There was a recent insightful article in “The New York Times.” It captured my interest. The subject was the climate and what we could do to address this crisis from an individual’s perspective, given how massive is the problem that we confront. The article was written by Tressie McMillan Cottom, titled “The Disaster We Must Make Mundane,” published on September 17th, 2021.

The article focuses upon an interview with Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson, who helms “The Urban Ocean Lab” and has written a recent book on climate change. In response to Cottom’s question about what we could do as individuals to have an impact on climate, Dr. Johnson provided a compelling answer. Cottom found it to be surprisingly more philosophical than she anticipated.

Dr. Johnson focused upon the creative. She said, “that as creative people we have the power to create popular culture in which climate is the backdrop of everything that we consume . . . climate should be the context of every story we tell.”

This is such sage advice. We should all strive to incorporate climate into our creative endeavor. It should become an essential category to be considered, equal with a writers’ concern for something as fundamental as character development. We often get so wrapped up in the human relationships that we are exploring in the text that we forget to find room to evaluate how the climate, with its attendant emergencies, figures into the backdrop of the work.

The same can be said for other art forms, although the context may be a little less obvious, such as in sculpture or dance. What about the materials used in a given sculpture? Can they comment upon the scarcity of resources available in the environment? Similarly, can dancers confront the backdrop of hostile weather as they move across even an empty stage?

Find some time to contemplate this pressing feature of our contemporary life. Search out ways to consider its impact upon your artistic efforts. Earth will thank you.