What Should Be Our Response? ...Art and the Climate Crisis
Dear Partners in Green,
I don’t know whether to rant or just throw my hands up in the air.
What the heck!
“I’m as mad as hell, and I’m not going to take this anymore!” An unforgettable line from the movie Network.
The train derailment in Ohio and the subsequent “controlled” burn reminds me of the hazardous material aboard trains sailing through our cities and towns. Chemicals used for the production of plastic, the ubiquitous polluters, carcinogens, and contributors to Climate Change.
And then there is what seems to be the disregard for the communities impacted, if not destroyed, as home values plummet, animals die, and residents are thrust into a life of dread, fearful of impending illnesses, for themselves and their children.
And recently, we learned that the controversial Arctic Oil Drilling Project is likely moving forward!
Not to mention the newly reported “feedback loops,” the domino effect of climate change.*
What should be our response? What can we do other than fume, worry, and live as “lightly” as we can?
In 2005, Bill McKibben, an environmental author, journalist, and leader of the campaign group 350.org, wrote an article, What the Warming World Needs Now Is Art, Sweet Art. He writes that if we want to move forward and effect meaningful change, we need to engage the other side of our brains. We need to approach the problem with our imagination.
And the people best suited to help us do that, he believed, were the artists.
“Art is the lie that enables us to realize the truth.”
— Pablo Picasso
The arts include painting, photography, sculptures, poetry, music, and dance, all of which have the ability to change hearts and minds. And changed hearts and minds lead to changed behavior, changed lifestyle, changed conversations, and a changed planet.
The arts have the ability to transform emotions, creating hope, responsibility, and care. Through the arts, we can experience the science of Climate Change rather than simply learning about it, as the arts make it vivid and accessible.
McKibben’s article was written almost twenty-five years ago, but in 2010 he wrote the book Eaarth: Making a Life on a Tough New Planet, believing that the Earth had already been inalterably changed.
Yet still, I believe the arts can be of value as we do what we can to mitigate the effects, to change minds and behaviors, and perhaps simply for self-care.
Again, I’m offering this poem by E. E. Cummings and suggesting that you perhaps write and share your own poem, painting, or song to be included in a Seedling if you like.
And, of course, continue to live intentionally Green.
i thank You God for most this amazing
by E. E. Cummings
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