What’s Next for Earth: Review, Assessment, and ACTION! Exhibition

| August 6, 2024 | Leave a Comment

This is the 21st and last What’s Next for Earth online exhibition based on Think Resilience, a free online course written by Richard Heinberg and produced by Post Carbon Institute.

The impactful and insightful exhibition marks the culmination of the Think Resilience course series. It has been an incredible journey! Thank you to all the amazing artists who dedicated their time to watching the videos and reflecting on their intricate content. I hope the course served as a turning point in their understanding of our interconnected crises (ecology economy, energy, and equity) —challenges without straightforward solutions, yet ones we can address through meaningful responses and action. By the end of the course, it is evident that building resilience starts with comprehending the complexity of our situation and then collaborating with our communities. 
~ Michele Guieu

Artists

Marianne Bickett, Alison Lee Cousland, Yvonne Espinoza, Dorothy Ries Faison, Diane Farris, Deborah Kennedy, Celia Kettle, Jacqui Jones, Nancy Lane, Rosalind Lowry, Mona Næss, Meredith Nemirov, Susan Smith, Anna Stump, Emma Systa, Kim Tanzer, Marcela Villasenor, Karen Viola, Gordon Wood.

Susan Smith
PLANT THE SEEDS OF DEMOCRACY
Sewing seeds, seed bombing with collected pollinator seeds, and strategically placed banners.
Austin, Galveston, Houston, Nashville, Carlisle.

I see my role as artist as one of first responder to injustice, a creative steward in the health of communities, and it’s never been more crucial than it is now. Democracy for all. That’s what’s at stake.

1. Plant the Seeds of Democracy Banners

2-7. Sewing seeds near the Rothko Chapel, at Plant It Forward community garden, Houston.

8. We find ourselves on a bridge. A transition from one America to the next. A time for grief and maybe some joy. Sewing these seeds where I live…seed bombs, not drones. Practicing resilience, holding space for dialogue and difference. Activating spaces.

9. Seed bombing from Maine to NH. Planting democracy banners, ironically marking what seems like the end of the republic as we know it. Storrs St-Concord.

10. Sewing seeds in Austin, Texas (South Lamar and 5th Street).

©2024 Susan Smith

Jacqui Jones
FINDING HOPE IN COLLECTIVE ACTION
Recent interactive artworks relating to the impacts of plastics on planetary and human health.

I am committed to widening environmental engagement and horizons through playful, informative, and impactful artworks.

1-5. Planet vs Plastics Community Art Installation for Earth Day, April 2024

6-8. Plastics Protest March Participatory installation for the GREAT BIG GREEN WEEK June 2024

‘There are many ways to get involved in building community resilience. Every action you take makes a difference one way or the other and if you give some thought to it, you can find actions big and small that will work for you, given your interests, skills, and opportunities. These may be at the personal level, the neighborhood level, the community level, or in the national arena’. ~Richard Heinberg

©2024 Jacqui Jones

Meredith Nemirov
WHY DRAW A TREE
A collection of drawings of trees with various mediums by myself and students of all ages, elementary to adult.

Trees are in a dynamic relationship with all aspects of our environment. They express fundamental priciples of growth and adaptation which offer suggestions for how we create our man made communities. They are potential allies within our natural systems and by nurturing and protecting them we are enacting the important dictum of a resilience action plan: First Do No Harm.

This is the final call for the What’s Next for Earth online exhibition, which responds to the last lesson of the Think Resilience course by Post Carbon Institute with Richard Heinberg: Review, Assessment, Action.

Since I first participated in January 2022, I have been privileged to be part of a community of artists/activists. Thank you to everyone, especially to Michele Guieu, for her superb curation.

©2024 Meredith Nemirov

Celia Kettle
NOA’S SPACESHIP
A workshop-based project that addresses biodiversity loss, developed collaboratively with help from the artist Nelly Di Costanzo.

View Gallery
Through researching the International Red List and contacting local nature reserves we came up with a list of local and national plants and animals which are currently in danger of extinction due to climate change and factors which are driving climate change.

By running art workshops we invite members of the public to take part in discovering the beauty and diveristy of the local flora and fauna through representing them using different artistic techniques . As reference we provide photografic images each with information about the habitat, size, traditional use and threats to each of these species.

We invite those who have taken part to participate with their art works in a final exposition and possibly also a book.

I am very pleased to be able to share this project with What’s Next for Earth as the final part of a wonderfully informative course about raising awareness of climate change and how we can cope on a local level.

As Richard Heinberg says in Lesson 22: “Every system is comprised of subsystems, and every system is part of a larger system… If it’s an ecosystem, its identity may arise from climate, topography, soil types, and key species and their interactions.….Synthesize and share your findings, and work with the community to identify and focus on one or more specific projects.”

From my experience of participating in What’s Next for Earth, I became more aware of relating my art to my everyday experience of nature as a city dweller. Being aware of biodiversity loss made me think of how detached we are from the ways that climate change is affecting the natural world.

©2024 Celia Kettle

Anna Stump
MOJAVELAND
Miniature Golf-Course

What’s Next for Earth’s “Review, Assessment, and Action” course asks artists to share projects we are working on to build resilience at the community level. Mojaveland is such a project, being built with many collaborators, and morphing as needs change in our rural town.

Mojaveland is a non-profit, interactive art center that features a miniature golf course in which each hole is designed by a different local artist. Our aesthetic grandfather is Noah Purifoy, who used trash he found in the desert to build fantastic sculptures and environments.

Mojaveland existed as a pop-up art experience for two years, and is now on hiatus as we develop the center on public land, with support of the Dew Foundation, other donors, and the City of Twentynine Palms. Our development will be on the doorstep of Joshua Tree National Park and the 29 Band of Mission Indians land, so we will use a light touch, altering the landscape as little as possible while still designing for safety and accessibility.

Planned areas of the center are the mini golf course, a mural forest, a sculpture walkabout, an outdoor classroom area, and a puppet theater. Focusing on fun and discovery, we serve local families, the Marines of 29 Palms, and visitors to the Mojave Desert. Please follow our adventure!

©2024 Anna Stump

Marianne Bickett
BUILDING RESILIENCE IN OUR COMMUNITY
Artistic Involvements

As an artist, I don’t set out with the goal of building resilience in our community. Instead, I focus on doing what I love and sharing my passion with others —my grandchildren, neighbors, schools, etc.

1-7. Recently, I had the opportunity to work on a 20th-anniversary mural for the elementary school where our grandson attends. I located a fabulous artist who embodies the true concept of community building, Estria. The mural, depicting the spiritual and environmental aspects of the area, was created with the involvement of every child in the school. The mural’s theme was the Pueo, or short-eared owl, which once inhabited the area.

8. I collaborated with the Wildfire Association to raise awareness about land preservation and management by incorporating their owl mascot into the project.

9-10. I also initiated a pilot program in collaboration with Trees for Honolulu, engaging kindergartners to develop a connection with trees on their school grounds. The children created “Thank You” hearts for the trees, and a bulletin board featuring the Milo tree.

11-13. An unexpected encounter with monarch butterflies led to a project involving these beautiful insects. We brought caterpillars and crown flower plants to a preschool attended by one of our grandsons, where we observed the monarchs’ life cycle. This experience taught us valuable lessons about creating a welcoming community for endangered butterflies and other essential insects.

14. Lastly, I became involved in a project led by artist Patrick Ching to refurbish albatross decoys for the Kure Atoll, with the aim of encouraging albatrosses to nest there. Patrick, an amazing artist, has made significant contributions to island communities through projects that involve community participation in wildlife conservation efforts.

By pursuing our passions, we can engage our communities and foster the resilience needed for positive change. Mahalo!

©2024 Marianne Bickett

Marcela Villaseñor
REGENERATION
AI, digital collage

This is a small project in my community that I created with the help of my neighbors: transforming trash spots into new life.

“Resilience has to do with adaptability to real or potencial disturbance, and with the process of how to manage the systems we care about” ~ Richard Heinberg

©2024 Marcela Villaseñor

Mona Naess
SHELL-PORTRAIT
Tiny handmade porcelain heads made from an old plaster cast I have found are placed inside shells on the beach.

My idea is to make a visual and silent exhibition for whoever finds the objects and to enlighten them.

“Every system is comprised of subsystems, and every system is part of a larger system.” Richard Heinberg.

We are nature. This is my way of talking to people about climate, ecosystems, and the vulnerabilities we face.

The porcelain faces are as pure as pebbles and will not contribute to environmental litter.

©2024 Mona Naess

Deborah Kennedy
THE GREEN ENLIGHTENMENT
A Selection of a few pages of my book

This is my vision for a transformative cultural, social, political and environmental movement that holds the promise of renewing our world. This vision is inspired by the original Enlightenment, a philosophical movement developed in France during the late 18 th century.

Like this earlier Enlightenment, the Green Enlightenment embraces a belief in the power of using reason, knowledge, and science to guide our societal decisions and to improve our world for the benefit of all people.

Today, however, we must complement reason with emotional and spiritual intelligence if we are to heal our relationships with nature and among the peoples of the world. The Enlightenment refrain, “Dare to think,” must be complemented with the call, “Dare to care.”

To bring the Green Enlightenment to fruition, will take a series of practical steps and large-scale actions. These steps are reconciliation, restoration, and regeneration.

©2024 Deborah Kennedy

Rosalind Lowry
TEMPORARY LAND-BASED INSTALLATIONS

Since 2021, I’ve had the privilege of being involved with What’s Next for Earth and The Millennium Alliance for Humanity and the Biosphere at Stanford University.

The program is ending this year with a final call based on environmental action and how to build resilience personally, locally, and internationally through your work.

The program ends with the development of a resilience action plan and recommends that as you proceed, do so by Hipocrates’ famous dictum: First, do no harm.

©2024 Rosalind Lowry

Alison Lee Cousland
INFINITY: THE CONVERGENCE OF:
Ephemeral arrangements

1. Constructing a Brush Turkey ‘de-fence’ over the newly established garden: Replanted on top of 2023’s Brush Turkey Mound in our backyard.
2. Repurposing the weft of an old unravelling rug, handmade from strands of silk sarees.
3. Being encouraged to hold a workshop on making ‘Magical Wands’ for children in 2025 at the Community Centre where I recently exhibited my work.
4. Exploring the Infinity symbol:

As I unravelled, tore and knotted remnants of old silk sarees, to make ‘cords’ to define the (virtually invisible) Brush Turkey wire fence ~ Thoughts floated by.

Sitting in the sun upon the earth, within a short time the nature of this ‘slightly boring chore’ changed to become a very enjoyable one.

The knots became more and more creative: Thoughts of how to show children simple ways to make bindings for their ‘Magical Wands’ flowed as I knotted: Simple single knots to layered fabric knots.

I feel very excited about passing on my creative ’skills’ to children now ~ Encouraging them to repurpose and see the beauty in the old, dull and discarded as well as nature’s natural materials. Exemplifying Hippocrates’ famous dictum: ‘First, do no harm’ as mentioned by Richard Heinberg.

I’ve had an affinity with the infinity/eternity symbol for a very long time: Working with the symbol in ephemeral arrangements and recently I’ve been hearing ‘whispers’ to work with it again.

I’ve walked images of dragonflies with ‘wings of infinity’ in the frosted grass of the local golf course and a few weeks ago started walking just the Infinity symbol.

Watching the video: The Power of Walking the Eight with Sarita Sol, has explained so much to me.

From thinking, to walking, to creating with unravelled threads: The infinity symbol is coming into so many threads of my being.

©2024 Alison Lee Cousland

Kim Tanzer
A TOWN CALLED CURIOUS
Instagram Reel

In suggesting artists and others develop a resilience assessment and action plan, Richard Heinberg asks, “What are likely cross-scale interactions? Every system is comprised of subsystems, and every system is part of a larger system.”

Rather than adopting a quantitative approach, this Instagram Reel begins with the hypothesis that a resilient community is one that cares, is careful, and is curious. The drawings comprising this Reel reflect a cross-section of Gainesville’s interacting systems, including water, food, social justice, spiritual sustenance, geology, history, education, and ecology.

They suggest a poetic inventory of our community’s resilient characteristics. Our local curiosities—the way our stories are set in time/space—ground us and teach us. I believe they will lead us through the challenging times to come.

©2024 Kim Tanzer

Nancy D Lane
GOOD RIDDANCE TO BAD RUBBISH
Found object assemblage wall sculpture in a drawer created from bent forks, tongs, plastic and sea glass.

A shout-out to Clean Up Australia’s many, many communities taking action. They are great examples of typifying What’s Next for Earth’s last art call, ‘Review, Assessment and Action.’

Their website says, “Clean Up Australia inspires and mobilizes communities to improve and conserve our environment, eliminate litter, and end waste. Over 21 million Aussies have participated in Clean Up Australia activities and events. What was started over thirty years ago by an ‘average Australian’ who had a simple idea to make a difference in his own backyard has now become the nation’s largest community-based environmental event.”

Created at River Studios, managed by Creatives Spaces for the City of Melbourne.

©2024 Nancy D Lane

Karen Viola
MAKE MENDS MEET
Mending a favorite sweater

I offer my small, artful task of mending a favorite sweater, a delightful process reflected in the result, a 5-inch diameter patch of cotton covering a big elbow hole and a spontaneously-invented stitch which was only possible because of another artist’s beautiful idea to organize a group, free and open to all, called ‘Make Mends Meet’ where “nothing is beyond mending and repair, including yourself.”

I uphold these resonating words of Kathrin Achenbach, which further describe her tactile textile initiative: “Mending is an act of defiance in a world, where we throw out what we don’t love or need any longer instead of sharing, repairing or reinventing what we already own. We repair the social fabric while mending clothes, shoes, pillows and everything else that’s soft and subject to wear and tear.“

These are no small acts. I sat for three hours with a number of very interesting people sharing threads, scraps, and stories. Connections were made and relationships seeded, not to mention my sweater looks better than ever!

How do we become resilient in the face of these overwhelmingly distressing times? Two words: Join others.

As Heinberg asserts: “Every action you take makes a difference one way or the other, and, if you give some thought to it, you can find actions big and small that will work for you, given your interests, skills, and opportunities.”

I have never been more aware of the importance of thoughtful actions now that I am new in town (Ithaca, land of Cayuga Nation). I am grateful to have found ‘Make Mends Meet’ and its umbrella organization, ‘The Soil Factory,’ an experimental space that explores art, science, and sustainability. I look forward to more joining and more thoughtful actions.

©2024 Karen Viola

Gordon Wood
CASCADIA

1. Dawn of Womankind & Wisdom Elucidates
Acrylic collage on panel
2. Nocturnal & Foveal Vision Enlightens
Acrylic collage on panel
3. Self as Object – Self as Knower
Acrylic collage on panel
4. Under the Influence of Life
Acrylic collage on panel
5. Embracing & Nurturing the Seeds & Seat of Consciousness
Acrylic collage on panel
6. Permeable-Self
Acrylic collages on canvas
7. Sense of Place
Art Installation
Mixed Medium: Mannequin, Textile, Sand, Mirror, Broken Mirror, Stump, Branch, B&W Prints, Natural Pigments 132” x 242” x 60”, 1993.

Being an Artist, a creative conduit is an act of resilience and resistance to linear thinking and living. Art within the eco-socio-cultural matrix stimulates resilience by generating and stimulating resilience resonance within others, not just human beings but all life.

Consciousness naturally involves, contains and elucidates biological meanings and value, hence nurturing and nourishing mindfulness as the self-unfolds in relationship/s.

This is a subjective review, assessment and action based on observation and experience, without experimental or data to provide empirical evidence. As a deeply embedded human citizen of the Cascadia Bioregion for over forty-three (43) years, imbibing and embodied in its diverse, beautiful ecology and natural communities, bearing witness to the anthropocentric impacts therein, my plan of actions is to co-create and produce the Cascadia Enlivenment & Enchantment 2025 event and conference in Seattle. This is a work in progress, started pre-pandemic, and now being regenerated, with the intentions and objective to create and establish a model for multiple collaborative nodes throughout Cascadia. The focus and primary collaborators of generation in these deep, broad and diverse efforts of co-creating and regenerating a healthy creative and ecological social-ecological systems bioregion will be Indigenous, Artists, Cultural Creatives with Climate and Eco-nomic Activists. As creatives we will find it essential, easy and dynamic to cross-pollinate and connect the dots, embracing a wholistic-integral worldview while transcending disciplines.

Gratitude to What’s Next for Earth, Michele Guieu, & the extended global community!

Read the full text here.

©2024 Gordon Wood

Dorothy Ries Faison
EARTH IN CRISIS: WHAT YOU CAN DO
Two-sided oil painting on recovered Dibond panel hanging as billboard on voie de la Vallée/route du Buisson D25, the major road through Siorac-en-Périgord in Dordogne

“The variety and scale of the challenges facing nature and society in the 21st century an seem overwhelming. That’s part of why we suggest focusing efforts at the community level. The community no is likely the most accessible and fruitful site for intervention.” —Richard Heinberg

After the review and assessment of our community’s needs this is the first billboard of ACTION outside my studio on a busy two-lane road.

Siorac en Périgord has, as a Region and City, already focused on food waste, eating local, and buying local. Based on a distillation of what one can do now and what can be broadly communicated, I have painted the first of a series of billboard paintings with two sides. The focus is on creating biodiverse habitats and reducing plastic waste with an inset view of the Dordogne River and the fact that one cigarette butt pollutes 500 liters of water. Finally, the focus is on a healthy future for our children and their children.

©2024 Dorothy Ries Faison

Emma Systa
PEOPLES MANIFESTO FOR NORWICH
Textiles and drawing

Taking part in the amazing online course by Post Carbon Institute has given me the knowledge and confidence to weave into my artivism. Thanks to What’s Next for Earth for curating artistic calls to action.

Think Resilience lesson 22, ‘Review, Assessment, and Action,’ has helped me create and curate community-collected ideas into a giant flag made as part of the Reimagine the City event organized by Possitopia Norwich, Climate Museum UK, and Culture Declares Emergency.

This giant flag/banner is our ‘Peoples Manifesto for Norwich’ inspiring a resilient reality – a Trade Union banner for NATURE.

It is a snapshot of inspiring ideas and we hope it will inspire more.

● What needs to be done? ● Who should do what and when? ● With what resources? ● When can it be done? ● What are the expected results?

‘We live in a social-ecological system that is not on a sustainable path and is increasingly vulnerable to what we have called the “E4” crises—energy, ecology, economy, and equity. Climate change has implications across all four of those domains, making it the meta-crisis of our time. Building the resilience of our society will entail significant changes in human systems. And that will consist not of a series of band-aids, but systems thinking and systemic change that understands the historical roots of immediate crises and also responds to changing conditions, contexts, and feedbacks. We’ve seen that resilience and sustainability are different but equally useful concepts. Resilience has to do with adaptability to real or potential disturbance, and with the process of how we manage the systems we care about. Sustainability has to do with becoming less disturbance-prone in the first place, and with our ability to survive and thrive on an ongoing basis.’

I highly recommend doing this inspiring free online course by Post Carbon Institute.

©2024 Emma Systa

Yvonne C. Espinoza
THIS LITTLE LIGHT OF MINE
Lamp – Assemblage

As I complete my orbit around the Resilience course and the pressing reality of a world post fossil fuels, I return to the simple question, “Who am I?”

Artists venture forward and muster the creative courage to address an unknown. This creative lens is ever-evolving and overlapping with practical necessities and solutions. So, I am bringing light to what this journey has been about for me.

As I plant my garden, analyze the safety of materials I bring into the home, refrain from mowing down the small clover flowers that are frequented by our tiny pollinator neighbors, speak in front of town officials looking to change wetland zoning in our town to development, learn to build a strawbale home with a group, learn about permaculture, and recognize the complexity of systems we are always interacting with to do daily things like eat, breathe, and drink. . .

. . . I do these because I am part of the world, and the love I feel for my family has grown to include my larger family. The realms that were once siloed are now clearly connected. The animal realm, the soil realm, the ocean realm, the forest realm, the imaginary realm, and many more are all contained in me, and I in them.

With that, I collected an outsize wine bottle that my mom gave to me at a family celebration; some metal mesh from a local creative reuse shop; wire from my stash of broken jewelry that served to create new beings for my art in this series; and a floral framing wreath to help weave my love of gardens with my many community circles. It was always going to be a lamp with an entire kingdom as its regalia.

Who am I? I am a beacon.

And traveling with this inspiring group of creatives has made it evident that 𝙒𝙚 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙗𝙚𝙖𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙨. Moreover, as makers, we are beacons who make beacons.

©2024 Yvonne C. Espinoza

Diane Farris
RE/GENERATIONS
Painting

Recently, I’ve reflected upon the Yardbirds, friends who have gardened together for twenty years. We are a circle of women who gather monthly at one another’s homes to do outdoor tasks the hostess sets for us; then, we share lunch and stories around her table. These gardeners are also inspired cooks who create welcoming, elegant tables.

We weed, divide, plant, share seeds and seedlings, experiment and build; we have leaned out of a cherry picker to trim and traveled from Florida to North Carolina to help a gardener in need. There is that sense of enough and abundance when we gather. Parents and grandparents ourselves, we treasure memories of our elders who shared their love– and their love of nature – with us. As I “review and assess” my pieces for WNFE, I note the recurrent themes of children, books, plants and produce, community – and light. My intention is to find ways to pass along the joy, meaning, fellowship and stewardship of the Yardbirds. This fits with Heinberg’s advice to find actions “that will work for you, given your interests, skills and opportunities”.

The background of this photograph, Re/Generation, is a gardenia from my yard that came from a friend who received the fragrant gardenia “ancestors” from her beloved mother-in-law. The painting is one of my series on connections made – and connections missed – with nature, as expressed by the dangling, vintage phone. The woman overlooking the scene is my great grandmother, an homage to my own gardening lineage.

©2024 Diane Farris

About the Think Resilience Course

This exhibition is based on Think Resilience, Post Carbon Institute’s free online course. To respond to the art call, we asked the artists to signup and to watch the course, one lesson/video at a time. Each video is approximately 12 minutes long.

[Lesson 1: Introduction to the course]

CHAPTER 1: Our Converging Crises

CHAPTER 2: The Roots and Results of Our Crises

CHAPTER 3: Making Change

CHAPTER 4: Resilience Thinking

CHAPTER 5: Economy and Society

CHAPTER 6: Basic Needs and Functions

Think Resilience is hosted by Richard Heinberg, one of the world’s leading experts on the urgency and challenges of moving society away from fossil fuels.

We live in a time of tremendous political, environmental, and economic upheaval. What should we do? Think Resilience is an online course offered by Post Carbon Institute to help you get started on doing something. It features twenty-two video lectures—about four hours total—by Richard Heinberg, one of the world’s foremost experts on the urgency and challenges of transitioning society away from fossil fuels. Think Resilience is rooted in Post Carbon Institute’s years of work in energy literacy and community resilience. It packs a lot of information into four hours, and by the end of the course you’ll have a good start on two important skills:

1. How to make sense of the complex challenges society now faces. What are the underlying, systemic forces at play? What brought us to this place? Acting without this understanding is like putting a bandage on a life-threatening injury.

2. How to build community resilience. While we must also act in our individual lives and as national and global citizens, building the resilience of our communities is an essential response to the 21st century’s multiple sustainability crises.

What’s Next For Earth is an art project created in March 2020 by Michele Guieu, eco-artist, and MAHB Art Editor, to understand the human predicament and reflect on the ecological emergency to take action. The MAHB and the Post Carbon Institute support the project. If you have any questions, please send your message to michele@mahbonline.org.
Thank you ~

The views and opinions expressed through the MAHB Website are those of the contributing authors and do not necessarily reflect an official position of the MAHB. The MAHB aims to share a range of perspectives and welcomes the discussions that they prompt.