In NYC Summer 2021, for a special ecosystem restoration climate art edition of GreenPoint EARTH to celebrate World Environment Day, famous artist Li-Hill painted a huge mural with a horizon on fire in orange-red, representing the flames of forest fires and other human-caused destruction of ecosystems. As the solution, in the foreground the youth are building a new future with nature, depicted by their planting seeds to restore our planet.
The young people were illustrated from a photo shoot with students of a school GreenPoint began a youth climate art education initiative with in 2018 – Intermediate School 318, located in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. The artist anonymized the individuals to protect their identities.
GreenPoint EARTH’s curator is Stephen Donofrio, who has served as a prominent voice in climate sustainability for nearly two decades during which he has been an Economist at the Chicago Climate Exchange, Director at Forest Trends, and VP at corporate environmental disclosure organization CDP.
The mural is on the border of Williamsburg and Greenpoint in Brooklyn, NYC at the intersection of Berry Street and North 13th, across the street from McCarren Park.
THE FACTS
Scientists have warned us for decades about human-induced climate change: global warming, loss of original forests, the Arctic melting, more contamination everywhere, etc.
We saw and we are still seeing enormous fires, inundations, hurricanes, earthquakes and huge changes of temperatures.
2011-2020 was the warmest decade recorded, with global average temperature reaching 1.1°C above pre-industrial levels in 2019. Human-induced global warming is presently increasing at a rate of 0.2°C per decade. (Source: European Commission)
Right now, the USA and Canada are burning (according to the National Interagency Fire Center in the USA, there have been 34,596 wildfires tallied from 1 January to 16 July, affecting 2,364,643 acres. Source: The Guardian). On the other side of the ocean, Western Europe is devastated by horrendous floods.
The main factors of all these disasters are:
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Burning fossil fuels
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Deforestation (mainly caused by the meat industry: in the Amazon, around 17% of the forest has been lost in the last 50 years, mostly due to forest conversion for cattle ranching.) Source: WWF
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Agriculture (animal releases and fertilizers)
We can’t wait anymore to take action. Our planet is being destroyed.
YOUTH IS OUR HOPE FOR THE FUTURE
GreenPoint INNOVATIONS, which is celebrating its 5th anniversary this year, strongly believes in the importance of education through interactive and in-person storytelling. New generations have to be aware of the situation and be able to face new and hard challenges in the next decades.
This is the reason why the mural was based on a photo shooting of teenagers. As the artist Li-Hill declared: “This mural is for the youth, the world they will inherit, the challenges they will face, and the leading role that is thrust upon them in ensuring a more sustainable future. With the greatest fires this world has seen on the horizon, our youth’s struggle will be for all life on this planet“
ART AS A TOOL FOR CHANGE
One image is often stronger than a long text, and art is a great way to share a message.
GreenPoint Innovations began producing public ‘art plus purpose’ activations in New York City in 2016, expanding internationally in 2019 in collaboration with the United Nations Climate Change Conference. It’s GreenPoint EARTH charitable initiative serves as a collaborative creative hub to educate and inspire communities to act on climate and nature for a sustainable and prosperous future. Its mission is to raise awareness about environmental and public health impacts related to climate change and showcase eco-friendly and climate solutions.
(Website – EARTH & Innovations, Instagram – Innovations & EARTH, Facebook)