory that the community on Easter Island went into decline when the Easter Islanders, the Rapa Nui, cut down all of the trees on the island while putting all of their efforts into erecting their famous statues, or moai.
With no trees left, life became unsustainable.

The cartoon can be seen as an argument for rewilding, the system by which degraded ecosystems can be returned to functioning systems by the reintroduction (either deliberately or by benign neglect) of native species.
An illustration about the hubris of power. It brings to mind Ozymandias by Percy Bysshe Shelley
Original cartoon drawn: 2012

Cartoon reference number: a537
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Tree of knowledge cartoon

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Tree of knowledge cartoon

Tree of knowledge cartoon

The tree of knowledge discovers where paper comes from.

Tree of knowledge discovers a disturbing truth.
This cartoon may be used as an environmental cartoon about the use of wood for the production of paper products.
It may also be used as an illustration concerning the human condition – about the way that people, through their own intelligence, have become aware of the ultimate fate of all of us, death. (a fate that other species of animal are possibly blissfully unaware in any deep way).
The cartoon is also about the way that human intelligence as well as bringing about awareness has brought us to the situation in which we are destroying the environment.
A cartoon about paper manufacturing, philosophical insight and the curse of self awareness

Cartoon reference number: a479

Easter Island statues cartoon. No trees on Easter Island

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Easter island statues cartoon

Easter Island statues cartoon.
The are no trees on Easter Island

Easter Island (Rapa Nui) is famous for its statues known as moai.
Easter Island is often cited as a warning of the cultural and environmental dangers of overexploitation, as the people cut down all of the trees, making the land uninhabitable. There’s a chapter about it in the book “Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Survive” by Jared Diamond.

A cartoon about deforestation, resource depletion and over-exploitation.

Cartoon reference number: a362

House name cartoon. Turning Oak Cottage into Primrose Cottage

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oak cottage - primrose cottage - joke

A cartoon about house names. Turning Oak Cottage into Primrose Cottage

Chopping down an oak tree in a garden means that the house name needs to be changed from Oak Cottage.

There’s a primrose in the garden, so the house name is changed to Primrose Cottage.
A humorous illustration about garden trees, felling trees, chopping down trees, garden flowers, wild flowers in the garden, natural gardens, tree stump in garden.
Cartoon reference number: a214

See my book of gardening cartoons here.

Tree of life logo

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tree of life cartoon - being watered

Environmental illustration showing the tree of life being tended and watered by a person.

Artwork showing the tree of life being looked after by humans.
This is a positive image to encourage people to take care of the planet.
It’s a change from the environmental images which depict the human race destroying the environment.

An environmental cartoon about ecology, species interdependence, symbiosis, caring for the planet.
An image for earth day.

Cartoon reference number: a041
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Deforestation cartoon. Habitat depletion cartoon

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Deforestation cartoon - lumberjacks observing environmental destruction

Environmental cartoon about deforestation
Lumberjacks observing environmental destruction after felling trees

One of the lumberjacks is saying to the other lumberjack “It’s only now that we’ve chopped down all of the trees that we can see the damage we’ve done”

An alternative caption may be “You can’t see the wood for the lack of trees.”

The point of the cartoon is that you can’t appreciate the environmental damage you’re doing until you’ve done it.
A cartoon about forest clearance, rainforests, habitat destruction, logging

env080

Deforestation cartoon. Forest clearance discovering new species as it advances

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Deforestation cartoon. Discovering new species as they fell trees.

Forest clearance cartoon
Deforestation cartoon

Loggers discovering new species as they advance into the forest, thus claiming that they are increasing the number of species on earth rather than depleting them

A cartoon about species depletion, statistics, statistical manipulation, deforestation, extinction, logging, land acquisition

Cartoon reference number: env081
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Deforestation cartoon. Greenpeace cartoon – direct action to save the rainforest

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Greenpeace boat buzzing rainforest clearance bulldozer

Deforestation cartoons
Greenpeace cartoon – Greenpeace taking direct action to save the rainforest

Cartoon showing a Greenpeace inflatable boat buzzing a bulldozer that is bulldozing and destroying the rainforest, just as Greenpeace famously buzz the whaling ships

A cartoon about direct action in environmental campaigning.
An illustration about forest clearance, logging, tree felling

Ref: env083

Environment cartoon. The Four Truck Drivers of the Apocalypse

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Environmental cartoon - Four Truckdrivers of the Apocalypse

Environmental cartoon
The Four Truck Drivers of the Apocalyse.

The cartoon shows lorries carrying cargoes that are symbolic of the ills of contemporary western society (with other societies fast catching up).
One lorry carries toxic waste, another logs from logging activity that is depleting the world’s natural resources, another carries weapons, arms and armament while the last one carries the catering facilities for the others – fast food or convenience food

Based on the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse
A cartoon about environmental degradation, war, man made disaster, over consumption, resource depletion, the end of civilisation as we know it
Ref env048
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Environment cartoon. Cut down a tree with a chainsaw that uses biofuel?

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biofuel chainsaw cartoon

Environment cartoon
Biofuel cartoon
Chainsaw cartoon

A lumberjack with a chainsaw cutting down a tree, explaining that it’s okay because the chainsaw runs on biofuel. A cartoon that illustrates the way that biofuel is promoted and packaged as eco-friendly or environmentally friendly, when in fact it isn’t

A cartoon about tree felling, deforestation, chainsaws, biodiesel,alternative fuel sources,ecology, ecological sustainability, environmentally sustainable energy use.
Cartoon reference number: env055

The Tree Of Knowledge Discovering What Paper is Made From

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Cartoon: the tree of knowledge discovering that paper is made from wood

Cartoon: the tree of knowledge reading a book, and discovering that paper is made from trees
A cartoon about the saying ‘ignorance is bliss’

A cartoon about the acquisition of knowledge and its possible unsettling consequences

The cartoon can be interpreted as being about the fact that humans are aware of their own mortality due to their level of awareness
Cartoon reference: env118
Cartoon drawn: 1991