350 EARTH, the first global art show on climate change, has kicked off by launching several symbolic performances seen from space that bring people and planet together to highlight the hazards of global warming. From the coast of the Dominican Republic to downtown Los Angeles, thousands of volunteers joined renowned artists to launch a weeklong photo-performance project that ends on November 27th, just ahead of the UN climate talks in Cancun, Mexico.
Upcoming 350 EARTH events will take place in New Delhi on Tuesday; in Beijing on Thursday; in Cairo and Broken Hill, Australia on Friday; and in Cape Town, Cancun, Reykjavik, and Brighton, UK on Saturday.
The show is being organised by international climate campaign 350.org, whose name points to goal of reducing the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere from its current level of 390 parts per million to below 350 ppm, what leading scientists agree is an acceptable upper limit.
“Art can convey in a different way than science the threat that climate change poses to our planet,” says 350.org founder and environmental author Bill McKibben. “The world’s best scientists have tried to wake-up politicians to the climate crisis, now we’re counting on artists to help.”
CAPTION:
3,000 students and teachers at the Ryan International School in New Delhi along with volunteers from the Indian Youth Climate Network joined aerial artist Daniel Dancer to form an enormous elephant with rising seas below to ask world leaders to not ignore the ‘elephant in the room’ – climate change.