Escape from the waste land cartoon – using a builders skip as a boat

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waste land builders skip boat - cartoon

Escape from the waste land cartoon

A cartoon showing a builder’s skip being used as a boat to escape from a land covered in waste – a wasteland.

The illustration is concerned with the amount of waste and rubbish generated by our consumer society.
The people in the image are escaping from the polluted land by using a builder’s skip as a boat. Such skips are in my mind associated with over consumption, as they are often to be seen outside houses that are being refitted with more modern and fashionable fittings (especially in the kitchens and bathrooms).

First version drawn: 1991
This square version: 2020

Cartoon reference number: a445b

Environmental cartoon – packaging

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Environment 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.

An illustration about biodegradable packaging materials, litter, recycling, waste, consumerism, bio-decomposition, environmental impact
Cartoon reference number: env069b
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Environment cartoon about recycling plastic bags

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recycling cartoon

Recycling plastic bags cartoon

Does recycling make a difference in our efforts to cut waste?

A cartoon showing a person who feels happy because she is ‘doing her bit to save the planet’ – although recycling plastic carrier bags is not enough.

A comment about token gestures towards environmentalism – the delusion that reusing carrier bags will make a difference or have a significant impact on consumption and waste.
The cartoon is also about the trend for natural cotton shopping bags that carry slogans – either of an environmental nature of as an advert for a shop (which by implication is working towards a better environment due to the natural cotton bag)

Cartoon reference number: a394

Environment cartoon. Toxic waste cartoon

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toxic waste container with flower - cartoon

Toxic waste cartoon.
Flower growing in toxic waste container
The flower is wilting and dying

Cartoon showing a plant growing in a canister of toxic waste.
The flower has the earth as its centre, with its petals in the form of people.
The petals are falling off as the flower dies.

A cartoon about environmentalism, ecology, green politics, toxic chemical waste, pollution, silent spring, pesticides, ecological collapse

A previous version of this cartoon appeared in New Internationalist magazine some time in the 1980s.

Cartoon reference number: a329
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Litter cartoon and gardening cartoon – wind-blown plastic bags caught in trees

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Wind blown carrier bags in tree - cartoon

Litter cartoon. Plastic bags caught in a tree

Cartoon showing wind-blown plastic bags caught in the branches of a tree.

A gardening cartoon showing brightly coloured plastic carrier bags adding a splash of colour to a winter garden

The joke is that the man in the cartoon is trying to see something positive about the litter, which most people would see as an eyesore.

Cartoon reference number: a266

See my book of gardening cartoons here.
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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 cartoons: a cartoon about environment-friendly packaging

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Environment cartoon. Environment-friendly litter talking to animals

Environmental cartoon
Environment-friendly packaging cartoon

For a more recent, colour version of this cartoon click here: Non-biodegradable packaging cartoon

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.

A cartoon about packaging, litter, recycling, waste, consumerism, bio-decomposition, environmental impact.
Drawn: 1991
Cartoon reference number: env069
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Pollution cartoon. Evolution cartoon. Evolution from fish to humans, and the consequences

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Cartoon showing evolution from fish to humans

Evolution cartoon
Pollution cartoon

Cartoon showing evolution from fish to humans. The humans then pollute the water, forcing fish to leave the water and initiating a new phase of evolution in the fish

A cartoon about evolution, pollution, environment, ecology, industrial waste, effluent.

Cartoon reference number: env070
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Cartoon about waste – escaping from waste in a rubbish skip (dumpster)

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Environment cartoon: escaping from a waste-filled consumer society in a rubbish skip

Environment cartoon: waste in the consumer society

A cartoon about waste disposal, the accumulation of waste in a modern consumer society, pollution

A family escaping a land that is overflowing with rubbish, by rowing away in a rubbish skip.
The land has become one giant rubbish tip or rubbish dump.
Cartoon reference number: env067

A colour cartoon similar to this one can be found here.

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