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Artists at the Frontlines:A Call to Citizens of the World to Expand and Empower the Artist’s Role Against the Triple Planetary Crisis

(A Special Scientific Series for RAVE Project)


Artist: Shan Goshorn ( Urban Indian basket works )
Artist: Shan Goshorn ( Urban Indian basket works )


Through their talent and creativity, artists possess a singular ability: 👉 To maintain dialogue and social ties in the most difficult times. 👉 To open hearts, build empathy, and lay foundations for reconstruction of societies broken by crises.

Today, facing the triple planetary crisis — climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution — artists must be recognized not just as communicators, but as critical agents of planetary restoration. It is no longer enough to admire art from a distance. Citizens of the world must actively empower, fund, and collaborate with artists in rebuilding sustainable societies.



Why Artists Matter in the Planetary Crisis

  • The UN Creative Economy Report (2021, UNESCO) reaffirmed that the creative sector is one of the most transformative sectors for sustainable development, capable of driving economic, social, and environmental change.

  • The IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) has warned that behavioral change is now as crucial as technological solutions — and behavioral change is rooted in culture, narrative, and emotion — the domains where artists reign supreme.

"We can’t solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them." — Albert Einstein (and artists, always)



Case Studies: Artists Changing the World

1. Olafur Eliasson: Turning Climate Change into Experience

  • Project: Ice Watch (2014–2019)

  • What he did: Installed melting glacial ice blocks from Greenland in major cities like London and Paris.

  • Impact: Millions experienced the tangible, emotional reality of Arctic melt. 💬 UNESCO experts cited Eliasson's work as a "sensory intervention" that changes public understanding faster than facts alone.



2. Indigenous Artists and the Defense of Biodiversity

  • Artist: Shan Goshorn (Eastern Band Cherokee)

  • What she did: Wove traditional baskets using printed texts about Native land rights and environmental treaties.

  • Impact: Helped amplify indigenous wisdom on sustainable land management at international exhibitions, influencing youth activists globally. 🌿 Cited in UNEP’s Indigenous Environmental Defenders 2022 report.



3. Faith Ringgold: Art as a Climate and Social Justice Weapon

  • Project: Freedom Quilts

  • What she did: Combined climate crisis themes with racial justice issues in her quilt artworks.

  • Impact: Now part of museum collections educating thousands yearly about intersectional climate justice.



4. Banksy and Public Space for Environmental Consciousness

  • What he did: Created street murals highlighting pollution, overconsumption, and species extinction.

  • Impact:

    • A mural on air pollution in London led to renewed debate and public funding for clean air projects.

    • Demonstrated that art outside galleries — in public spaces — can be a form of activism, democratizing ecological literacy.



Evidence from UNESCO and Global Research


📚 Key Data Points:

  • The creative sector represents 3% of global GDP and 6% of global employment (UNESCO, 2021).

  • Art-based education increases pro-environmental behavior by 25-40% compared to traditional education alone (Nature Communications, 2020).

  • Community art initiatives restore social cohesion faster post-disaster than government programs alone (World Bank, 2018).



Urgent Actions Citizens Must Take:


🔵 Fund Artist-Led Environmental Projects: Demand climate funds allocate at least 5% for creative interventions.

🔵 Embed Artists in Policy-making: Call for artists to be appointed to municipal and national climate action councils.

🔵 Protect Artistic Freedom: Without freedom, artists cannot challenge destructive norms. Defend freedom of expression globally.

🔵 Expand Environmental Art in Education: Push schools and universities to integrate eco-art into curricula at all levels.

🔵 Celebrate Artivism Publicly: Recognize, award, and platform artists leading social and ecological change movements.



The Debate: What Happens If We Don't?


Without recognizing artists as co-architects of change, we risk:

  • Technological solutions without emotional or cultural buy-in.

  • "Greenwashing" campaigns that fail to inspire real behavioral change.

  • Alienation between "scientific elites" and everyday citizens who could otherwise be inspired through art.


💥 In other words: Without artists, we lose the human soul of the environmental movement.




The stakes have never been higher. It is time for every citizen — environmentalists, policymakers, educators, activists, and entrepreneurs — to ask: 👉 How are we empowering the creative minds who can help heal our planet? 👉 What new alliances must be formed between science, policy, and art?

Through RAVE Project’s Scientific Series, we urge a new global movement: 🎨 Artists are not an accessory to the fight for the future — they are a necessity. Let's put them at the center where they belong.



📚 Sources:

  • UNESCO. (2021). International Year of Creative Economy for Sustainable Development.

  • IPCC. (2022). Sixth Assessment Report.

  • UNEP. (2022). Indigenous Environmental Defenders.

  • Nature Communications. (2020). Impact of Arts-Based Environmental Education.

  • World Bank. (2018). Social Cohesion and Recovery through Community Art.

  • Soundscape Ecology Research Center. (2021).

  • Interviews with artists archived at UN Creative Economy Network, 2021–2023.

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