Rebecca Solnit’s essay in here is particularly poignant:

“At times of crisis, people want art to be a sort of wrench with which this particular screw of the individual or collective imagination can be loosened or tightened. Yet we dismiss media that does that as propaganda, a cousin to advertisement. It’s selling something, and mostly it wants you to buy. That is, such stuff tells you what to think — but it doesn’t help you to think, or to become a more thoughtful person, to value your own capacity for thought…”

“…Art can inform, but it has a larger task to make us the people we need to be to respond to crisis in the ways we must….to feel a part of all life on earth and solidarity with those far away in time and space; to perceive the beauty of the natural world and our utter inseparability from it; to remember the lessons of the past about how change works and where power lies….”

“…They want us to have gaping holes where our souls and greatest potential used to be….We need other kinds of human being….”

“…We need stories, too, that tell us how change really works….”

“…All this is to say that the work art has to do is broad and deep and subtle and matters immensely, and it does better not to build specific political outcomes, but the cultures, civilizations and values that generate those outcomes. It’s to say art is bigger than politics - or that politics is the weedy and sometimes flowering stuff that grows from the soil that is culture.”

A Chorus of Voices for Climate Hope

This collection, published in conjunction with the Hayward Gallery’s groundbreaking exhibition, stands as one of the most thoughtful and nuanced examinations of art’s role in addressing the climate crisis. Ralph Rugoff’s editorial vision brings together an extraordinary range of voices—from renowned cultural critics to young climate activists, from established poets to emerging scholars—creating a multifaceted exploration of how art can move us beyond despair toward meaningful action.

Rebecca Solnit: Art as Cultural Transformation

Solnit’s contribution forms the intellectual heart of the collection, offering her characteristic blend of cultural criticism, political analysis, and lyrical prose. Her essay moves far beyond simplistic notions of “activist art” to explore art’s deeper function as a transformer of consciousness and culture. She argues persuasively that art’s power lies not in delivering specific political messages but in its capacity to reshape how we see, feel, and understand our relationship to the world.

Her analysis of art’s role in crisis is particularly sophisticated. Rather than asking art to serve as propaganda, Solnit recognizes that its greatest value lies in cultivating the kinds of human beings capable of responding to crisis with wisdom, empathy, and imagination. This insight reframes the entire discussion about climate art, moving away from questions of effectiveness toward deeper considerations of transformation and meaning-making.

The passages quoted above capture Solnit’s ability to articulate complex ideas with both precision and poetry. Her observation that “politics is the weedy and sometimes flowering stuff that grows from the soil that is culture” provides a powerful framework for understanding why cultural work—including art—is not peripheral to political change but foundational to it.

Greta Thunberg: The Urgency of Youth

Thunberg’s contribution brings a different energy to the collection—the moral clarity and urgency of youth confronting an uncertain future. Her writing carries the same directness that has made her such a powerful voice in climate activism, cutting through complexity to focus on essential truths about our moment.

Her famous declaration—“I’m telling you there is hope. I have seen it, but it does not come from the governments or corporations. It comes from the people”—serves as both rallying cry and analytical framework for the collection. Thunberg’s essay explores how hope must be grounded in honest assessment of our situation while remaining committed to the possibility of change through collective action.

What makes Thunberg’s contribution particularly valuable is how it complements Solnit’s more philosophical approach with concrete urgency. Where Solnit explores the long-term cultural work that art can do, Thunberg reminds us that we are working within a compressed timeframe that demands immediate response alongside deeper transformation.

Imani Jacqueline Brown: Intersectional Climate Justice

Brown’s essay brings crucial perspectives on how climate crisis intersects with racial justice, colonialism, and environmental racism. Her work as both artist and activist from New Orleans—a city on the frontlines of climate change—provides grounded analysis of how environmental degradation disproportionately affects communities of color.

Her contribution to the collection examines how art can bear witness to environmental injustice while also imagining alternatives. Brown’s discussion of her own work exploring Louisiana’s disappearing wetlands demonstrates how artistic practice can document loss while also honoring resilience and resistance within affected communities.

Brown’s essay is particularly valuable for its attention to how climate discourse often centers white, middle-class concerns while marginalizing the voices of those most directly impacted by environmental degradation. Her work challenges readers to consider climate change not as an abstract future threat but as a present reality shaped by existing systems of power and inequality.

Maja and Reuben Fowkes: Art Historical Context

The Fowkes’ contribution provides essential art historical context for understanding contemporary climate art within broader traditions of environmental and political art. Their essay traces lineages from land art and earth works through eco-feminist practices to contemporary climate activism, showing how current artists build on decades of artistic engagement with environmental themes.

Their analysis is particularly valuable for situating the exhibition’s artists within broader conversations about art’s relationship to nature, politics, and social change. They examine how contemporary climate art differs from earlier environmental art movements, noting increased urgency, global scope, and explicit political engagement.

The Fowkes also address questions about art’s effectiveness in promoting environmental awareness and action. Their nuanced analysis avoids both naive optimism about art’s power and cynical dismissal of its potential, instead exploring the complex ways that artistic practice can contribute to broader cultural and political transformation.

Rachel Thomas: Curatorial Vision

As the exhibition’s curator, Thomas provides insight into the conceptual framework that shaped both the show and this publication. Her essay explores the decision to focus on “hope” as an organizing principle, examining how this choice reflects both artistic strategies and political necessities.

Thomas’s contribution is particularly valuable for its attention to the exhibition’s international scope and its commitment to centering diverse voices, particularly women artists and artists from the Global South. Her essay examines how different cultural contexts shape artistic responses to climate crisis, while also identifying shared concerns and strategies.

Her curatorial statement also addresses practical questions about presenting climate art in gallery contexts, including considerations about sustainability, accessibility, and the relationship between artistic experience and political engagement.

Additional Voices: Expanding the Conversation

The collection includes several other important contributions that expand its scope and deepen its analysis:

Jenny Kendler and J. Drew Lanham’s Conversation explores the intersection of art and ornithology, examining how attention to bird life can deepen our understanding of environmental crisis while also providing models for artistic practice. Their dialogue demonstrates how interdisciplinary collaboration can enrich both artistic and scientific approaches to environmental questions.

Agnes Denes’s Manifesto provides historical perspective from one of the pioneers of environmental art. Her text, spanning decades of artistic practice, offers both retrospective analysis and continued commitment to art’s potential for environmental and social transformation.

Deena Metzger’s Poetry brings different forms of literary expression to the collection, demonstrating how poetic language can capture aspects of environmental experience that prose analysis might miss. Her work explores themes of grief, loss, and regeneration that run throughout the collection.

Andrea Bowers’s Interview Extract provides insight into the practical realities of making politically engaged art, including questions about audience, effectiveness, and the relationship between artistic practice and activist organizing.

Synthesis: Art, Hope, and Transformation

What emerges from this diverse collection of voices is a sophisticated understanding of art’s role in addressing climate crisis that avoids both naive optimism and paralyzing despair. The contributors collectively argue that art’s value lies not in its ability to solve environmental problems directly but in its capacity to transform consciousness, build empathy, and imagine alternatives.

The collection’s emphasis on “hope” is particularly nuanced, understanding hope not as denial or wishful thinking but as what Solnit calls “an embrace of the unknown and the unknowable.” This kind of hope requires both honest confrontation with crisis and sustained commitment to the possibility of change.

Contemporary Relevance and Lasting Impact

Reading this collection in 2024, one is struck by how prescient many of its insights have proven. The contributors anticipated many current developments in climate discourse, including increased attention to climate justice, growing recognition of art’s role in cultural transformation, and the emergence of youth-led climate movements.

The book’s production values also deserve mention—printed on recycled paper with vegetable inks and carbon-offset production, it demonstrates how cultural institutions can align their practices with their values. This attention to material sustainability reflects the broader commitment to integrity that runs throughout the collection.

A Essential Resource for Our Moment

“Dear Earth” stands as essential reading for anyone interested in the intersection of culture and climate, art and activism. Its contributors offer neither easy answers nor false comfort, but rather the kind of nuanced thinking that our moment demands. The collection demonstrates that addressing climate crisis requires not just policy changes and technological solutions but fundamental transformations in how we see ourselves and our relationship to the world.

The book succeeds in its stated goal of moving readers “from discouragement to possibilities, from climate despair to climate hope.” It does so not through denial or minimization of our challenges but through careful attention to the cultural and imaginative resources available to us as we confront an uncertain future. In an era when both art and activism often seem inadequate to the scale of environmental crisis, this collection offers a more sophisticated understanding of how cultural work can contribute to the broader project of planetary survival and flourishing.