You don't have to be angry to be a climate activist
heated.world
Anger and disruption may get the most media attention, but solutions and beauty-focused climate activism is just as important, argues artist and climate scientist Mika Tosca.
I’m glad you did this interview and would love for you to return to this topic. I find anger helpful. It keeps me from feeling smothered and powerless. I’ve gardened in the same house for more than twenty years -- a woodland garden full of varieties of Japanese maples, shade plants and natives. They grow under towering Douglas firs. I think it’s beautiful even in winter. It’s a small garden surrounded by other homes in the woods in a town surrounded by wooded state parks. I enjoy looking at my garden, thinking about the birds it shelters and the co2 it turns to oxygen. I love to see the distant hills through the trees and the town below, where I can walk to shops. I love my town too. BUT when I look at my garden it reminds me every day that it and the larger eco system can and probably will burn because of climate change. In a place where in the past a forrest fire would be a laughable thing to fear, devastating fires have occurred and will in the future, so even when I look at the beauty around me I get mad. I plan how to protect my home from Forrest fire even as I plan how to fight climate change and it makes me mad. So even appreciating and creating beauty can make you angry.
So thankful for the article on art and climate change that emerged out of the AGS panel at Chicago;s Art Institute. I am an artist and climate activist, too!
Thank you for the Terry Evans photographic collage at the beginning of your piece. Her photography of prairies in Kansas that I have enjoyed since the 1980s have been a central part of my bonding with prairies (and trees like the Fent Prairie oak!). I consider such bonding to be central to each of us being more effective guardians of the places where we live, as loving the specificity of the places we live is akin to being in love with an individual vs. being in love with love. Anger is episodic and necessary: vigilance is ongoing and must have a sustainable source. Both vigilance and anger are more effective if it comes from inspiration and bonding, which artists like Terry Evans facilitate.
Love that you followed up with this piece - I think what comes through most clearly for me is the need for BOTH sides simultaneously: the creativity and expression needed to communicate the challenge and the vision, alongside the anger and determination needed to call out injustice and drive us to action.
I’m glad you did this interview and would love for you to return to this topic. I find anger helpful. It keeps me from feeling smothered and powerless. I’ve gardened in the same house for more than twenty years -- a woodland garden full of varieties of Japanese maples, shade plants and natives. They grow under towering Douglas firs. I think it’s beautiful even in winter. It’s a small garden surrounded by other homes in the woods in a town surrounded by wooded state parks. I enjoy looking at my garden, thinking about the birds it shelters and the co2 it turns to oxygen. I love to see the distant hills through the trees and the town below, where I can walk to shops. I love my town too. BUT when I look at my garden it reminds me every day that it and the larger eco system can and probably will burn because of climate change. In a place where in the past a forrest fire would be a laughable thing to fear, devastating fires have occurred and will in the future, so even when I look at the beauty around me I get mad. I plan how to protect my home from Forrest fire even as I plan how to fight climate change and it makes me mad. So even appreciating and creating beauty can make you angry.
So thankful for the article on art and climate change that emerged out of the AGS panel at Chicago;s Art Institute. I am an artist and climate activist, too!
Lana
Thank you for the Terry Evans photographic collage at the beginning of your piece. Her photography of prairies in Kansas that I have enjoyed since the 1980s have been a central part of my bonding with prairies (and trees like the Fent Prairie oak!). I consider such bonding to be central to each of us being more effective guardians of the places where we live, as loving the specificity of the places we live is akin to being in love with an individual vs. being in love with love. Anger is episodic and necessary: vigilance is ongoing and must have a sustainable source. Both vigilance and anger are more effective if it comes from inspiration and bonding, which artists like Terry Evans facilitate.
Love that you followed up with this piece - I think what comes through most clearly for me is the need for BOTH sides simultaneously: the creativity and expression needed to communicate the challenge and the vision, alongside the anger and determination needed to call out injustice and drive us to action.