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Art and Environmental Literacy

Environmental literacy is extremely important to everyone at Earth Day Network— how can anyone advocate for a cleaner earth if they don’t know how to help?  News outlets occasionally talk about the environment and some schools are fighting to put a more comprehensive environmental curriculum in place.  In general, it’s not something that everyone talks about.

However, one of our partners is working towards adding more lines of communication when it comes to environmentalism.  Art Works for Change has created an online art exhibit that highlights various environmental issues that are important to the health of our earth.  Three exhibits are included pieces of various styles from painting, sculpture, and engravings.  The themes of these pieces allow the artists to communicate their concerns about the health of our environment in a less scientific or negative way as we might see in schools or media outlets, therefore attracting more people who are willing to listen to these concerns.

One of the pieces featured in this exhibit is a wall installation where the artist etched images onto several pieces of plastic in order to form an entire image of a girl surrounded by dying sea animals and plastic waste.  The piece raises the question of how many plastic products we use and let go to waste throughout our lives and the impact that it has on our earth and the people surrounding us.

Earth Day Network’s art exhibit provides alternative aspects to environmentalism that might not be addressed in school or acknowledged by the media.  It is providing a voice for a new group of people to show their concerns for how we have been treating our earth.  Earth Day Network is proud to work with Art Works for Change in order to give more people the opportunity to educate others about their own concerns about the degradation of our environment.

Maurita Obermiller, Intern