The Art Newsletter: Vol 01, Issue 01

Abstract

Earth’s ability to support complex life on it is being compromised at a far greater pace than it is currently believed. The unprecedented growth of human consumption and population is making things even worse. In the past 500 years, about 700 species of documented vertebrate and 600 plant species have become extinct. While this does not include all those species that have gone extinct unrecorded; out of total of 7-10 million eukaryotic species on this planet, one million are threatened of extinction. Today there is less than 15% of the wetland area compared to what existed about 300 years ago. Live coral cover has halved in less than 200 years while Seagrass extent has been decreasing by 10% per decade over the last century. All of these are extremely interrelated in sustaining the biosphere of Earth and all its life forms including human beings. Bottom-up solutions to sustainability aims to make life and living sustainable at the individual level and then building onwards to the local, regional, and national levels. It seems to offer a practical solution that could be built onwards to specific populations and cultures in the sense of a particular ‘behavioural change’. Among others, a possible solution for sustainable e’ART’h; could be ART itself, as it is a powerful medium of communication. Art being that dimension of human activity that has shaped society over centuries, it is a powerful tool to influence behavioural change of the type that we desire. Youth among others in the society could use art far more effectively than any. Further, in another stream of Solution to sustainability – The Circularity – Art plays a pivotal role in all of its four dimensions; reduce, reuse, recycle, and remove. There is a huge movement of ART in this way that is both communicating and by itself helping sustainability. In this context, it is my singular pleasure to note that the ART Day on the theme of eARTh is being conceptualized and celebrated. I wish the eARTh day all the success.