[Post 10] Art & Activism - The Climate Crisis
'An Inconvenient Truth' was one of the first major, disruptive presentations on the harm of climate change that I experienced in my life, just as I'd turned 17. I think Al Gore's film was quite a wake up call for many generations, considering its overall box office rake-in, awards won, and inspiration for global climate initiatives started via emerging scientific conferences. The truth, however, is that human-caused climate change has likely been a building problem since the 1830s, caused by the widespread adoption of coal-powered steam engines, followed by the propulsion of the Industrial Revolution and the mass-burning of fossil fuels. The shocking weather events that we experience now in 2026, such as enhanced and increased tornados, wildfires, and temperature fluctuations, are all predicted examples of the consequences of a lack of collective effort to combat the problem for the past near two centuries.
Beyond these more tangible problems, such as Hurricane Harvey, the Australian Bushfires, or the floods in Pakistan and the Philippines, there are even further reaching consequences, ways in which climate change creates ecological chaos, food and water scarcity or outright poverty, economic destruction and human health crises.
But let's begin with the most obvious effect of climate change: our shifting climate. The most notable and coined terms you'll hear regarding climate change is 'global warming'. This is where documentaries about polar bears and crumbling glaciers live, but the reality is far more concerning than just affecting one species, or one continent. The effects of our planet warming affect us all.
Why is it warming in the first place at a rate with which we should be alarmed? The Earth has gone through numerous ice ages and returned from them, but around 11,700 years ago, coinciding with the birth of agriculture, temperatures had largely stabilized on our planet. Our concern as humanity and the effect that we must accept blame for, belongs to the Industrial Revolution. Our advances in technology and the emissions they cause, generate and trap heat near the Earth's surface, rather than allowing it to radiate out of our own atmosphere. This warms the entire planet, which consequently melts our icecaps and glaciers at an alarming rate. All of that water that gets melted into our oceans then causes extreme flooding, water temperature changes, and slowed circulation in natural currents. This is a serious problem, because all of those natural systems that the water of our planet has in place literally affects every other living thing, from animals, plants, tectonic plates, the wind, all the way up to the daily lives of humans. We often see the end result of the ocean's changes in our weather: horrific, deadly storms, all of them far more frequent and stronger than we've ever recorded.
Earthquakes, tsunamis, tornados and hurricanes, massive country-wide storm fronts, wildfires. Unbearably hot summers, bitterly cold winters, and barely a sign of spring or fall in between.
This leads us into the second major impact that we are seeing: ecological chaos. It's not just humans who are forced to rehome themselves after history-making floods and wildfires. In the same regard, it is not just animals who are seeing their food supply destroyed by the disruption, delay or irregularities of insect emergency, plant flowering and bird migrations. It is not just plants that are devastated by our oceans absorbing excess carbon dioxide. Our planet sustains life through billions of years of evolution, all of our complex systems trying hard to adapt to one another until we achieve that perfect balance which takes care of all life so that we all flourish. Because humans are at the top of the food chain of this planet, it is our choices that inevitably affect all other living things around us, because we make decisions that benefit us in excessive patterns.
I'll speak more later on the responsibility of our decisions and with which humans (or entities) this mostly lies, but suffice it to say that in order for us to tackle these problems, we must have a united front. So in what ways do we face our problem at large, put motivation behind it in order to act fast?
We can start with two of the greatest plagues to human society, above all other possible failings: scarcity and poverty. You may be wondering how we can have a society that harbors any percentage of scarcity or poverty when in fact the major cause of climate change is due to humanity's excess. The excess that we have is manufactured, much of it by key companies who benefit from mass producing material goods in the cheapest - and often most ecologically harmful - ways possible. In the moment, it may appear as if food is being boxed up by a machine or jeans are being scorched with custom designs by a laser, but all of the fuel and energy needed to run these massive operations has a cost beyond the purchase of it. The emissions these warehouses exhume into the atmosphere is a fuel in itself, one that coins the term 'the greenhouse effect'. To summarize what this means, we can look at what is typical versus atypical for our planet's usual cycle of energy: our sunlight passes through the atmosphere to warm Earth's surface. The surface of our planet naturally radiates this energy back out as heat in an exchange that establishes the flow of our environment. The additional carbon dioxide that these factories emit, however, instead absorb this outgoing heat and re-emit it in all directions, trapping thermal energy near the planet instead of letting it escape into space. The exchange is completely interrupted, and we've created an especially deadly condition for our planet by also destroying our planet's forests en masse. Those trees normally would absorb all of that additional carbon monoxide.
The heat that remains trapped near the planet's surface builds up until it generates the furious storms and unforgiving temperatures that we've been seeing with increasing frequency. The storms destroy crops and ruin harvests with droughts, which increases the cost of food due to its scarcity. Flooding and intense heat spread illness through water-borne bacteria and increased insect presence. Homes are destroyed and people with no financial safety net or insurance are caught in the shock of suddenly being left homeless. The domino effect is relentlessly fast, and leaves families destitute and struggling to survive through no fault of their own.
The disasters that we face due to this domino effect impact individuals, but it also costs us globally speaking. In our states, we see roads, bridges and public transit wrecked and shut down until it can be repaired. We see supply chains interrupted which can halt operations of workplaces and freeze cargo transportation, often resulting in lost jobs. Outdoor labor is especially effected both by extreme heat and intense storms. Our food shortages force the country into importing more and more resources to cover the lost crops, thus increasing our deficits. Inflation and higher interest rates are the direct result of all of these problems, and that's all without mentioning the lack of resources that many countries have to stabilize themselves in periods of calm, let alone after major tragedies like earthquakes, hurricanes or tsunamis.
The world is a unit; it may not be a perfectly fused sphere due to politics and greed, but there is no way that we as a race can devolve back into isolation. Our countries all cooperate or at least tip-toe around one another to form alliances and enemies every day, but to face global warming's immense impact, it will take action in complete unison to fully undo the negative effects that we've talked about so far. However, that isn't to say that the most agreeable nations can't lead the charge, especially a powerhouse such as my home, the United States. As of 2026, our current administration has tragically undone the majority of our positive steps in the right direction: we've made a huge shift towards expanding our use of fossil fuels, repealed many of the actions taken by the Environmental Protection Agency, and left the Paris Agreement (an international treaty agreed upon by almost 200 nations to limit global warming through various efforts), to name a few grave mistakes. The most common suggestions from our government demand personal accountability, such as reducing the use of electricity in our homes, all while local and federal organizations make massive deals with AI companies to construct and run data centers on the same grid, sucking up all of our energy (and water supply to cool the processors). This leads me to finally talk about 'fault'.
Yes, we all have a hand in creating and perpetuating climate change. Some may even argue it was necessary in order for us to reach the evolutionary advances that we have by now. With that being said, it is now unmistakable that the consequences of our collective actions have consequences on our planet, and all the living things inhabiting Earth, including humans. It's up to all of us to fix this problem. We have to look at the greatest 'fault' only for the sake of finding the best possible places to start making lasting impact on the problem and solving some of the subsequent consequential puzzles that are obstacles to even better advances that we can make for our future.
In the simplest terms possible, to halt and reverse the real effects of climate change that we are suffering now, we must replace all of our greenhouse gas emissions with renewable energy sources, adopt more plant-rich diets, and use our technology to capture carbon from the atmosphere and restore the nature we've helped destroy to 'right the ship' of ecological stability.
Three steps: replace greenhouse with renewable. Eat more plants. Capture carbon and breed living things that need the numbers.
While not all humans have jumped on board with making these same changes themselves, approximately 80% of all global greenhouse gas emissions are tied to just 100 major corporations or state-owned energy grids. Though our collective effort as individual consumers making better decisions helps tremendously, we MUST work in tandem with a reconstruction of how we produce the goods we need and want. This, in reality, is a monumental effort namely because of the long-term indulgence we've experienced as humans since the Industrial revolution. It's a difficult pill to swallow for us all, to realize that our to-do list for fixing climate change is quite small and easy to enact, but is largely argued against and resisted because it would be INCONVENIENT. 'An Inconvenient Truth' indeed.
It is inconvenient to regular people as consumers to have to change the things that they buy, what they want to eat, where they want to build sources of personal profit. It is even more inconvenient to existing companies who make exorbitant amounts of money based on keeping things as they are, and those companies cover nearly every major industry that exists today. Oil, farming, pharmaceuticals, power grids, mining and lumber and steel. The changes we have to make would cost a lot of money and would require rethinking how we produce all of our goods worldwide. Companies lobby and pay for people of influence, such as politicians or celebrities, to endorse their products as they exist or to outright deny climate change, so that regular people feel less inclined (if not totally opposed) to tackling the problem of climate change.
These efforts to wave away concern have largely worked, but with each passing year and with every worse natural disaster that we're faced with, it's becoming impossible to escape the problem, particularly as regular people who often can not afford the consequences of destruction or death. We are seeing the rapid evolution of this inconvenience as it transforms into tragic calamity.
Nearly 90% of the world's population believe that climate change is a crisis that must be addressed and support government action to do so. When this is true, how it is that we still have not taken immediate action as a whole? Individual people make the decision every day to look into an electric vehicle, to go vegetarian or at least reduce their purchases of meat from the most harmful industry sources. We plants our own gardens and start 'Earth Day' projects to restore tree populations, and we donate to conservation efforts that clean our oceans. Now, we must also come together to make sure that our representatives take the actions that they promise us on the campaign trail: passing laws that cut pollution and fund green energy technology, rejoin international efforts like the Paris Agreement, create market rules to punish the largest polluters among worldwide corporations, and so on. Where we come in is with the power of our vote, and with our insistence that these congressmen and women stick to the fight. This, happening in tandem with our individual purchasing decisions and conservation efforts, WILL reverse the negative effects of climate change.
I reiterate to you that these are simple tasks to accomplish in that they are plainly stated with definitive, proven methods to counteract the damage we've done, but they are not EASY to do. They are inconvenient and will take patience from each of us as we transition to making these improved decisions. We are allowed to make mistakes, but we should also stand together in a massive buddy system to encourage one another, and hold companies and political figures accountable. While I always try to include links to further information in my essays, this time around I would like to share some efforts from the arts that are working to combat global warming using their creative talents.
Museum of Modern African Art | African Artists Combatting Climate Change - A great sampling from the Museum of Modern African Art touching on the major challenges faced in Africa from climate change, and a selection of corresponding artist's works raising awareness.
The Tempestry Project - A collaborative with a focus in fiber arts and environmental education. Using their knitting and crochet skills, these artists create visual data representations of daily high and low temperatures for specific years and locations. A portion of their sales profits are donated to various conservation and climate action organizations, listed here for reference.
Jason deCaires Taylor's Underwater Sculptures - Since 2006, Mr. Taylor has been producing large scale underwater sculpture installations to accomplish two tasks: use artistic expression to highlight the effects of climate change using pH neutral and bioreceptive materials that act as living marine habitats, as well as influence locals to protect their beautiful environments and demand the same of their governments.
HOMEWORK: Those three simple steps that I outlined above, though I can appreciate just how complex each of them are to achieve. I myself am struggling to shift over to a plant based diet right now, but as I stated, every individual effort adds up far faster than you can imagine.
1. Replace Greenhouse Gas with Renewable Energy: The options for those with some spare wealth to invest can vary from changing to green power or installing solar panels. Many townships will have grants or rewards for neighbors who take part in those kinds of advancements for their homes. But the average person can't yet easily afford to drive an electric vehicle, let alone own a home to make such adjustments to. So on an individual basis, the changes we can make seem small, but are important to consider, such as choosing active transit wherever you can, opt to purchase energy and water efficient appliances, and the classic: reduce, reuse and recycle!
2. Change to a Plant-based Diet: One of the benefits that we have in 2026 is that plant based diet plans, recipes, and restaurants are more accessible than ever before. Because of how much major damage our agricultural industries do to the environment, eating a plant based diet is a key part of having an individual impact on the problem of climate change. There's a lot of great starter guides for shifting into this kind of diet, and buddying up with someone is another fun way to give it a try while also helping our planet. Each of these steps listed all help to reduce your carbon footprint (the amount of greenhouse gases that you release into the atmosphere as an individual).
3. Restoring and Conserving Our Environment: Last, but certainly not least, we need to take responsibility for the planet that we live on. The effects of climate change that we've helped to create have affected other living things, from plants to animals to coral and more. It is up to us to repair the damage we've caused, and in turn, the successes of those projects will benefit us. It's a win/win situation! You can donate to conservation organizations based on cause, such as reforestation, animal rescue crews, and education to create future scientists with a passion for the Earth. You can take part in volunteer crews to clean up beaches and park trails, or you can even decide for yourself that you're going to use a nice day outside planting native plants in your area. This is an area that is the most accessible to every person regardless of income, so maybe at some point I'll put together a more comprehensive list. Might be a good Earth Day activity!
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