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Giant Earth Art Displays Dramatize Climate Urgency
CANCUN, Mexico - Events this weekend will cap 350 EARTH, a week-long series of giant public art displays around the planet to help raise awareness of the climate crisis before the United Nations annual climate summit begins in Cancun Monday.
Langjökull Glacier, Iceland (Courtesy: 350 EARTH)
Each art installation is visible from space and most of the projects are
being photographed by satellites 400 miles above the Earth operated by a
Colorado-based company, Digital Globe.
350 EARTH is organized by international climate campaign 350.org, whose name points to goal of reducing the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere from its current level of 390 parts per million to below 350 ppm.
The majority of scientists say this atmospheric concentration is the maximum that can accumulate if the planetary temperature increase is to be kept to two degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.
"Art can convey in a different way than science the threat that climate change poses to our planet," said 350.org founder and environmental author Bill McKibben, who organized 350 EARTH art project.
While the Cancun talks are not expected to result in a legally-binding agreement limiting greenhouse gas emissions to carry on when the Kyoto Protocol's first commitment period expires at the end of 2012, they are expected to result in a shared vision for long-term cooperative action.
This vision addresses mitigation, adaptation, finance, technology development and transfer, and capacity-building for developing countries.
"The world's best scientists have tried to wake up politicians to the climate crisis, now we're counting on artists to help," said McKibben, who is in Cancun with several of the 350 EARTH artists.
Today, in Cairo, Egypt, hundreds of students formed the image of a traditional scarab beetle, a traditional symbol of rebirth and regeneration often depicted on temple walls pushing the ball of the Sun across the sky. The creation of artist Sarah Rifaat, the image represents a call to re-examine humans' relationship to this perpetual source of clean energy, the Sun.
In the Australian Outback, hundreds of people with torches worked with photographer Peter Solness and fire artist Keith Chidzey to create an image of a burning number 350 symbolizing the inevitable increase in wildfires if the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is not reduced.
Also today, more than 1,000 Brazilian children from public schools in Tupa, western Sao Paulo state, formed a Sun in the middle of Brazil's flag. Tica Minami said the point was "to remind our leaders the huge potential our country has to generate energy from clean and renewable sources." Solar panels from Brazilian company Blue Sol Solar Energy were also used to form the design.
The 350 EARTH project began on November 20 with what McKibben calls a "human flash flood" in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Diane Karp, director of the Santa Fe Art Institute, said the event showcased the potential bridge between communities of art and politics. "The purpose of our action is not to fix the river because art will not do that," Karp said, "but art does have the power to reach the hearts and minds of the people who come into contact with it and inspire them into political action."
Citizens from the Delta del Ebro area in Catalunya, Spain joined artist Jorge Rodriguez-Gerada to form a giant representation of the face of a young girl who wants to see the Delta survive the threat of climate change.
In Mexico City, people created a human hurricane surrounding a 350 in the safe "eye of the storm" to represent the increase in extreme weather that Mexico has been experiencing, as well as the hurricane of citizen action necessary to solve the climate crisis.
In Los Angeles, international aerial art innovator John Quigley created a mixed media installation at The Cornfields in Los Angeles Historic State Park. People with solar photovoltaic film sheets formed the image of a solar eagle taking flight to represent clean, renewable, energy independence and global climate solutions from Earth to sky.
In New York City, artist Molly Dilworth created a "Cool Roof" for a school by painting a lightly colored representation of the New York and New Jersey coastline after a seven meter (23 foot) rise in sea levels. The painting was produced with NYC CoolRoofs, a program launched in September 2009 to mitigate the heat island effect and reduce energy needs as part of New York City's sustainable energy plan. Dilworth is famous for painting the temporary environmental mural, "Cool Water, Hot Island," in the plazas on Broadway from 42nd to 47th Streets in Times Square.
350 EARTH's May Boeve says, "I was particularly impressed to see a new set of pictures from Manhattan, which round out the set of EARTH images from the U.S. We intentionally worked with more artists in the U.S. than in any other country, because the most work is needed here to motivate the public to build a movement strong enough to confront the opponents of climate action."
"We saw a winter garden 350 in Texas, home to oil companies and massive wind power potential alike; a re-created river bed where drought currently plagues the Santa Fe River in New Mexico; a solar eagle taking flight in Los Angeles, air pollution and solar power potential unite; and the rooftop mural in Manhattan depicting sea level rise," said Boeve.
On November 21, in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, young people joined with other community members to form the image of a house being submerged by the rising seas that threaten all island nations.
In Vancouver, Canada, people gathered to make two giant footprints large enough to be seen from space to represent humanity's ecological footprint on the planet.
On November 23 in New Delhi, India, 3,000 students from the Ryan International School joined aerial artist Daniel Dancer to form the image of an elephant to remind their leaders that they cannot afford to ignore the elephant in the living room - climate change.
The 350 EARTH events continue this weekend. In Cancun, artist Jason deCaires Taylor will unveil a coral reef sculpture made of 400 concrete statues.
In Iceland, artists will form a giant polar bear on a glacier, while in Cape Town, South Africa residents will assemble solar cookers into an enormous Sun.
Thousands of people will gather on the coast in Brighton-Hove, UK on Saturday to form an image of the legendary Norse ruler King Canute, who unsuccessfully tried to control the ocean waves.
Designed by Radiohead's Thom Yorke, the image is a giant version of the image from the cover of his album "The Eraser."
"The plan is to make images visible from the skies to remind those in Cancun that we are running out of time," said Yorke. "We can't keep putting this off."
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22 Comments so far
Show AllI've nothing against art. You want a piece of 'art' that says it all: try this. But I don't think you'll see Exxon wasting money on art to advance its agenda. It spends its money on Congressmen and deceitful public relations.
I agree the various environmental groups are 'doing something'. But they need to be doing something together, focused on the central issues and people that can actually bring about change. Right now they are acting piecemeal, spending resources and money in dozens of directions, and thus acting weakly and getting weak results. Art in the sky will gain nothing; protests in the streets will gain nothing. Dollars and a constant, forceful, intelligent pressure in the offices of Congress will make gains. Serious money spent in elections will make gains. Time, effort, and money spent on weakening the legal standings and fictions of corporations will make gains.
'Species du jour' is not a phrase meant to denigrate the animals. But in fact the more energy and time and money that is put in trying to save every 'precious jewel' just gives the thieves more time and latitude to blow up the safe. And from the point of view of the public all these pleas to save this one, save that one, are wearing and tiresome after a while, especially in times when people have less money to hand out. We need to be applying a hammer to Congress and the corporations, not spreading resources so thinly that their ultimate effectiveness is nil.
You can't fight the powers destroying the world if you are going to hang out in the woods petting the bears. If you want to save the bears you'd best sharpen your lance and get your ass over to the dragon's cave. (Where there undoubtedly will be another group carrying signs saying 'Save the Dragons'.)
As for the environmentalists being the victims, that's laughable. Because they don't come together and focus their resources and efforts on the root causes, they are simply enabling the deniers and the destroyers. They're standing there looking at the animals and the melting ice while behind them Exxon is slashing at their leg muscles and tendons.
The real goal: Get Exxon to stop spending hundreds of millions on pushing its fossil fuel agenda and start spending hundreds of millions on ending the use of fossil fuel and saving the biosphere. If that doesn't happen, one way or another, then they will win their battle and everyone, including them, will lose.
We don't need a movement. We have a movement. We need to focus, sharply, intensely, the energies of that movement.
Apparently my html didn't work: the link to the picture is http://grumpylion.wordpress.com/2009/12/18/why-global-warming-matters/
RE: "I've nothing against art."
It didn't come across that way. And Exxon spends a great deal on art. Unfortunately, its the art of deception, and is used by them in their advertising. Most advertising is art after all, simply art that is designed for a surreptitious reason.
RE: "Dollars and a constant, forceful, intelligent pressure in the offices of Congress will make gains. Serious money spent in elections will make gains."
The progressives will never win if they feel this is their only ammunition. Sure you have a point, but unless we come up with other methods to augment our tool-kit, we'll always be outspent 10 to 1.
RE: " Time, effort, and money spent on weakening the legal standings and fictions of corporations will make gains. "
This makes more sense. It doesn't require billions of dollars to get people to organize for their own good. Weakening legal standing of current legislation does not require endless money (it helps) it requires dedication and focus, but can be done even by those with little money.
RE: "And from the point of view of the public all these pleas to save this one, save that one, are wearing and tiresome after a while"
And they should be, because they must be persistent. And persistence pays off. Polar bears have gotten some protections recently, and many species here in CA have also gained more protections due to the 'tiresome' efforts of environmentalists. I say MORE POWER to all these causes. May their pleas drone on an on until no-one can ignore them. Of course, if the message can be more effective, by all means, improve it!
RE: "As for the environmentalists being the victims, that's laughable. Because they don't come together and focus their resources and efforts on the root causes, they are simply enabling the deniers and the destroyers."
Here you and I will have to simply disagree. People do what they are able. To laugh at the environmentalists' plight reveals a certain callousness to you that will never act as a healing force. "they are simply enabling the deniers and the destroyers.' That is a crock if I've ever heard one.
RE: "The real goal: Get Exxon to stop spending hundreds of millions on pushing its fossil fuel agenda and start spending hundreds of millions on ending the use of fossil fuel and saving the biosphere."
Yeah, I agree. And people still do what they can. What do you expect, millions of people to march upon Exxon to dismantle their industrial infrastructure? Or, why don't you start a million person march on DC and see how well it goes.
RE: "We don't need a movement. We have a movement. We need to focus, sharply, intensely, the energies of that movement."
You are contradicting yourself. You said previously "A sufficient mass of people willing to be active is already out there. [...] they lack a tough, effective leadership, a committed organization, and the kind of money the other side throws around." In other words, the movement we have is not going to cut it. So we need better, more dedicated leaders, a more powerful banner/symbol to organize under, and the funding and organizational savvy to pull it off. In other words, we need a valid movement. If you're going to go back and forth agreeing and disagreeing simply to break down the logic of the discourse, I will point it out.
In summary, let's hope the funding you speak of comes soon, otherwise we're stuck with just our art, and our sad, divided voices lost in the wilderness, watching and chanting pointlessly from the sidelines as our planet sinks into the toxic sludge pit.
Okay, I don't want to get into long involved arguments here at CD, but a couple of points. We fundamentally agree, I think.
I was not saying the environmentalists are laughable or that I was laughing at them. I respect the work they do. But the idea of them being victims, I find that laughable, as they are not victims. But they are too disparate, too focused each on its own niche, and that weakens them and enables the other side to plunder with little resistance, or at least insufficient resistance.
As for turning Exxon around, no, it doesn't take millions of marchers, but persistent demonstrations and persistent boycotts would help. What's really needed is informational and intellectual firepower that will convince them that if they persist, they will destroy themselves as a corporation (I'm using Exxon as a generic example here). Would I like to see millions in the street? Sure, if they'll be out there every day - but despite the fact that catastrophe looms they won't or don't want to see it. When it's too late they might get out there, but more likely they'll be too busy trying to save their own lives. And as I said earlier, one-off marches don't accomplish anything, especially in our political climate.
Sure, polar bears got a little relief, maybe, for now, but it's already too late for them as a distinct species. No ice, no polar bears. It's the ice that needs to be protected, not the bears. Give them their ice and the bears will manage.
As for the movement, I don't see the contradiction. We do have a movement, but it is insufficiently organized and focused, and unless it gets tough leadership and organization, it will not, as you say, cut it. I don't see what you're considering to be contradictory.
And finally, advertising is far more than an art now. They use the latest findings from psychology, sociology, and whatever other -ologies and -osophies they can. Goebbels was a cheap tinhorn snake oil hustler compared to these guys in the business today.
If you want to continue the discussion, go to my blog and leave an address. We can talk. :)
Checked out your front page, and liked. Now that I have a better idea where your coming from (snarling and growling op-ed) I can appreciate your perspective more. I'll give myself some time to read a bit and will hopefully get back to you soon.
Cheers
I've read your petition. It's well written but offers nothing new and in fact raises some questions.
Petitions for movements are, as you probably know, a dime a dozen. The Tea Party succeeded because it had funding, because people with money and position were willing to create something they could use to advance their agenda, and because those backers were politically smart, savvy enough to realize there was a river of discontent they could tap into. Where's your funding angel? Do you have the money to back this up? Do you have plans to raise the huge amounts of money needed? Who and where are the financial and intellectual core?
You say 'Sponsored by The People of The United States of America'. Well, no, not so. Some people, a distinct minority apparently, but the only sponsor here is you, the person who started the petition.
And who are you? For all I know you could be a raging paranoid conservative looking for names to harass. You haven't identified yourself anywhere that I'm aware of at the moment. And you name yourself Salusa Secundus, the name of the dark planet of the evil House Corinno in the novel 'Dune'. Not exactly encouraging. What's your background? What's your agenda? What are your connections in the world? All reasonable questions to ask, and none of the answers are offered in anticipation of the questions.
Do you have any plans to actually organize people? Do you have the skills and willpower and experience needed to organize people into an effective organization? Do you have funding, do you have the contacts and skills to get funding?
There's already a progressive 'movement' in the country. Is it your intent to start something different, further splintering an already internally contentious politics of the left?
Now you could say I'm raining on your parade, that I'm being negative, that I'm against... whatever it is you're doing. Or you could decide just how serious you are about what you're proposing, and whether you have the skills and the drive needed to pull it off. Anyone can write pretty petitions that push all the right buttons. I could write a dozen a day. They're meaningless. I'm not a leader, an organizer, a politician, and certainly not a diplomat. But neither am I willing to be led blindly down garden paths that end up in the thorn patch or the muddy creek. Signing a feel-good petition offered blindly, taken blindly, smacks of the blind leading the blind.
If you're serious about leading, about developing a viable political organization, then get serious. Your petition is not serious, not on its own. Without a solid plan to build a viable organization, you're going nowhere.
And just a final observation. A number of people signing the petition refused to identify themselves. Not exactly a commitment on their part. That's building a house on sand.
You know, I've been waiting for someone respond as you have. Thank you. Not because I want you to 'rain on my parade', but because you draw a clear picture of what a pathetic parade it is, considering its glorious intentions. I'm just a lone marcher with a horn that goes, toot! with a sad paper hat.
I have, and you have now helped me, illustrated how pathetic progressives have been at organizing something meaningful to effect real change. Not saying I'm *the one symbolic figure* of the movement, but in some ways, yes, saying I am *a* symbol of it... after all, there are no other petitions out there that I'm aware of calling for a 'Tea-Party'-like apparatus that works truly for our progressives causes, and not some hidden, corporate backed agenda.
RE: "Where's your funding angel? Do you have the money to back this up? Do you have plans to raise the huge amounts of money needed? Who and where are the financial and intellectual core? "
I have been posting here with one intention: To get others here on CD interested, and moving in the direction of a 'unified' front organization, by enlisting their support, but also by their united voice calling for the left-luminaries who post here to get involved. This is a hub of left and liberal voices where a great deal of well funded, highly motivated people gather, and I honestly believed I could count on some of their assistance at one point or another. Apparently I have yet to impress them.
RE: "You say 'Sponsored by The People of The United States of America'. Well, no, not so. Some people, a distinct minority apparently, but the only sponsor here is you, the person who started the petition. "
There truly is NO sponsor as of yet. I have no money to spend, and intend on spending none, as I have no idea even where I would spend it. I say this is sponsored by We The People, because I think the people signing it are the BEST representatives of that phrase. And if this movement takes off, its theirs, not mine.
RE: "And who are you? For all I know you could be a raging paranoid conservative looking for names to harass. "
I'm the first signatory of the petition, but I don't really care to announce my name here on a daily basis, simply because I wish, for now at least, to keep said paranoid conservatives out of my life. As I've stated (I assume you missed it) Salusa Secundus was my choice for a nym as that is what I see our planet becoming under its current rulers. My whole purpose is to fight against Earth becoming Salusa Secundus.
RE: "What's your background? What's your agenda? What are your connections in the world? All reasonable questions to ask, and none of the answers are offered in anticipation of the questions."
The petition stands on its own, making its intentions clear, regardless of my background or affiliation. There is no way a right-wing group could benefit off of it, unless as you mention, its a list to track progressives. But there are far more effective means to track dissidents, and the idea of a petition is to legally register a name, but not to broadcast the private info of said petition signatories. That is why its OK to sign anonymously.. The names are still on the petition, simply not displayed for the public. There is no threat signing a petition on the very legit, Care2 site. Check their policies.
RE: "Do you have any plans to actually organize people?"
Sure. I will always be prepared to stand up for my beliefs, in public, if and when there are enough people looking to me for leadership, I will be there.
RE: "Do you have the skills and willpower and experience needed to organize people into an effective organization? Do you have funding, do you have the contacts and skills to get funding?"
The answers here are NO, and NO. I *need* help, big time. I never had planned on doing this alone. But somehow, none seem too willing to take part. I forge ahead.
RE: "Now you could say I'm raining on your parade, that I'm being negative, that I'm against... whatever it is you're doing. "
You are one of the few people who have actually participated in meaningful debate about it. Your comments are considered more than welcome, and appreciated.
RE: "Signing a feel-good petition offered blindly, taken blindly, smacks of the blind leading the blind."
This is a petition not for the blind to lead the blind, but for people to remove their blinders, accept their individual limitations, and join a movement that empowers us all. I continue to await those prominent figures with the money, time and gravitas to join and make this a real movement. As of yet, it is as you say 'meaningless' (or largely futile).
RE: "If you're serious about leading, about developing a viable political organization, then get serious."
This actually doesn't make sense. I am serious, but seriously limited. I am NOBODY. But goddammit, I'm sick of waiting for the somebodys to do something. I am GODDMAN sick of waiting for other to come along and save us.
RE: "Your petition is not serious, not on its own. Without a solid plan to build a viable organization, you're going nowhere. "
You are 100% correct. HELP ME, if not you *anyone*!
RE: "And just a final observation. A number of people signing the petition refused to identify themselves. Not exactly a commitment on their part. That's building a house on sand.
"
Addressed above. Thank you again, ricg, your points are well stated.
I'll try to not let your reply go to my head. :)
But I will point out that what you posit is not impossible, certainly, not by a long shot. Especially in the internet age. You can start small, just you and your computer, and if you want to get in for the long haul and want to put in the hours... well, you never know where in hell you'll end up but it might be a good ride.
I'd suggest one thing to avoid though is getting seduced by the click-sign milieu of what passes today for political action. You click on a petition and an organization you favor records it and bundles it and sends it off to whoever they seek to influence. No commitment required, no real effort or thought required, and not a lot of change occurring. It used to be that a Congressman would consider a written letter, arriving in the mail, as representative of the opinion of about ten thousand of his constituents because of the effort involved in writing and mailing the letter, and because most people wouldn't write it because of the bother, despite feeling the same way.
Email and click signatures don't carry anywhere near that much weight. They're cheap and easy and don't speak of commitment.
Solid information, a well considered plan and clear goals, and passionate personal commitment could well get you, and the country, where we need to be.
I'll likely be dead by then, but what you build may well go on.
Bohner is a veritable fountain of carbon dioxide....
"Boehner was interviewed by Stefanopolis and explained that carbon dioxide is not a carcinogen "
No, but luckily for us, tanning beds are.
Take THAT, or we'll be back tomorrow with a stronger palette !