Can art help the environment?

How to participate as an artist in environmental protection

 ​Extreme weather, global warming, environmental destruction These words are all too familiar now. I never knew before that getting used to it was such a painful thing. Even if you type on related keywords on YouTube or the Internet, countless content is pouring out. It's an emergency. Now many people are concerned and aware that they have a different attitude than they used to be. It is because it is so close to our daily life.

 Environmental problems are serious because they are closely related to our lives and survival and, above all, directly or indirectly affect future children. When I was a child, I often heard adults say that you want a peaceful world without war or destruction when you grow up. I grew up in their beautiful wishes. So when I became an adult, I knew that I would live a beautiful life with the same hope for my children. But to be honest, I feel guilty about growing up. Because now I know that those words are being ruined to the point where they are virtually useless.

But before, I thought I had plenty of time left. It was believed that the Earth at 4.543 billion years old would not be destroyed so easily. 
According to a major study, a 40% chance by 2025, the global temperature will be 1.5 degrees higher than pre-industrial levels in at least one year out of five. This analysis report was created based on modeling by the UK Meteorological Agency and climate researchers from 10 countries, including the US and China. 

 Due to the reports of these scientists and the efforts of related experts, many people are still more interested and are trying to save the rapidly warming planet. No, you don't have to start trying. You have to do something right now. This is correct.

 Actually, I'm just an ordinary person who wants to draw away from the hustle and bustle of the world. My childhood dream was to wear a pretty floral dress and ride on a white bicycle with a basket in front, with painting tools on the back of it, and then get off the bicycle and paint when I saw a beautiful view. Especially I feel some trouble in life, and the burdens  heavy under my shoulder, I would bring this little dream out of my head and get comfort from time to time. But as an adult, I realized that living like this would be impossible unless I was a millionaire. In particular, it is because someone must support a safe environment where women can run anywhere in a one-piece dress, and above all, economic situation to draw pictures and, finally, a clear, uncontaminated scenery is necessary.

 One day I will feel that this dream was indeed a luxury. And I'm afraid I'll find out that it will be an impossible dream because the scenery that is more beautiful than money is disappearing.

 As an artist, what should I do to participate in protecting and protecting the environment, even a little? 
 
“There’s a crescendo of interest in both art that is itself about the environment and art that is self-consciously environmental, and I think that’s entirely understandable and good, because it draws attention to these dire situations we’re facing,” said Karl Kusserow curator of American Art at the Princeton University Art Museum. 

 And in fact, there are artists who, in the name of Junk art, Eco-art, art activists, etc., inform the public of the dangers of environmental destruction through artistic activities and create and display works of art using recycled or waste paper themselves. 

Many of the artists who identify with the environmental movement have explored the relationship between mankind and the natural environment. These artists are often concerned about ecology, health, and human rights issues and dedicate their art to the these subjects.  Environmental artists can also be found in connection to conservation and green politics. ( What is Environmental Art? By Renee Phillips Leave a Comment)
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 ROUTE USA is a 100% volunteer-lead organization looking for solutions to reduce the impact of waste on the beaches of America and the world. Their mission is to promote arts, community service, education and the awareness to preserve the health of the world’s oceans, beaches and marine life, specifically focusing on the problem of plastic pollution.

Beach clean project by Route USA

Source: Route USA, Beach clean project

 ​The Eco-Art project started in Italy in 2009. Artists interested in sustainable environmental protection movements such as climate change, environmental pollution, forestry, and recycling are jointly hosting international contests and delivering active messages through exhibitions and conferences. The online gallery ‘EAD (EcoArt Database)’ currently has about 1,300 works by artists from all over the world.

 ​I once went to an exhibition of an environmentalist painter at a pump house in France. She collected tea bags that we easily drink and throw away and turned them into her art. I also like to drink tea, so the amount of tea bags I threw away was a lot of reflection, so it was an exhibition. After the exhibition, we had a place to express our feelings through pictures, which is very memorable for me personally.

 ​I once had a dream in the night that the river was on fire. Common sense is that rivers don't burn in real life, but was it possible because it was a dream? In my dream, a river caught fire, and it dried up and dimished

Burning river, 2012, Myungja Anna Koh

 I was so amazed that I got up and painted the picture above that day. And I hoped that this would never happen again.  ​And in reality, I will live by practicing this dream so that it does not become a reality.