Climate Action & The Arts
Olympian Fields of Action Series #17 — Together Enough Through The Arts
Something that can help us with all three senses of being together enough — unity around shared goals, a constant supply of action events, and meeting together regularly — are the Arts. And when we are together in these ways, the Arts can evoke passion and tap into the deep places and inspire creativity as it helps unite us in our commitment to the actions in which we are engaged. They help make real our Movement Value of beauty, help us see the beauty all around us and within us.
The Arts can inspire us to keep putting one foot in front of the other like few things can, helping us be together long enough to make our contribution.
As I write this post I am struck by how inadequate it is, pale descriptions of and suggestions about the subject matter itself.
This post is a minimalist, incomplete, stick-figure sketch done with crayons. Its purpose is simply to awaken us to the possibilities of how the Arts can bring us together and inspire us to stay the course. I hope that you will be intentional about having the Arts help you and those you join together with in our common cause.
To stop bad stuff, set wrong right, and make things better, to make the impossible possible and the possible actual and the actual beautiful, to make hope happen and our future come faster, we need the Arts.
So let me begin.
Stories, Narratives
Stories and narratives are found in all the Arts, but most explicitly in storytelling forms like novels, short stories, graphic novels (e.g., here and here), poems, parables, fables, lyrics, plays, operas, musicals, songs, films, and photography.
Stories and their narratives are not to be found just in these storytelling forms, but are in all forms of human communication, whether explicit or implicit, intentional, or otherwise, or some mixture. This includes all Social Media: Bluesky threads; TicTock videos; FaceBook and Instagram posts, etc.
In general, stories have a narrative, a sequence that leads to meaning or comprehension. This may or may not lead to a resolution or end, as in “The End.” Narratives can be open-ended. This includes cultural and societal narratives that are so endemic as to be part of the way we view reality, part of that much overused word, “worldview.” We have all kinds of stories and narratives in our heads that we don’t even think about or even realize are there.
Stories and narratives are chief ways individuals can be knit together into small groups, communities, ethnicities, faith traditions, nations, and humanity in toto.
As such, we must tap into their power to bring and keep us together moving forward. Our vision, purpose, and Major Goal as I have articulated them is in fact our story of how the future can be; as we achieve them we make hope happen; in this way our hope is part of this story, our story, which becomes a new reality for the Earth and every living thing upon it.
With our vision, purpose, and Major Goal, we are making the story we are telling into the reality we are living. As the Climate Movement we are turning our story into a better reality for the world.
As I have been saying, we are making the impossible possible and the possible actual and the actual beautiful as we make hope happen, justice a reality, and our future come faster. That’s our story in a nutshell.
When we meet together in CATS (Climate Action Teams) we must be inspired by our narrative vision of the future contained in our vision, purpose, and Major Goal, by the stories of others striving to create a better world, including our teammates, and by uplifting stories we find in all the storytelling forms out there.
Music
Music, its melodies, harmony, and rhythm, separately or in combination — can move us to our very depths and communicate in ways that are wonderous, mysterious, and beyond words. When we are physically together its pulsating rhythms can literally keep us moving forward.
Movements have long benefited from music, especially music with accompanying lyrics we can sing together, such as protest songs and movement songs (e.g. We Shall Overcome), anthems, hymns, and adapted popular songs (e.g., Seal’s Crazy, R.E.M.’s Stand, Sam Cooke’s A Change is Gonna Come, Curtis Mayfield’s People Get Ready, KC & the Sunshine Band’s Keep It Comin’ Love). Lyrics can be direct and raw; they can tell stories, both straightforward and more veiled.
I strongly encourage the singing of songs when we come together as CATS or at action events. To help tap into our passion and depth, we must literally sing our hearts out.
Visual Arts
The Visual Arts can be powerful expressions of the passion, depth, and creativity of their creators, and can stir strong cognitive and emotional experiences that can unite and empower us along our climate action journey’s. While it is good for us to see visual arts at the same time when we are together, that is not necessary for each of us to be touched and inspired in ways that draw us together through a common shared experience and knowledge that occurs at different points in time. For example, a CAT could talk about a film everyone has seen, or they could see it together.
o Films, or visual stories, can address problems and solutions directly, such as documentaries like An Inconvenient Truth. But they can also do so indirectly through plot and character development and cinematography.
o Icons, old and new; visual symbols; memes; posters; and other graphic designs — these can unite and inspire us like few other things can, especially those that are connected to stories and are multivalent.
o Videos designed for certain Social Media channels can combine the powerful qualities of films and icons to inspire and inform.
o Paintings, sculptures, mobiles, and other art forms found in museums, galleries, businesses, and homes can do for us all that visual arts are capable of.
o Photographs, especially ones we take, like selfies, can be powerful testaments to our climate actions, to our being together. They can rekindle such experiences again and again. Like all of the other Arts, they evoke and tell stories; but these are our stories, stories we are in, stories we can share through Social Media channels and presentations and informally when we are together. Photos of us being together in meaningful action can bring us together like few things can. I strongly encourage the taking and sharing of photos. (Just be sure to get permission of those in the photos when you share, especially via Social Media platforms.)
Dance
Finally, dance is another of the Arts that can bring us together and inspire us, whether we are watching others, especially talented dancers, or we ourselves are participating in the dancing. Dancing has probably been one of the ways people have been coming together since the beginning of humanity. As we have become more fragmented it has fallen by the wayside for many of us. But when we come together we should be quite intentional about incorporating dance into our being together as a way of experiencing and strengthening the bonds we have with each other and having fun together and enjoying one another.
So Let’s Make Beauty!
I hope this post has sparked your imagination about how to incorporate the Arts into your commitment to overcome climate change by creating a just and prosperous sustainability that enhances wellbeing for everyone and everything, especially as we do so together. Consider this your invitation as we make the impossible possible and the possible actual and the actual beautiful, our world more just, and our future come faster. Join us!
If you are new here, check out our Intro Series and other posts in the Olympian Fields of Action Series. If you like this post, please “like,” comment, and share. And thanks for all you’re doing.