Communicating climate policy through art: Environmental Graphiti and 90 percent clean electricity
Sarah Spengeman is Deputy Communications Director at Energy Innovation, a San Francisco-based energy and environmental policy firm.
Most studies have pegged 2050 as the likely date we could expect to achieve a 100 percent clean electricity sector. Now, due to the rapidly declining cost of renewables and battery storage, a new study shows we can get a nearly decarbonized electric grid in about half the time and without compromising reliable electricity service.
Energy Innovation, in collaboration with the University of California-Berkeley’s Goldman School of Public Policy and GridLab, produced research demonstrating the United States can achieve 90 percent clean, carbon-free electricity nationwide by 2035, at no extra cost to consumers, and without new fossil fuel plants. The 2035 Report includes a companion policy paper outlining the policies needed to achieve this clean energy future.
The modeling also found a 90 percent by 2035 path will inject $1.7 trillion into the economy, supporting a net increase of more than half a million energy sector jobs each year — welcome news as the U.S. continues struggling with economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic that have left more than 20 million Americans unemployed.
The pandemic also underscores the importance of clean air for health, as studies show a correlation between air pollution and COVID-19 death rates. This modeling shows we can retire all existing U.S. coal-fired power plants and reliably power our homes, electric vehicles, and workplaces without building a single new natural gas plant, delivering reductions in harmful NOx and SO2 pollution by 96 percent and 99 percent, respectively. Cleaning our air would prevent more than $1.2 trillion in health and environmental costs, including 85,000 avoided premature deaths, through 2050. As dirty power sources are often located near or within communities of color, cleaning up our electricity supply would also advance health equity and help address historic injustices.
The significance of these findings inspired internationally recognized artist Alisa Singer to create five digital paintings based on the 2035 Report’s graphic data, which artistically interpret the report’s tables and graphs visualizing renewable energy additions, associated emissions reductions, and jobs years generated over time. The works are part of her Environmental Graphiti project, which aims to dramatize climate data, making it more accessible to the public.
As a climate communications and advocacy strategist, I was keen to learn more about Ms. Singer’s unique work, especially what it can teach us about how to effectively communicate the science of climate change to diverse audiences. Ms. Singer’s answers below have been lightly edited.
Q1. You are a self-taught artist whose work has been featured on the cover of one of the world’s most important climate reports, shown on the main stage at COP 24, and also exhibited in numerous galleries and universities. Why did you choose to focus your work on climate change?
A1. I found the general public’s lack of alarm about the compelling facts regarding climate change somewhat bewildering. It seemed likely that many people were confused or intimidated by the charts and graphs depicting the science and it occurred to me that art could become the vehicle for “delivering” the facts in a more “user friendly” way. I created Environmental Graphiti — The Art of Climate Change, a series of digital paintings that use contemporary art to enhance public awareness and understanding of the science of climate change.
Q2. Data is not usually considered aesthetically pleasing, but your work brings out and enhances the beauty of data visualizations. For you, what is it about data, graphs, and charts that can be attractive or even inspiring?
A2. I was immediately drawn to the design possibilities of the geometric lines and shapes of scientific charts, graphs and maps, finding these graphic elements to be both persuasive and dramatic. The impressive trajectories pointed clearly in one direction or the other, e.g., upwards, to reflect the inevitable correlation between temperature rise, carbon emissions, and rising ocean levels, or downwards to reflect the Arctic sea or land-based ice melt. In addition, the many key indicators of climate change offered an endless variety of approaches to the presentation of the data.
Q3. How do you think of the relationship between the graphs and data visualizations about climate change and the works you have made? Is your art a reaction to the form the data is presented in or evocations of the environmental conditions the data represents?
A3. I try to create art that stands on its own from an aesthetic perspective. I am not trying to “illustrate” the graph; rather I am creating an independent work of art that happens to use the graph as a “blueprint.” I don’t pay any attention to the content or message when I create the art. In fact, just the opposite — I try and distance the art from the underlying theme, seeking the startling effect that occurs when someone looks at the art, thinking it’s purely abstract or some sort of landscape, and then realizes it’s about fossil fuel emissions or some other climate science data. That keeps the viewer more engaged.
Q4. Art as activism has a long history and tradition. How do you see your art contributing to this larger tradition and how do you hope Environmental Graphiti moves people to action to solve the climate crisis?
A4. Art has a powerful emotional appeal and by connecting the heart and mind you can create real motivation. Climate change has many different impacts and involves a variety of issues, even beyond science and geopolitics. In addition to highlighting risks to humans and other species, some of the pieces in the Environmental Graphiti series address moral issues such as the inequity of climate change, disproportionately affecting vulnerable populations least responsible for creating the problem, and even religious perspectives, such as one piece inspired by Pope Francis’s encyclical of 2015 where he laments against consumerism and our “buy, throw away” society.
Q5. Does art about climate change have a chance at reaching people who would otherwise ignore other forms of communication?
A5. Many people would not visit an exhibit of only charts and graphs. Yet the same people might be willing to go see an exhibit of art. In that sense, art gets people into the room — a necessary first step to education and communication.
And art, like science, is universal and inherently apolitical. As such it can cross borders and bring people of all ideologies and backgrounds into the conversation. There is a critical need to depoliticize the discussion around climate change and substitute meaningful dialogue about scientific facts and solutions.
Q6. Can you share any anecdotes about how the work has been received?
A6. The series has been widely exhibited so I’ve had many opportunities to see how it’s been received. What I typically witness is a person looking at a piece and commenting on it, hopefully favorably. But when they look at the explanatory wall plaque containing the underlying data and message which is displayed next to the art they typically do a bit of a “double take.” Surprised that the art is based on a scientific graph, I see them peering at the graph to see what it’s about and then I watch their eyes move back and forth between the art and the science with a level of engagement that neither alone would generate.
A professor at Loyola University — Chicago, where there is a large permanent installation of Environmental Graphiti, assigned the students to pick out a piece, purely from an aesthetic perspective and without looking at the explanatory wall plaque. They were to write their impressions at that time and then write what they thought and felt after reading what the piece was actually about. In all cases the revelation of the underlying science made the students feel more involved with the art and changed their interpretation of it.
I like to say that “art makes science more accessible and science makes the art more meaningful.”
Q7. Lots of climate change data and graphs are out there — what common features of reports or studies inspire your work?
A7. I try to be very selective in my data sources because I don’t want skeptics to be able to point to a questionable or overly partisan source to challenge the credibility of the science. I get most of my charts and graphs from U.S. agency publications, for example NOAA, NASA, U.S. Global Change Research Project’s periodic national climate assessments, and the UN climate organization (the IPCC), or academic analyses and studies such as the 2035 Report. I also look for basic design elements in the graphics that I think can be translated well into art. In my process I “deconstruct” the charts and graphs to their key components and use that as the underlying sketch for my painting, so I look for interesting lines and shapes that can form the “skeleton” of a piece.
Q8. The 2035 Report is a groundbreaking study showing that we can reach a 90 percent clean electricity grid years faster than we previously thought. What about this particular report moved you to create this set of digital paintings?
A8. Just exactly what you wrote — the study shows a feasible path to achieving a critically important objective. It is credible, practical and hopeful and I was seeking those attributes for a new series. One that lays out a realistic, though aggressive, path forward.
When I did the cover of the IPCC report you mentioned above I provided the committee with seven different pieces for their consideration. When asked why the piece that was chosen for the cover had been selected I was told that, in the face of dire news in the report itself, this piece “felt the most hopeful.” I think the 2035 Report provides a way forward and that creates hope.
Share the 2035 Report
The 2035 Report website includes a companion policy paper outlining the policies needed to achieve a clean electricity grid, sustainable economy, and healthy environment. It also features several resources for advocates to educate policymakers about the actions we must take to secure a safe climate future.
Use the hashtag #2035Report on social media to share the report’s findings that a clean electricity grid in just 15 years is not only possible, but also affordable and reliable.
