ENVIRONMENT

Atmospheric pollution cartoon. Breathing clean air in a polluted atmosphere

An environmental cartoon about air pollution

A cartoon showing a man using an oxygen cylinder to breathe fresh air in a polluted atmosphere. The oxygen cylinder contains a tree that is generating oxygen

Part of the idea behind the illustration is to convey the concept that trees are the lungs of the world.
A cartoon about atmospheric pollution, clear air and toxic chemicals in the atmosphere, smog

Original version created: 1991

Cartoon reference number: env071a
Carbon footprint cartoon

A carbon footprint cartoon from my selection of environment cartoons.

The illustration shows a climate change conference, with the US delegate (Uncle Sam) wearing gigantic clown shoes. He is thinking ‘No one will take me seriously in these shoes’

A cartoon about the fact that (at the moment) the western world uses most of the world’s resources and thus is in no position to lecture about the impact of consumerism to the developing world

Created: 2016

Cartoon reference number: env001
The ship of fools

Ship of Fools environment illustration

Is the earth, and the human race, heading for disaster (because people seem to be only capable of short term planning)?

An environmental cartoon showing the earth as a ship, represented by half a globe, with people on the deck enjoying themselves, oblivious of the fact that they are steering the world towards catastophe

The illustration shows the world’s population as the passengers and crew of the Ship of Fools (or the fools on the ship)

Original version created: 1991

Cartoon reference number: a449
Climate crisis cartoon (and desertification cartoon)

From my selection of environmental cartoons

Climate change denial

A cartoon of a person with his head buried in the sand, hiding from the fact that global warming is affecting the environment. The cartoon shows parts of the world turning to desert as a result of climate change and unsustainable development.

Original version drawn: 1991

Cartoon reference number: env008
Self-driving cars cartoon or driverless cars cartoon

A cartoon about driverless cars.
How driverless cars may affect society

Driverless cars are also known as driver-free cars, self driving cars, autonomous cars or robot cars.

This is a futurology cartoon, predicting the future when self-driving cars are ubiquitous.
My view is that people will drive round whether they need to or not, simply because they can – a bit like the way people currently spend large amounts of their time glued to mobile phones even though they don’t necessarily have anything pressing to say. You can read an article of mine on the subject of driverless cars here.

Drawn: 2017

Cartoon reference number: a674
Climate change cartoon – flooding caused by global warming

Climate change cartoons
Anthropogenic global warming cartoon

Cartoon illustrating the consequences fossil fuel causing flooding.
Showing a car stranded in a flood

A cartoon about sustainability, the environment, floods, transport

Original version drawn: 1991

Cartoon reference number: env077
Environment cartoons – polar bear and penguins marching to save the ice caps

Environment cartoons – penguins marching to stop global warming

An illustration showing an environmental protest march of penguins and a polar bear

The penguins in this image are inspired by natural history documentaries about penguins that show the penguins marching in line from their nest site to their feeding ground many miles away.
This cartoon is meant to be a motivational and inspirational image, motivating people to get up and do something for the benefit of the environment (specifically in the areas of climate change and global warming).

Original version drawn: 2011

Cartoon reference number: a664
Environment cartoon – the impact of road traffic on the environment.

The environmental impact of road traffic

Roadkill cartoon
A cartoon about the effect of cars and roads on the environment

The image shows a globe of the earth squashed flat on a road by a car, signifying the global impact of cars and transport in general on the environment – a sort of global roadkill

Original version created: 2004

Cartoon reference number: a478
Environment cartoon – disposing of waste as landfill

For a colour version click here: Landfill cartoon

Environment cartoon.
Disposing of refuse as landfill in a quarry

A cartoon about environmental impact, indigenous peoples,recycling, waste disposal, and waste management

Original version drawn: 1990

Cartoon reference number: env068
Environmental sustainability illustration or logo

A cartoon about environmental sustainability

The illustration shows the earth as a flower being cared for by a person

Ref: a661
Environmental clothes drying technology

Ecological clothes drier – cartoon

Drying clothes on a washing line is the environment-friendly way to dry clothes

Ref: a653
Businesses profiting from climate change

Environment cartoon about profit from climate change

Showing business opportunities created by global warming.

The joke is based on the saying “It’s an ill wind that blows nobody good” (meaning that someone always benefits from any situation, including bad ones).
The cartoon is meant as a criticism of cynical profiteering from climate change – it’s not a criticism of pragmatic approaches to job creation as a result of climate change.

Ref: a648
Environmental cartoon – a rubbish skip (dumpster) as a boat

A dumpster as a lifeboat – cartoon or illustration

A cartoon showing a dumpster or rubbish skip used as a lifeboat or escape vessel by a family escaping from somewhere – probably from all of the waste generated by the consumer society

First version drawn: 1991

Cartoon reference number: a445
Environment cartoon – floods caused by climate change

Flooding caused by global warming

Drawn in 1991.
A comment on postponing taking action about global warming, using the saying “We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it”. Unfortunately, due to flooding, the bridge can’t be crossed.

From my collection of cartoons about global warming, climate change, floods, anthropogenic weather

Cartoon reference number: env076b
Hermit crab cartoon – using a tin can instead of a mollusc shell

A cartoon about pollution of the oceans
Hermit crabs using old tin cans instead of mollusc shells

Pollution of the oceans causing habitat depletion and ecosystem damage
See an alternative version of this marine pollution cartoon here

Cartoon reference number: env094
Marine pollution cartoon – twenty-first century hermit crab

A cartoon about marine pollution
A hermit crab using an old tin can instead of a shell

One of the ideas behind this cartoon is that pollution of the seas and oceans will cause depletion of life such as marine snails, making it necessary for hermit crabs to adapt to using discarded rubbish as protection.
The cartoon could also be interpreted as showing wildlife adapting to a changed ecosystem.
A cartoon about waste recycling, household waste, wildlife in danger.

See an alternative version of this cartoon here.

Cartoon reference number: env094b
High Speed Rail cartoon – HS2

HS2 cartoon

A comment on the proposed high speed rail service, HS2.
Inquiry into HS2 show different financial implications and differing conclusions about financial viability

The cartoon shows a government minister responsible for rail transport and trains looking at an inquiry report and thinking “My reputation’s on the line”

Cartoon reference number: a628
Environment cartoons – air pollution cartoon

A cartoon about air pollution from my environmental cartoons selection

A cartoon showing pollutants in the form of polluting black smoke issuing from a factory chimney.

Ref: a658
Over-population illustration

Global overpopulation cartoon
Population crisis or the overpopulation tsunami

An illustration about the crisis of overpopulation that is threatening the ecology of the planet

The world’s population is rising at an unsustainable rate, putting pressure on the earth’s resources and threatening its biosystem due to habitat loss

Cartoon reference number: a611
Global overpopulation cartoon

Population explosion cartoon

A cartoon about the fact that the rise in the human population is threatening the ecosystem of the earth.
The population is becoming increasingly unsustainable

Cartoon drawn: 2013

Cartoon reference number: a618
Pollution or carbon footprint cartoon

Environmental cartoon
Carbon footprint cartoon

An illustration about atmospheric pollution, industrial toxic emissions, smokestack industries

Smoke from a factory chimney forming into the shape of carbon footprints.

Cartoon reference number: env234
Environmental cartoon – packaging

Environment cartoons
Non-biodegradable packaging

A cartoon about environment-friendly materials.
A discarded polystyrene container talking to animals, saying that it likes nature so much that it’s decided to stay around for a long time.

An illustration about biodegradable packaging materials, litter, recycling, waste, consumerism, bio-decomposition, environmental impact

Cartoon reference number: env069b
Adapt to climate change – cartoon

A comment on climate change

Some people think that rather than trying to prevent climate change and global warming we should treat climate change as inevitable and adapt to it.

Ref: a649
Environment Cartoons

Click the image to see more cartoons

Environment cartoons

I’ve been drawing cartoons about environmental issues since my student days.
I think my first one was a cartoon about the use of ambergris (extracted from sperm whales) in cosmetics. That was back in about 1970.
I’m still at it today.
Now I’ve started to combine drawing cartoons about the environment with a bit of practical work on the subject, managing my plot of land in west Cornwall for the benefit of wildlife.
Click on the cartoon to see the rest of my environment cartoons.
Endangered species cartoon

Environment cartoons
Endangered species cartoon

A fish restaurant selling endangered species of fish

Over fishing is depleting fish stocks, with species such as cod and tuna being put on endangered species lists
A cartoon about food, resources, fishing quotas

Original version drawn: 2004

Reference number: a572
Environmental illustration

Caring for the environment cartoon
Watering a flower that represents the earth.

An illustration showing the earth in the form of a flower, being watered

A cartoon about caring for the planet and the environment

Cartoon reference number: a552
Environment cartoon – cycling as sustainable transport

Environment cartoon – sustainable transport

An illustration showing a family on a tandem as an environmentally friendly method of transport

Bicycle cartoon or illustration

Cartoon reference number: a551
Environment cartoon – earth as a balloon

Environment cartoon – earth as a balloon

An illustration showing the earth as a passenger balloon, with people throwing consumer goods over the side in order to keep afloat.
The idea is that the human race needs to jettison its dependence on consumer goods.

The concept behind the illustration is a little similar to the ‘spaceship earth’ metaphor

Cartoon reference number: a550
Sundial cartoon. A sundial is a solar powered clock

Sundial cartoon. A sundial is a solar powered clock

In the cartoon a person is looking at a sundial and is saying “It’s incredible that all those years ago they’d developed solar-powered clocks.”
The cartoon illustrated how in the modern world we assume everything has to be powered by a relatively modern form of power, such as electricity in the form of batteries or mains electricity. In the past everything was powered by “sustainable” or “natural” resources, such as solar power, the wind or water.

A cartoon about the history of clocks, horology

Cartoon reference number: a544

See my book of gardening cartoons here.
Easter Island statue – a cartoon about hubris and the degradation of the natural world

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

ENVIRONMENT

An environmental cartoon about air pollution

A cartoon showing a man using an oxygen cylinder to breathe fresh air in a polluted atmosphere. The oxygen cylinder contains a tree that is generating oxygen

Part of the idea behind the illustration is to convey the concept that trees are the lungs of the world. A cartoon about atmospheric pollution, clear air and toxic chemicals in the atmosphere, smog

Cartoon reference number: env071a

A carbon footprint cartoon from my selection of environment cartoons.

The illustration shows a climate change conference, with the US delegate (Uncle Sam) wearing gigantic clown shoes. He is thinking ‘No one will take me seriously in these shoes’

A cartoon about the fact that (at the moment) the western world uses most of the world’s resources and thus is in no position to lecture about the impact of consumerism to the developing world

Cartoon reference number: env001

Ship of Fools environment illustration

Is the earth, and the human race, heading for disaster (because people seem to be only capable of short term planning)?

Cartoon reference number: a449

From my selection of environmental cartoons

Climate change denial

A cartoon of a person with his head buried in the sand, hiding from the fact that global warming is affecting the environment. The cartoon shows parts of the world turning to desert as a result of climate change and unsustainable development.

Cartoon reference number: env008

A cartoon about driverless cars. How driverless cars may affect society

Driverless cars are also known as driver-free cars, self driving cars, autonomous cars or robot cars.

Drawn: 2017

Cartoon reference number: a674

Climate change cartoons Anthropogenic global warming cartoon

Cartoon illustrating the consequences fossil fuel causing flooding. Showing a car stranded in a flood

A cartoon about sustainability, the environment, floods, transport

Original version drawn: 1991

Cartoon reference number: env077

Environment cartoons – penguins marching to stop global warming

An illustration showing an environmental protest march of penguins and a polar bear

Original version drawn: 2011

Cartoon reference number: a664

The environmental impact of road traffic

Roadkill cartoon A cartoon about the effect of cars and roads on the environment

The image shows a globe of the earth squashed flat on a road by a car, signifying the global impact of cars and transport in general on the environment – a sort of global roadkill

Original version created: 2004

Cartoon reference number: a478

Environment cartoon. Disposing of refuse as landfill in a quarry

A cartoon about environmental impact, indigenous peoples,recycling, waste disposal, and waste management

Original version drawn: 1990

Cartoon reference number: env068

A cartoon about environmental sustainability

The illustration shows the earth as a flower being cared for by a person

Ecological clothes drier – cartoon

Drying clothes on a washing line is the environment-friendly way to dry clothes

Environment cartoon about profit from climate change

Showing business opportunities created by global warming.

A dumpster as a lifeboat – cartoon or illustration

A cartoon showing a dumpster or rubbish skip used as a lifeboat or escape vessel by a family escaping from somewhere – probably from all of the waste generated by the consumer society

Cartoon reference number: a445

Flooding caused by global warming

Drawn in 1991. A comment on postponing taking action about global warming, using the saying “We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it”. Unfortunately, due to flooding, the bridge can’t be crossed.

From my collection of cartoons about global warming, climate change, floods, anthropogenic weather

Cartoon reference number: env076b

A cartoon about pollution of the oceans Hermit crabs using old tin cans instead of mollusc shells

Cartoon reference number: env094

A cartoon about marine pollution A hermit crab using an old tin can instead of a shell

See an alternative version of this cartoon here.

Cartoon reference number: env094b

HS2 cartoon

The cartoon shows a government minister responsible for rail transport and trains looking at an inquiry report and thinking “My reputation’s on the line”

Cartoon reference number: a628

A cartoon about air pollution from my environmental cartoons selection

A cartoon showing pollutants in the form of polluting black smoke issuing from a factory chimney.

Global overpopulation cartoonPopulation crisis or the overpopulation tsunami

An illustration about the crisis of overpopulation that is threatening the ecology of the planet

The world’s population is rising at an unsustainable rate, putting pressure on the earth’s resources and threatening its biosystem due to habitat loss

Cartoon reference number: a611

Population explosion cartoon

A cartoon about the fact that the rise in the human population is threatening the ecosystem of the earth. The population is becoming increasingly unsustainable

Cartoon drawn: 2013

Cartoon reference number: a618

Environmental cartoon Carbon footprint cartoon

An illustration about atmospheric pollution, industrial toxic emissions, smokestack industries

Smoke from a factory chimney forming into the shape of carbon footprints.

Cartoon reference number: env234

Environment cartoons Non-biodegradable packaging

A cartoon about environment-friendly materials. A discarded polystyrene container talking to animals, saying that it likes nature so much that it’s decided to stay around for a long time.

An illustration about biodegradable packaging materials, litter, recycling, waste, consumerism, bio-decomposition, environmental impact

Cartoon reference number: env069b

A comment on climate change

Some people think that rather than trying to prevent climate change and global warming we should treat climate change as inevitable and adapt to it.

Environment cartoons

Part of the idea behind the illustration is to convey the concept that trees are the lungs of the world.
A cartoon about atmospheric pollution, clear air and toxic chemicals in the atmosphere, smog

A cartoon about driverless cars.
How driverless cars may affect society

Climate change cartoons
Anthropogenic global warming cartoon

Cartoon illustrating the consequences fossil fuel causing flooding.
Showing a car stranded in a flood

Roadkill cartoon
A cartoon about the effect of cars and roads on the environment

Environment cartoon.
Disposing of refuse as landfill in a quarry

Drawn in 1991.
A comment on postponing taking action about global warming, using the saying “We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it”. Unfortunately, due to flooding, the bridge can’t be crossed.

A cartoon about pollution of the oceans
Hermit crabs using old tin cans instead of mollusc shells

A cartoon about marine pollution
A hermit crab using an old tin can instead of a shell

Global overpopulation cartoon
Population crisis or the overpopulation tsunami

A cartoon about the fact that the rise in the human population is threatening the ecosystem of the earth.
The population is becoming increasingly unsustainable

Environmental cartoon
Carbon footprint cartoon

Environment cartoons
Non-biodegradable packaging

A cartoon about environment-friendly materials.
A discarded polystyrene container talking to animals, saying that it likes nature so much that it’s decided to stay around for a long time.

Environment cartoons
Endangered species cartoon

Over fishing is depleting fish stocks, with species such as cod and tuna being put on endangered species lists
A cartoon about food, resources, fishing quotas

Caring for the environment cartoon
Watering a flower that represents the earth.

An illustration showing the earth as a passenger balloon, with people throwing consumer goods over the side in order to keep afloat.
The idea is that the human race needs to jettison its dependence on consumer goods.

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.