by Dr Bibiana Chan
CFS hosted a Climate Action Art Exhibition in Oct 2022 during Mental Health Week at Balgowlah Stockland Centre. Three members of the CFS Youth Action Group (YAG) and nine Balgowlah Scouts and Cubs took part as ‘curators’ for the exhibition. They (some were artists behind the artwork) told the stories of ‘WHY, WHAT, WHEN AND HOW’ climate actions would be useful to tackle the challenges faced by climate change. The focus was to give young people a VOICE and raise awareness of the urgency of climate actions. These young curators invited exhibition visitors to share their views on post-it-notes.
Encouraged by the success of the 2022 exhibition, a few members of the CFS-YAG and myself met twice via Zoom in Jan 2023 to organise a Climate Action Art Competition (CAAC). In addition to raising awareness, CAAC invites young people to explore deeper into a specific climate action. Last month, I facilitated my 6th Climate Action Art Workshop for 18 cubs at the hall of the 1st Forestville Scouts Group. I opened the workshop with a question, ‘Do you know WHY I am here this evening?’
Climate Action Art Competition To raise awareness of urgent climate actions needed. Young people (aged 10 – 25 yr ) are welcome. Click here to enter. If you would like Bibi to host a ‘Climate Action Art Workshop’ for your organisation/school, just shoot her an email.
One cub raised his hand, ‘So we can win $100!’ There were a few giggles. I replied, ‘Haha, you’ve done your homework! Yes, I’m here to talk about a Climate Action Art Competition. The winner of each age category will take home a $100 Westfield gift card. There are 6 highly recommended prizes for each category too. You can enter the 10 – 13 yr. age group.’ We had great fun, just look at the photos and the comments by the scout leaders:
The Cubs recently got crafty with Dr Bibiana Chan from the Community Flower Studio Inc. We started our artworks for the Climate Action Art Competition. We had some great conversations about the threats to our climate and how we can reduce, reuse, recycle, reimagine….
It was a fabulous evening and the Cubs were really engaged not only in the activity but also looking at nature and trash and art with a new perspective.
Reflecting on the conversations I had with the cubs, I was very impressed by their enthusiasm and curiosity to find out more about what actions a young person could do. Out of the 5 Rs (Reduce, Recycle, Reuse, Repair and Recycle), perhaps ‘Reduce’ is the hardest to put into practice in the current consumerism economy. There is no way to escape commercial advertisements! TV, radio, social media. bill posts and many ‘social influencers’. Children as young as 2 yr are attracted to the Disney merchandise of their favourite cartoon characters! I often wonder ‘Will Earth’s resources ever run out?’ I discussed deforestation with the cubs.
Interestingly, I came across The World Count and learnt that there was only 27.3% of wild forest left globally as of 2 July 2023.
“Closer to home: deforestation in Australia is a major environmental concern, leading to the loss of millions of native animals, including endangered species, and destruction of forests and woodlands. Nearly 50% of our forest cover has been cleared in the last two centuries, making Australia one of the worst developed countries for deforestation.”
If you think The World Counts presents a very gloomy picture for mankind, think again. It was actually created to raise awareness of important global challenges. “Our current consumer society is not sustainable. In essence, products are made from natural resources and eventually turned into waste. With a limited amount of natural resources, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that we can’t run such a system forever.”
An American architect William McDonough and a German chemist Dr Michael Braungart developed a new concept: the Cradle-to-Cradle Design – Remaking the Way We Make Things. Its philosophy, adds the needs of future generations in the equation, aims to strike a balance between economic growth and environmental sustainability. Listen to McDonough’s talk here: on Circularity’19 – not just circular, but safe.
If you appreciate something lighter, this is for you: William reciting his poem “Towards a New Language of Luxury”.
Dr Michael Braungart recently shared his vision at European Parliament in Brussels. He has this truly visionary and ambitious plan to transform China to become a cradle-to-cradle country. He acknowledged that Yellow River is basically the cradle of the Chinese civilization, if this region starts to adopt this new concept, we can inspire people with our success.
“… because what we do (in Europe) is nice but if we can inspire people in China to think differently then we will really make a difference!… With innovation, you need trust and respect for each other.”
Some of the visitors to our 2022 Climate Action Art Exhibition commented that China and India were the highest polluters (in terms of CO₂ Emissions) and ‘WHY don’t they do something first?” This statement left out an important polluter – USA (came 2nd in the race, c.f. Australian in the 16th place . Fortunately, there is someone like Dr Michale Braungart, who has the insight in forming partnership with China in the Cradle-to-Cradle Design. He is also humble to want to learn from China’s experience in the Yellow River Region. He knew too well that this is the ‘Cradle of Civilisation of China’.
There is still HOPE for mankind!
