Justice and Healing

Climate grief refers to the feelings of doom most people get when they become aware of the fact that our Earth is actively dying. We experience this feeling as a form of grief because of our innate connection to the Earth, and it is very similar to the grief we would feel towards a loved one. It can be productive, as it is often the driving force behind the fight for climate justice, and a healthier world. However, an overload of it will often lead to a level of apathy, and the belief that there’s nothing to be done. In the interest of justice, it is paramount that we ease the overwhelming feeling. My project will compare and contrast the actions of ExxonMobil and Ford Motor Company, two major polluters, and express how to best honor the actions of polluters that help the climate fight, while remaining vigilant in respects to the harm they have done. Next, it will cover love, healing, and personal sacrifice. We must hold accountable those who deserve it, because justice is a part of healing. On the same hand, we need to recognize the positive actions of those who have caused harm, and keep pushing forward towards a common goal. We must turn to our community, and to the Earth herself, to mend the grief.

Entang Wiharso, Expanded Dreams Tableau: Wagon Series, 2011, resin, graphite, color pigment, thread, volcanic dust, headlights, car paint, light bulbs, steel bar, cables, wood, digital file, 310 × 1327 × 186 cm (overall dimensions), Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg, donation of the artist, 2021, courtesy A3 Arndt Art Agency

Oil and Culture

Entang Wiharso’s piece Expanded Dreams Tableau: Wagon Series (2011) reads like a theatrical performance that emphasizes our society’s reliance on automobiles. The word “tableau” in the title is meant to represent an arrangement of figures to create a scene. It is a collection of five wall-sized panels that use a variety of materials to depict the chaos that revolves around a shiny new car. The combination of diverse materials such as volcanic ash, graphite, thread, color pigment speaks to the piece’s evoked feeling of intimate and violent togetherness. Skinless bodies and elongated limbs surround pristine images of lustrous cars; three cherry red, one grass green, and one a dark navy blue. The bodies are hurting, but they still fight for the vehicle at the expense of themselves and each other. Figures can be seen strangling, trampling, stretching, and generally enacting bizarre forms of harm on others, though they can also be found engaging in sexual activity on a grotesque level. In the foreground there are rocks and boulders, representing the aftermath of oil-drilling, as well as three life-sized skinless figures. Wiharso explains that “the transparent or skinless reveals our shared humanity, that our problems are universal, not just for Indonesians or one particular group,”(Beitin, 265). The figures have morphed into something just outside of human, with extra eyes, long feet, and spikes. On top of the visually overwhelming nature of this piece, is that it also engages the audience’s sense of smell; the piece is surrounded by a stench of petrol, which is an homage to the artist’s childhood in Indonesia where he and his brother would sit by the road counting the few cars that passed. This piece shows how entrenched oil and the automobile industry is in our culture, driving us as a society, while also highlighting the destructive greed for oil that informs politics and harms the most vulnerable parts of our world.

ExxonMobil and Ford Motor Co.

It’s no secret that oil and automobile companies play a huge role in the destruction of our Earth, Exxon-Mobile and Ford Company Motors being two of the biggest responsible parties. In 2021, 38% of the United States’ carbon emissions came from transportation, 58% of which is from personal vehicles, which doesn’t even include the production of said vehicles. Ford is the second biggest car company in the United States, behind General Motors, and in the top ten worldwide. ExxonMobil is not only fueling these cars, but was also responsible for the biggest oil spill in North America to date. The Exxon-Valdez oil spill occurred when the Exxon Valdez oil tanker ran aground in the Prince Williams Sound, Alaska, releasing 10 million gallons of crude oil into the waters. The spill was neglected for three days of calm waters, before a huge storm broke up the slick and washed much of it ashore. This happened during a crucial time for the local fauna to reproduce and grow, and its effects are still felt today. According to Native fishers, the salmon numbers still have not recovered from the spill, and their local fishing economy has suffered majorly. Aside from fish, the initial casualty count included 300,000 birds, 3,500 sea otters, 300 harbor seals, and 15 orcas, though the lasting effects have taken many more. Despite this, both Exxon and Ford have a green-centered approach to marketing. Most of Exxon’s green ads revolve around carbon capture, a way to remove CO2 from the atmosphere when coal is burned for energy. This is a legitimate and helpful practice in the interest of reducing emissions, though it is hard to appreciate when the company promoting it is actively destroying the land in search of oil. This practice also can make it easier to extract oil, by injecting the captured CO2 into the ground for storage, which can cause seismic activity. The reality is that ExxonMobil will keep drilling for oil and burning fossil fuels, while pretending to be interested in the protection of our Earth. Ford is also guilty of greenwashing, or a company creating deceptively environmentally-centered ads. For example, an ad for the 2012 Ford Mondeo that has a solid green background and a tree, in order to highlight the car’s EcoBoost engine. The ad itself is not a problem, nor is the environmentally friendly car, it is that it implies that the car will help the trees when it was constructed in a plant that generates pollution and the car itself still runs on gas. 

Rifkin

There is a major overlap in justice and healing. Justice provides closure, which can help us make peace with the events or people that have caused us pain. In Jeremy Rifkin’s The Age of Resilience he talks about how despite their conservative tendencies and mistrust of environmental activism, the rural populations of America are much more likely to have a deep connection to the land. This sparked an understanding in me that getting people like this on the mental side of the fight against climate change is a losing battle, and that we can approach our connection with them in a different way. If they care for the Earth, they are helping her, even if they don’t care to know why she needs it. We need to focus our energy on moving forward, and avoid getting hung up on technicalities; the situation is this dire. In the same section, Rifkin highlights Ford’s recent migration towards fully electric vehicles and greener production methods. This struck me as hypocritical at first. It made me angry to see that a company that had done insurmountable damage to the environment is being recognized for being environmentally friendly. After thinking about it for a while, I asked myself why I considered that a bad thing. This anger is not productive, and it gets in the way of seeing the ways in which we have progressed. The point is not the climate change movement, it is that we are actively moving towards a better Earth.

Alejandro González Iñárritu, Immigrant’s basic manual, 2022, 140 Artists Ideas For Planet Earth, p.10

Healing Through Art

The text 140 Artists Ideas for Planet Earth is a compilation of poetry, art, and photography, with themes of community and healing balanced with anger. I loved this text, but there were a few entries that stood out to me in the interest of climate grief: entries 4, 113, and 115. Entry 4 is titled Immigrant’s Basic Manual, by Oscar Award Winning director Alejandro González Iñárritu, and is a list of four ideas: “1. Build homes you will never inhabit. 2. Harvest fruits you will never eat. 3. Leave your children behind and care for those of others. 4. Cultivate uncertainty like your only certainty.” It is written first in Spanish, then in English. Its central idea of acting in the interest of others and building resilience through preparedness is essential to healing climate grief. Acting selflessly is a practice of gratitude for the world around you.

Regina De Miguel, Untitled, 2022, 140 Artists Ideas For Planet Earth,

p.218-219

Entry 113 is by Spanish artist Regina De Miguel and reads as a song. The first part is the chorus, and the lyrics suggest that it is sung by a collection of voices. It talks about being bound to the Earth, “the monster that doesn’t need us/ and the one we do.” If we were not here, the Earth would flourish, and yet we need her to survive. The second part is titled Gaia, or the Greek goddess of Earth, is directed at humanity, begging us to question where we are and how we got here. It perfectly captures the anger in the grief of watching your world die. In contrast, Entry 115 by Rirkrit Tiravanija is a recipe for a green vegan donut. It is a simple addition, but its implications carry more weight. First of all, the recipe makes enough to share with others. It is also a sweet treat and consumption, and gifting, of which is an act of love. Giving someone a donut, especially a home-made one, is like giving them a bit of happiness, in a world that is not always happy. This is also a green and vegan donut, so as to honor the Earth. We must take time to be happy, which can be guilt-inducing in our world of a constant news cycle, so incorporating love for the Earth into that happiness will help mend the grief.

Rirkrit Tiravanija, Green Vegan Donut, 2022,140 Artists Ideas For Planet Earth, p.222-223

The Ark (2017) was a social experiment, spiritual experience, and an art project all rolled into one designed by Grace Nduritu. It sought to ask the question, “How can we harmoniously inhabit a world with respect for it and the human and non-humans who populate it?” which is exactly what we should focus on in healing our grief. We care for the Earth and for each other, doing so makes us human. The fifteen participants followed a daily schedule of silent breakfast, followed by time for art, spirituality, community building, and academics. There was no audience for the first six days, but afterwards the group would have events that were open to the public to share their experience. This project is a wonderful example of community and how it uplifts us, which gives the security of knowing you always have someone to fall back on.

Devin Thompson, pom portrait, 2023

My Contribution

I decided to make a minor contribution to this project after seeing so many of my classmates' artwork in their projects. I decided the best way to get my message across was just some simple plant portraits. To me, art is a form of love. It holds so much emotion, and it takes a high level of intimacy to depict someone or something through drawing or painting. You have to learn about the object and the form it takes in the world around you, which takes care, attention, and respect. I consider that a clear manifestation of love. Rifkin’s ideas of biophilia, or “the empathetic embrace of our fellow creatures,”(Rifkin, 233), were very inspirational to me. He says that it is intrinsically human to feel empathy and connection to other living things, and argues that it is no different when it comes to connections with non-humans. Showing everyday appreciation for nature will create the habit of caring for the Earth as one of your own. To represent the every-day aspect of the love in this drawing, it is done a bit more casually. It was also a late addition to the project, so I was slightly pressed for time. For my subject, I selected the dried pomegranates I have from the tree in my father’s backyard. I picked them to eat, but they were so beautiful I let them dry out and have carried them from bedroom to bedroom since high school. I have a deep sentimental connection to them, especially in connection with my dad. I want to show them the same love I do for my family.

Works Cited

Beitin, Andreas F., et al. Oil. Beauty and Horror in the Petrol Age. Verlag Der Buchhandlung Walther Und Franz König, 2021.

“Emissions of Carbon Dioxide in the Transportation Sector.” Congressional Budget

Office, www.cbo.gov/publication/58861. Accessed 11 Dec. 2023.

Huybers, Kathleen. “A Sample of Mitigation Strategies” Class Lecture, ATMS111, University of Washington, Seattle, May 30, 2023

Obrist, Hans Ulrich, and Kostas Stasinopoulos. 140 Artists’ Ideas for Planet Earth. Penguin Books, 2021.

“Native Alaskans Still Reeling 25 Years After Exxon-Valdez Oil Spill.” Here & Now, National Public Radio, Inc. (NPR), 2014.

Ndiritu, Grace. Being Together: A Manual for Living. KRIEG, 2021.

Rifkin, Jeremy. The Age of Resilience Reimagining Existence on a Rewilding Earth. Swift, 2022.

“Top 15 Automakers in the World: Car Sales Rank Worldwide.” F&I Tools,

www.factorywarrantylist.com/car-sales-by-manufacturer.html. Accessed 11 Dec. 2023.