If you find yourself in space this week, keep your eyes peeled — you just might spot one of the dozen-plus massive public art installations sprawling across the globe to encourage action on climate change. Then, call for help, because you’re in space.
From Nov. 20-28, the 350 EARTH project is organizing the public displays of affection for the earth in advance of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in balmy (for now) Cancun.
The hope is that the artwork convinces regular citizens and politicians alike, that people around the world are passionate about finding an answer for climate change — that the political will exists.
In Los Angeles Historic State Park, hundreds of people already joined together to form the shape of a “solar eagle taking flight” with solar photovoltaic film sheets. In New York City, artist Molly Dilworth painted a fictional New York impacted by rising sea levels on a school roof as part of a partnership with NYC °CoolRoofs, a city program that paints roofs in order to lower energy costs and greenhouse gas emissions. In Santa Fe, thousands of people — Girl Scouts, church groups and others — held up blue fabric in a riverbed so that the Santa Fe River, which is dry, appears to be full of flowing turquoise waters in aerial photos (that’s it on the right).
Further away, red tents near a melting glacier will form the shape of a giant stranded polar bear in Reykjavik, Iceland while residents in Delta del Ebro, Spain have created a maze that looks like a young girl certain to be negatively impacted by climate change. More animal imagery came from New Delhi, India, where 3,000 schoolchildren morphed into the elephant seen above.
Even Radiohead’s Thom Yorke is joining in, recruiting 2,000 people in Brighton, England to help form the outline of a Norse king who couldn’t control his surroundings. Metaphor much?
If you’re passionate about preserving the planet, it’s not too late to get involved with 350 EARTH. From cycling to flashmobbing, from muraling to quilting, you can show you care about the world’s rising mercury. Be sure to take pictures and send them to art@350.org, even if your project can’t be seen from space.
Photos courtesy earth.350.org