Artists Fight Climate Crisis with Newton’s Apple: See How They’re Taking Action!

In the latter stages of his life in 2015, the renowned artist and activist Gustav Metzger embarked on a significant final initiative. Known primarily as the pioneer of auto-destructive art, which he described as a reaction to the Holocaust’s brutalities, Metzger had also been a significant influence on Pete Townshend of the Who and had advocated for various causes, including nuclear disarmament and vegetarianism. In a brief video message, lasting just under three minutes, he issued one last call to action.

“I, Gustav Metzger, invite you to join this global appeal for a day of action on November 4th, 2015, to commemorate nature,” he stated, urging creative individuals to protest against the continual loss of species. “Our role is to remind humanity of the diversity and intricacy of nature… and in doing so, art will explore realms that are fundamentally creative.”

Thus, Remember Nature was established, a day dedicated to artistically addressing our ongoing environmental crisis. Metzger, at 89, spent the day at Central Saint Martins in London, alongside students who engaged with climate crisis stories from past editions of the Guardian.

“He felt a profound sense of urgency at life’s end,” remarks Jo Joelson, one of Remember Nature’s initial organizers and Metzger’s neighbor and caregiver during his last years. “I told him – let’s not dally. Let’s not wait for funding or official approval. Let’s just proceed.”

A decade later, while Remember Nature may not have sparked the widespread movement in the arts Metzger had hoped for, Joelson believes its influence persists in initiatives like Culture Declares and Extinction Rebellion, as well as in how artists now consider the sustainability of their work. To celebrate its 10th anniversary, she and co-curator Andrea Gregson are recreating the event. This year’s event features 18 leading artists, including Cornelia Parker, Yu-Chen Wang, A Man Called Adam, and Anya Gallaccio. They have each designed posters, recorded calls to action for Remember Nature, and prepared artworks that will be revealed on November 4, 2025.

Speaking from a field in Kent, Gallaccio is involved in planting apple trees that will eventually form a spiral-shaped orchard. Collaborating with schoolchildren, her project serves both as an artwork (the espalier trees will eventually appear to be interlinked) and an educational workshop. She shares that the planning and planting sessions have already incorporated lessons on mathematics (spacing the trees), science (discussing apple DNA), and geography (tracing the origins of different apple varieties).

“Many apples were selected for their unique names like Bloody Butcher or Duck’s Bill,” Gallaccio explains. “We have an apple variety that produces red juice. Each variety has its backstory. The decio apple was brought by the Romans. The Flower of Kent is famously associated with the apple that supposedly hit Isaac Newton on the head.”

Gallaccio aims to heighten the children’s awareness of nature and our dominion over it. “For many of them, apples were merely items found in a supermarket, so I encouraged them to check the labels for names and origins during their next grocery outing. Hopefully, it reads ‘Kent’!”

Next year, Gallaccio hopes the children can return to the orchard to harvest and sample the various apples, fostering a lasting bond with the trees over the two decades the field is reserved. She also views the orchard as a clear indicator of climate change and global warming, noting that the shifting seasons are confusing the trees about the time of year. “It’ll be intriguing to see how this affects the trees’ adaptation and fruiting cycles,” she remarks.

The planting session was filmed, and a stream of it will be available for viewing on November 4. However, Gallaccio’s project is just one among many. In London, Youngsook Choi’s Book of Loss will engage participants at Tate Modern in a quest to discover representations of the seven major glaciers recently lost, drawn on the gallery’s windows and walls with ultraviolet markers. Each discovery will trigger a bell ring and a reading to honor the specific glacier.

Elsewhere, in Barrow-in-Furness, Maddi Nicholson is hosting a free exhibition about our disconnection from the land and organizing a communal feast with organic, locally sourced produce. In Newcastle, Uta Kögelsberger is streaming her Some Kind of Love / Forest Choir, where local singers attempt to heal plants through song in Newcastle’s Jesmond Dene.

Like Gallaccio, Cornelia Parker is engaging with schoolchildren, planning to envelop Cambridge’s Kettle’s Yard with their letters and drawings expressing their hopes and fears for the future. “Children’s expressions are powerful because they are unguarded,” Parker states in her video. “What they bring to the world is unique, and hopefully, it will inspire a sense of responsibility in us all. Children are innocent; they are anxious about the future. But this should be about hope, about ensuring they have a future.”

Paul Harfleet’s work also focuses on children. As a former drag queen, his Birds Can Fly project involves drawing birds and dressing up as them – for Remember Nature day, he plans to embody Liverpool’s iconic Liver bird. He is also leading a city tour, visiting various locations tied to his Pansy Project, which began two decades ago after he experienced three homophobic incidents in one day in Manchester. In response, Harfleet started planting pansies at each incident site and photographing them, a practice that has expanded globally. “I leave the pansies there, but they don’t last very long,” he observes. “Apparently, pigeons like to eat them, making them a very temporary memorial.”

On November 4, Harfleet plans to plant new pansies and revisit previous sites, discussing the incidents and his memories with tour participants. “There have been quite a few since I last planted,” he notes, somberly.

Harfleet hopes his work, and that of the other artists, will foster conversations and spark debate, much like Metzger’s did. “I was deeply moved by how he remained hopeful even in his later years,” Harfleet shares.

Joelson also treasures Metzger’s optimistic outlook, which inspired her to revive Remember Nature. “We aimed to offer something compelling and empowering, rather than doom and gloom, which we encounter all too often,” she explains. “We can’t live our lives in darkness, so let’s embrace his mantra: move forward, with hope!”