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During 2015, artist and activist Gustav Metzger embarked on one of his final important works. Known for introducing art that erases itself, Metzger had dedicated his life to responding to global challenges from peace activism to ethical eating. Via a concise video message, he requested support for a worldwide initiative to honor the environment.

“I call upon you for your involvement in this global appeal for a day of action to reflect on the environment on the fourth of November, 2015,” he announced, encouraging makers and thinkers to oppose the ongoing loss of flora and fauna. “The mission is to help the public recall of the richness and complexity in nature … and by doing so creativity will explore territories that are inherently creative.”

The Birth of Environmental Reflection

Thus the environmental art day was born, a day when artists across the country produced pieces to the unfolding climate catastrophe. One of the curators, who cared for Metzger in his final years, recalls his drive for action. “I sensed a great sense of urgency for him at the final chapter,” she says. “I urged him – let’s not mess around. Let’s not wait for financial support or for anyone to green light this. Let’s just do it.”

After Ten Years

A decade on, the project may not have triggered the broad uprising across the arts that Metzger had hoped for, but Joelson believes its impact can still be observed in movements like Culture Declares and environmental protests, as well as in how makers handle the eco-friendliness of their methods. For this purpose she is relaunching it to celebrate its decade milestone. Included in the featured creators involved this time are A Man Called Adam and Anya Gallaccio. Each has produced imagery, made video appeals, and produced installations set to be revealed on November 4, 2025.

Planting Hope

When speaking to Anya Gallaccio, she is out in a field in Kent, helping plant apple trees that will grow to form a coiled garden. Collaborating with schoolchildren, her project is somewhat artistic and half educational workshop. According to her, the planning and planting sessions have already incorporated learning about maths (calculating the distances between trees), biology (discussing the apple’s DNA), and geography (mapping the backgrounds of how various cultivars were introduced to England).

A lot of the apples were selected because they’ve got amusing labels such as the Duck’s Bill. We have one apple that produces scarcolored sap

“A lot of the apples were chosen because they’ve got funny names such as the Bloody Butcher,” she explains. “We have one apple that ‘bleeds’ red juice. Each has background narratives. The historical cultivar was brought over by the Romans. The Flower of Kent is the apple that dropped off a tree and struck Isaac Newton’s head.”

She hoped the children to be more consciously engaged of the natural world and the power we have over it. “For a lot of them, apples were just things you get at a supermarket, so I was urging them, on their next shopping trip, to check the packaging and see what they’re called and the source. Perhaps it indicates Kent!”

Cultural Projects Across the Country

In London, one artist’s Book of Loss will involve participants searching Tate Modern on a quest to find the frozen formations that have been disappeared in modern times. Each glacier will be depicted on the exhibition spaces using invisible ink. Each discovery, a bell will ring and a performance will be held to honor that particular glacier.

Meanwhile, up in Barrow-in-Furness, an artist will be presenting a free exhibition about our alienation from the environment, as well as organizing a communal feast, made using regional food. Further north, Uta Kögelsberger is broadcasting her Some Kind of Love / Forest Choir, in which regional performers begin a project to sing plants back to health in a green space.

Youth Perspectives

Following this approach, a featured creator will be collaborating with schoolchildren – on the scheduled date she is planning to decorate Cambridge’s Kettle’s Yard in children’s artwork that capture their aspirations and concerns for the tomorrow. “Children’s words and images are impactful because they’re not as restricted as adults’,” she says in her public appeal. “The contributions of youth to the world is something truly special and hopefully it will stimulate a sense of responsibility from us all. Children are innocent. They have anxieties about what’s next. But let’s not make it about worry – it should be about positivity and our responsibility that they have a tomorrow.”

Tributes and Thoughts

Paul Harfleet’s work also connects with children. With a background in performance, his avian project involves illustrating avians and then performing as birds – and for the event he is planning to tackle a local symbol. He is also conducting a itinerant journey of the city, visiting various sites that have been part of his Pansy Project over the recent decades. The project began when he experienced three incidents of discrimination on a one occasion. As a reaction, Harfleet decided to sow a flower at the spot where it happened and record it – the project has since spiralled to cover events shared by other people across the world. “I place the plants there but they don’t often last,” says Harfleet. “Reportedly pigeons like to eat them, so they’re a ephemeral memorial.”

Harfleet chose the flower not just for the clear connection – it has long been a derogatory label – but also because its name derives from the French verb, penser, to think. “It became associated with a man who is thoughtful, and that, of course, is a terrible thing,” he says.

The plan on Remember Nature day is to sow flowers at additional sites and also refresh the memorials in places he has honored before, all the while talking to those on the guided walk about the events and his recollections. “There’s been quite a few since I last planted,” he says sadly.

Progressing Optimistically

Harfleet hopes his work – and