Amid all the noise and chaos of planes, cars and man-made machines is the sound of millions of creatures.

The animals of the world have been singing their songs since the beginning of time, ranging from the soft chirp of a warbler to the ear-splitting scream of a puma; the click of a cricket to the moan of a whale.

According to environmentalists and scientists, that song is dying off daily due to continued extinctions.

On Jan. 25, Academy Award winning director and world famous photographer Louis Psihoyos visited Oakland University and spoke about the dangers of allowing that sound to die off. He is the founder and executive director of the Oceanic Preservation Society.

“These songs are dying because they are going extinct … it’s a science fiction nightmare,” Psihoyos said.

He held the burning of fossil fuels, overfishing and hunting as culprits.

Psihoyos is no stranger to this topic. He directed the renowned and controversial film, “The Cove,” which documents the slaughter of dolphins for food and the dangers of human consumption of dolphins due to their mercury poisoning in Japan. The film, which won an Academy Award for best documentary feature, used espionage tactics to expose what was happening in Japan.

The problem is two-fold, according to Psihoyos. The dolphins are in danger of extinction, and the Japanese citizen’s health is in danger because of the dolphins’ mercury content. He said that the success of the film was due to showing both sides of the problem.

“If you just push one message, you might not hit everybody with that message,” he said. “The take home message is really powerful, if you’re eating them.”

“The Cove” is a major accomplishment for Psihoyos. He has had tremendous success in the past as a photographer for National Geographic and other major magazines. However, he felt his work wasn’t getting the message out.

“I have seen businessmen go through a story that took me a year and a half to do in 90 seconds. It’s crushing when people don’t spend the time with it,” he said. “But a movie … they are sort of like a captive audience. If you have them hooked, then you have a piece of their soul and you are changing them.”

For Psihoyos, his movies are more than entertainment.

“Hollywood thinks of it as ‘butts in seats,’ I think of it as minds in seats,” he said.

Psihoyos acknowledged the reality of his own carbon footprint he leaves every time he travels. However, he encouraged everyone to at least start somewhere to change. For him, it started with “The Cove,” then it was installing solar panels at his house and driving an electric car.

Kyle Edwards, an assistant professor and the director of the cinema studies program believes Psihoyos sends an important lesson to students.

“I think that it is important for students to see that you can make films about issues that you’re very passionate about and you can become successful doing that, as he has,” Edwards said.

 

Contact senior reporter Jordan Gonzalez via e-mail at [email protected]