Image via @LexiBella, Instagram.

From New York City to Berlin and beyond, artists take to the streets to claim unsanctioned public spaces to communicate statements about heated political and social issues, often impassioned pleas to the masses for action about critical problems like climate change. 

Art For Climate Change
To be unveiled in time for the United Nations Climate Action Summit and Climate Week NYC 2019, Brooklyn-based Greenpoint Innovations has teamed with artists Danielle Mastrion and Lexi Bella to create a mural at NYC’s Newtown Creek Superfund site to illustrate how cities can restore ecosystems and combat climate change through nature-based solutions.

The mural is part of  the organization’s newly launched Greenpoint EARTH, the creative hub for
Greenpoint Innovations‘s #ArtPlusPurpose initiative for advancing climate goals through public art and clean tech activations.

• 09/21  Mural will be unveiled for the first time to the public at the 4th Annual Kingsland Wildflowers Festival—all are welcome to join. More info here.

• 09/27   The “VIP Clean Cruise Climate Street Art Viewing Celebration” was organized in partnership with Harbor Harvest and Clean Marine Energy. The event is by invitation only—request your invite here with the subject line “VIP Clean Cruise.”

InsImage via @Lisabloodgood, Instagram.

VIP Clean Cruise Climate Street Art Viewing Celebration
The public will be able to participate in a “VIP Clean Cruise Climate Street Art Viewing Celebration” –a voyage aboard the first hybrid electric cargo vessel on the East River from Manhattan to the mural site at Newtown Creek. Part of the Federal Marine Highway program operated by Harbor Harvest in collaboration with SW/TCH Maritime, the catamaran operates without emissions or environmental impact to carry local sustainable farm products across Long Island Sound.

Image via @LexiBella, Instagram.

Greenpoint Innovations describes its purpose to be “a connective and collaborative platform of integrated thinking…using the power of #ArtPlusPurpose to help individuals, civil society, companies, and governments act on sustainability and make a difference.”

Day one!

Since its founding in 2014, GPI has used technical and imaginative storytelling to guide and collaborate with partners in New York City and globally about today’s great environmental and social challenges.

“This mural will bring together world-class artists and exceptional partners to share a message that must be heard from the beds of Newtown Creek and beyond. We’re proud to have this be the first project under our Greenpoint EARTH. Through GPI’s global projects, we’ve seen how communities are affected locally by global climate change. We’ve seen that by collaborating with talented artists and organizations of all types and sizes, the awesome power of art plus purpose can increase awareness and help communities act on sustainability and make a difference.”– Stephen Donofrio, Creator of Greenpoint EARTH and Founder of Greenpoint Innovations

Artists Mastrion and Bella have previously painted large-scale murals throughout NYC to help raise awareness and communicate about social justice and environmental conservation issues. The murals are produced in collaboration with local organizations Broadway Stages, the Newtown Creek Alliance, and Kingsland Wildflowers, as well as with support from the Global Landscapes Forum, the world’s largest knowledge-led platform on sustainable land use.

Image via @LexiBella, Instagram.

“Street art has the potential to play massive roles in activating people to take better care of the planet. We’re excited to support not just the research and policy work needed to fight climate change, but the creative and emotional work too.”–John Colmey, Managing Director of the Global Landscapes Forum.

“It is abundantly clear that waterfront communities worldwide are on the front lines when it comes to threats of climate change induced sea level rise and flooding due to storm surges. Newtown Creek has been an industrial waterway for more than a century — we hope it will serve as a global example of how ecology and industry are not mutually exclusive but can work together to provide a resilient and adaptive edge for the next century. Using large format, public art we can share that message loud and clear. We truly value this collaboration and know that it will communicate the urgent message of the need for conservation and adaptive restoration to all who see it.”–Lisa Bloodgood, Director of Advocacy and Education for Newtown Creek Alliance.

The Newtown Creek Alliance is actively fighting to help life return to the Creek by decreasing pollution and helping restore its ecological function.

Climate Strike 2019 #strikewithus 
On September 20, three days before the UN Climate Summit in NYC, a diverse coalition of youth-led and adult-led organizations will strike all across the US and the world to demand transformative action in addressing address the climate crisis. Spearheaded by young climate activists including Swedish sixteen-year-old Greta Thunberg’s Fridays for Future and the US Youth Climate Strike (led by Isra Hirsi, the 16-year-old daughter of Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota), millions will take to the streets that day and for the entire week, the launch of an effort that will be carried to the 2020 elections and beyond. Check this map to find a strike near you to attend on September 20 or organize one yourself.

Youth Climate Summit
On Saturday, September 23, as part of the UN Climate Summit in NYC, young leaders from around the world will convene to showcase climate solutions and engage with global leaders on this defining issue of our time.

Unless otherwise specified, images courtesy of Stephen Donofrio, Greenpoint Alliance.