Morgan Ome is an associate editor at The Atlantic magazine.

We've seen Eco-Vandalism in recent incidents where ecology or climate crisis-motivated protesters have invaded art museums and hurled tomato soup at a Van Gogh and mashed potatoes at a Monet. They've also glued themselves to important paintings. ABC News has one of the more worthwhile reports on this topic:

"Is eco-vandalism an effective way to raise awareness about climate change? Experts weigh in."
Julia Jacobo for ABC News; November 11, 2022.
https://abcnews.go.com/Inte...ts/story?id=93004269

What these protesters have done could be regarded as "Performative Art", but I don't want to see any more of it.

Morgan Ome has a newly published report in The Atlantic about a "better connection between art and climate change."

quote A better connection between art and climate change exists, and the people who know this best are those who live and work at its intersection: the niche community known as eco-artists. Capturing the climate crisis in their work requires eco-artists to confront the daily realities of drought, heat, wildfires, and pollution. These conditions converge dramatically in the western states of the U.S., a region that has become synonymous with hazy tangerine skyscapes, charred remnants of forest, and cracked mosaic riverbeds. These images remind us that climate change is about loss—of species, of liveable conditions, of beauty. The climate crisis has inspired visual artists to create works that challenge viewers—and themselves—to move beyond shock and outrage, and toward action.

The article discusses the work of Anna Kaye, Kim Abeles and Michelle Glass, three artists who are using art to express their ideas about climate change and other environmental and ecological issues. Here are some excerpts:

quote Kim Abeles has ... produced art from molecules of Los Angeles smog by layering stencils over glass, wood, or fabric outside on her studio’s rooftop and allowing particulate matter to accumulate. Over time an image emerges providing a snapshot of the air quality during a particular stretch of days, weeks, or months. Abeles refers to these works as “smog collectors.”

quote From the beginning, criticism has been a core objective of Abeles’s smog collectors. Her 2019 addition, World Leaders in Smog, features smog portraits of 10 politicians alongside quotes from their environmental speeches, subverting the notion of “personal responsibility” in combating climate change. Yes, every person can work to reduce their carbon footprint but, Abeles feels, those measures pale in comparison with the harms that governments and fossil-fuel companies inflict on the Earth. “World leaders, corporate leaders—they’re individuals too,” she said. Former President Donald Trump’s portrait is accompanied by words from his 2017 speech withdrawing from the Paris climate accords: “The United States, under the Trump administration, will continue to be the cleanest and most environmentally friendly country on Earth.”

With "World Leaders in Smog", Kim Abeles presents a double entendre. She believes that world leaders are especially culpable for harmful conditions like smog, and she has literally rendered these images of world leaders using the uncommon artistic medium of smog.

I am reacting to some recent posts that highlighted the Eco-Vandalism incidents in art museums, and even the stupidity of a climate change-minded protester who set his own arm on fire to dramatize his cause. These were presented as emblematic of the (political) "Left", but that is using a broad brush (pun intended) that distorts a much larger reality.

"The Other Climate-Change Art Protest"
Morgan Ome for The Atlantic; November 20, 2022.
https://www.theatlantic.com...eum-protests/672185/

[This message has been edited by rinselberg (edited 11-20-2022).]