WRITTEN BY: ANDREA KELLY MILES & LANCE REED LAWRENCE
We are facing a life threatening pandemic, one that no person, plant or creature can escape. We have multiple organisations, agreements and projects in place to lower the greenhouse gas emission and to save our planet. We have the entertainment, design and science industry, amongst many other large and small business sectors practicing and preparing us for the drastic climate changes we are already experiencing. What is the key factor that we all need to cultivate effectively to ensure a positive change in the climate and how can art assist us?
UNDERSTANDING
Understanding Climate Change is quite critical in our time. It is of importance to cultivate a lifestyle that includes diversity to serve and protect our planet with its inhabitants. There is a saying that ‘art imitates life’ – this is vital in improving the general understanding of what climate change actually is because art itself draws inspiration from life around us, and in turn reflects life as perceived by the artist.
KEY FACTOR
Sustainability: Art is born from diversity. We are rich in diversity across the globe. Each unique individual has a set of his or her own talents, perception, background and environment. What we do have in common is our host - planet Earth. We practice respect for diversity in the workforce and it is of exponential importance to ensure that we create a safe environment that allows us to thrive. This in turn generates profit and success within a business or organisation. The same we apply in sustaining our globe. Carbon Footprint is the amount of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere due to the activities of a particular individual, organisation, or community. I have included an illustration below that shows you your contribution to our global carbon footprint and how you emit greenhouse gas daily into the atmosphere. This ultimately weakens the atmosphere when not used moderately and wisely.
ART
Art has the outstanding potential to change the world. It influences the way people think, feel and live by combining imagination with reality and projecting it to the world. Many of us are familiar with the song 'EARTH' by Lil Dicky where diverse artists and producers collaborated in an effort to alert about the dangers that climate change has on our planet and its ecosystem. This is an entertaining and incredibly informative way to emphasize and teach about the importance of sustaining our planet. If we actively listen to the lyrics or see the meaning behind an artist’s illustration of a painting or choreography, in depth, we will then realize the actual consequence of climate change and it will give us direction on how to engage in sustaining our planet. It would be easier to take the warnings of the various environmental organizations more seriously. This includes the World Wild Life Organization.
SCIENCE AND DESIGN
Carbon dioxide removal (CDR) usually refers to methods that humans can use to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and segregate it long-term so that more carbon dioxide is segregated than emitted.
Science Methods include:
· Afforestation
· Agricultural practices that sequester carbon in soils
· Bio-energy with carbon capture and storage
· Ocean fertilization
· Enhanced weathering
And direct air capture when combined with storage
Eco-friendly DIY art projects are examples of sustaining our planet. Using biodegradable recycled materials as part of your lifestyle and implementing it in both large and small-scale businesses is highly recommended. As a form of art, design such as technology would normally have a detrimental contribution to climate change. It can be redesigned and simultaneously improved to reduce our carbon footprint; making it more ecologically effective. The ever-increasing technology that we use on a daily basis can be modified to be more energy efficient, which would make it perform better and ecologically friendly.
Examples of businesses using eco-friendly design in their products and services are:
Large-scale:
· SAOTA
Small-scale:
CONCLUSION
‘Home is where the heart is’ and we harness the power of art to sustain our home, planet Earth. Observe your lifestyle and make changes where necessary to decrease your carbon footprint. Cultivate a sense of sustainability, educate yourself on climate change, encourage others – even from the comfort of your home (online) - and understand the effects of ignoring the importance of sustainability. Diversity is beautiful and it forms a vision of the future where we continuously strive to work together in action, combating the life-threatening pandemic – climate change – ensuring a home for the next generation and thereafter.
Feel free to engage in the comment section below on how you practice nurturing and sustaining our marvelous home, planet Earth. Like and share this post with your fellow Earthlings
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