Climate change needs artists to shift movement

Turbulent times demand great art to express thoughts and feelings where facts and statistics fail . Think Picasso’s ” Guernica ” which captured the horrors of the German bombing of civilians in 1937.

It makes sense that a new green arts movement is taking shape on the environmental disaster known as climate change. Bill McKibben, the founder of 350.org , understands the relationship between art, activism and social change. He views artists as “antibodies of the cultural bloodstream” and key to social movement vitality:

“[Artists] sense trouble early, and rally to isolate and expose and defeat it, to bring to bear the human power for love and beauty and meaning against the worst results of carelessness and greed and stupidity. So when art both of great worth, and in great quantities, begins to cluster around an issue, it means that civilization has identified it finally as a threat. Artists and scientists perform this function most reliably; politicians are a lagging indicator.”

Locally, we’ve had some effective works. One of the best was Gabriel Brown’s “Beggar In A Suit”:

Another example is a favorite by art students in Colombia and Canada that have produced a cool stop-action video about climate change:

But we need more. The climate movement is having a tough time making its case since climate legislation is dead in Congress, global agreements are all talk and 51 percent of the public is concerned about climate change. I believe the green art movement is a chance to communicate, to stimulate dialogue and to create social transformation.  Now get to work!