The cardboard of Endless worldhas he been emulated? After the energy questions covered by Jean-Marc Jancovici and Christophe Blain, Resources (Casterman, 176 pages, €28) explores the question of planetary boundaries in the form of a graphic novel. The Bordeaux engineer Philippe Bihouix, author in particular of The age of low techhere dons the costume (tailor-made, please) of the expert, and Vincent Perriot, designer from science fiction (the series Negalyod, notably), that of Candide.
The latter gives free rein to his imagination to illustrate the duo’s journey through time and space, going from Marty MacFly’s car, to the controls of a TGV (Bihouix works in a subsidiary of the SNCF…) or on a backpack. giant bees.
Techno utopias
The journey’s starting point is the space conquest whims of Jeff Bezos (boss of Amazon and Blue Origin) and Elon Musk (Tesla, SpaceX) to go back to the sources of technological utopias (those of Roger Bacon in the Middle Ages, for example) and cornucopianism. According to this myth of the cornucopia, innovations will always allow humanity to meet its material needs.
The authors demonstrate by A+B – and with the help of illustrations concretely materializing the issues, such as a giant Minecraft recomposing the materials of the earth’s crust from the Earth to the Sun, or drawings representing the reality of mining activity today Today – that Bezos’ projects will remain dreams, given the current pace of global economic and resource growth.
“Will we be able to send billions of humans into toroidal space stations as he envisions, when we are already wondering if we will have enough copper for the next 30 years? », asks Philippe Bihouix.
200 kilos in your pockets (and on your heads)
Because our “immaterial” and “virtual” society is based on an unprecedented exploitation of nature and humans in mines and factories, far from Western cities and eyes. And according to him it is an impasse, or at least “an enchanted parenthesis of material abundance, which will be very punctual on the scale of the history of humanity”.
“The technological breakthroughs that we have experienced and that we will continue to experience – in battery chemistry and nano electronics, for example – do not slow down the consumption of resources, on the contrary: extraction increases faster than the GDP. Metals are becoming increasingly rare, and we are moving away from recycling. »
Example with our cell phones. Vincent wakes up one day in a sweat with a rock mass above him. Because “a smartphone requires and generates more than 1000 times its weight in resources and waste [de minerais inexploitables dont il a fallu extraire les métaux nécessaires, NDLR]or around 200 kilos”! He then “sees resources everywhere”, large rocks floating above each machine.
“The smartphone, this unsurpassable object, is a concentrate of technologies requiring 45 different metals, out of the sixty extracted worldwide for all objects,” recalls Philippe Bihouix. Its lifespan is three years on average, compared to 30 or 40 for a tram. And when it comes to recycling, a large part of these metals, which are mixed in miniaturized systems, will be lost after crushing and melting the devices. At best, industrial processes make it possible to recover, and never 100%, only around fifteen different metals. »
Thus, “despite all the fine words, we recycle very poorly”: less than 1% of half of the 60 metals used in the world. “What interested us in writing this book is not to ask whether there will be enough lithium or cobalt for electric cars in 2035, but whether radiologists will have enough material to work in 2300,” explains Philippe Bihouix.
Solutions envelopes
The work therefore seeks to explore possible solutions, through the thoughts of a few prophetic figures (Nichoas Georgescu-Roegen, Jacques Ellul, Donelle and Dennis Meadows, or even Pier Paolo Pasolini).
“We didn’t want to stick to chilling observations, but to offer an optimistic, action-oriented album. Our room for maneuver consists of injecting systematic sobriety into the way we consume. For example, why do we have 4 mobile phone antenna networks, one per operator? We can’t imagine 4 different water pipes arriving at our house! By pooling them, we would halve the electricity bill in France, the equivalent of a large offshore wind farm, without any visible consequences for the consumer! »
Other sources of sobriety to explore: reducing the weight of cars, which today weigh on average 1 to 2 tonnes to transport less than 100 kilos of passengers and luggage most of the time, a “stupid” waste of energy. Fight against the under-occupancy of housing (a third of homes are currently empty or under-occupied in France) rather than building constantly. And, fundamentally, let yourself be won over by the beauty of the living, in the process of disappearing.
“What if this was “real” science fiction? “, asks Vincent Perriot: working for the return of insects like fireflies or understanding the language of whales, rather than projecting underground lives on Mars which hardly look sexy… Enough to leave this very dense book exhilarated, but juggling fantastically between erudition, heavy realities and flights of imagination.
And also…
The Shadow of LightsVolume 2, “Dentelles et wampum” – Alain Ayroles and Richard Guérineau – Editions Delcourt – 72 pages, €23.75
Landing in Quebec after his misadventures at the court of the King of France, the Chevalier de Saint-Sauveur attempts a new bet: to push the daughter of the Marquis d’Archambaud into the arms of his Indian valet, Adario. Which will lead all these little people into a chase in the forests of the “New World”.
The adventures of this character in scruples are narrated in epistolary form, like the Dangerous connections from which the Bordeaux screenwriter is inspired, who also leans towards the side of Last of the Mohicans. Very rigorous on a historical level, particularly with regard to the alliances and misalliances of the tribes against the French and English colonists, the comic strip also addresses, via the reflections of the valet Gonzague, the philosophical debates of the time on relations between Europeans. and “wild”.
BordeluneVolume 1, “Two guardians” – Elisabeth Belhache – Bande d’Ados (Bayard editions) – 64 pages, €13.90
Do you know the basilisk from the Mirail well, a monster in the shape of an enormous rooster capable of striking down with its gaze those who ventured to fetch water? Or the dragon nestled in the Old Tower, which terrorized the city if a girl under 15 was not brought to it every Sunday? These legendary creatures of Bordeaux are strangely resurrected when Margot discovers (and devours) the book Bordelune, which tells the story. And she must face them with her half-sister Abhaya, whose relationship within a blended family gives a societal touch to this first manga-like comic book. A fresh and punchy story, signed by the young Bordeaux resident Elisabeth Belhache.
My life with diabetes. The adventures of a patient without fear and without reproach – Florence Heimburger, Martial Maury and Jean-Christophe Mazurie – Editions du Rocher – 94 pages, €19.90
Martial Maury recounts the shift in his “life with diabetes”, from the precursor symptoms to the numerous radical changes in his daily life, including the sudden and late discovery (around the age of fifty) of his illness. Type 1 diabetes, i.e. autoimmune, and not triggered by lifestyle (too fatty and sugary diet, insufficient sporting activity), as is the case for 92% of diabetics, of type 2.
The Gironde author details the constraints of an organization to the millimeter required by his treatment: regular measurement of his blood sugar level, undesirable effects (including for those close to him, etc.) of variations in this, strict diet, injections of insulin in the most unlikely circumstances, complications linked to the disease (for the bladder or even the feet!).
He does this with infinite precision, supported by the scientific focuses of journalist Florence Heimburger (collaborator at Rue89 Bordeaux) – on the discovery of insulin or the risks of diabetes, for example. It’s instructive and very digestible, thanks to a good dose of humor and self-deprecation served by the sempesque style of Jean-Christophe Mazurie, also a local designer.
