00:00:00:22 When it comes to climate,

00:00:02:17 how do we stop preaching to the choir?

00:00:05:05 What can we do to grab the attention
00:00:07:09 of those individuals who are disengaged?
00:00:10:15 I ask these questions
as an artist, as an educator
00:00:14:12 and as a lifelong resident
of Miami, Florida,
00:00:17:00 one of the most climate-vulnerable
cities in the United States.
00:00:20:15 In Miami, we're already
seeing storm drains
00:00:22:18 that erupt with water
after heavy rainfalls,
00:00:24:24 and cars and properties that are damaged
00:00:27:13 due to flooding from high tide.
00:00:30:13 And we've all seen
the devastation of Hurricane Ian
00:00:34:20 as it barreled at 150 miles an hour,
00:00:38:02 bringing 10 feet of storm surge
to the Gulf Coast,
00:00:41:14 just two and a half hours from my home.
00:00:46:04 My home sits at six feet above sea level.
00:00:48:07 But today, we see cranes
populating [the] Miami skyline,
00:00:52:24 building more and more skyscrapers
at the water’s edge.
00:00:57:00 Thanks to this brazen overdevelopment,
00:01:01:00 many Miamians aren't aware of the threat
00:01:03:07 that sea level rise
poses to their families,
00:01:06:15 their homes and their communities.
00:01:09:14 I myself wasn’t aware of just
how dire Miami’s situation was
00:01:14:07 until I traveled to Antarctica.
00:01:17:00 I went there in 2006
00:01:19:03 as part of the National Science Foundation
Antarctic Artists and Writers Program.
00:01:23:16 I spoke with scientists there
00:01:25:03 and I learned just how
vulnerable my city was.
00:01:27:17 I was standing on the very ice
that threatened to melt
00:01:31:12 and drown the only place
I've ever called home.
00:01:34:16 So I took that ice and I made art with it.
00:01:37:21 I took ice that glaciologists
brought back from their field stations
00:01:41:07 and melted it to create a series
of Antarctic ice paintings,
00:01:45:14 paintings made in Antarctica
with Antarctica and about Antarctica.
00:01:50:13 But they weren't just about Antarctica.
00:01:52:19 They were about where
Antarctica was going.
00:01:56:21 I returned to Miami
transformed by that experience
00:02:00:19 and pivoted my art practice to one
00:02:02:11 where for 15 years now
I’ve been trying to ask,
00:02:05:21 how do we best engage the public
around climate issues?
00:02:10:15 Just a few years ago,
00:02:12:01 I worked with the village of Pinecrest
00:02:13:22 to develop a socially engaged art project
00:02:16:23 that would make sea level rise
impossible to ignore.
00:02:20:23 We called it The Underwater
Homeowners Association.
00:02:24:12 Let that sink in for a second.
00:02:26:03 (Laughter)
00:02:27:08 We used those Antarctic ice paintings
as the backdrop for yard signs
00:02:32:05 that would map the elevation
of people's homes.
00:02:35:21 People use an app to find out how many
feet above sea level their homes are.
00:02:40:07 And then they would either paint
that number on a yard sign
00:02:43:07 or take home a pre-made one
00:02:45:06 and they would place it
in their front yards.
00:02:47:21 Now, you can imagine, when your neighbor
from across the street asks you
00:02:51:06 what that number eight
in front of your house means,
00:02:53:18 it's a perfect opportunity
for you to tell them
00:02:55:24 that they too live
at eight feet above the sea.
00:02:58:17 And it is in their interest,
00:03:00:10 in their personal and financial interest,
00:03:03:02 to understand the consequences
of a warming planet.
00:03:07:10 The strangeness or weirdness
of these signs --
00:03:09:16 remember, these aren't political signs
or "home for sale" signs,
00:03:12:18 these are elevation markers --
00:03:14:04 is a key component
to a socially engaged project
00:03:18:05 that makes random people stop
long enough to ask,
00:03:21:23 "What is this about?"
00:03:23:23 And it is in that way
00:03:25:14 that many of my neighbors realized
00:03:27:06 that although they lived
farther inland from the ocean,
00:03:30:14 they weren't necessarily
less vulnerable to the rising seas.
00:03:34:03 You see, in Miami, elevation
generally increases as you move inland
00:03:37:14 until you hit this ridge
00:03:39:23 and then it starts dropping
00:03:41:06 as you approach the Florida Everglades,
the River of Grass,
00:03:44:01 or what I call Miami's second coastline.
00:03:48:00 As these yard signs were popping up --
00:03:50:12 house by house, block by block --
00:03:52:23 I worked with schools to paint
four street intersections
00:03:55:17 with their respective elevations.
00:03:57:18 We call that road Elevation Drive
00:04:00:19 because it showcased
the elevation of a neighborhood,
00:04:04:06 rising as you drove inland
00:04:06:09 and then dropping after you crossed
that barely noticeable ridge.
00:04:11:11 And as if being flanked by bodies of water
on both sides wasn't enough,
00:04:16:22 Miami has a third coastline.
00:04:19:14 It's the water beneath
our feet in the aquifer.
00:04:25:02 This is where saltwater intrusion
00:04:27:06 is presently threatening
our drinking water.
00:04:31:11 And it is the reason why,
when it comes to sea level rise,
00:04:34:08 dams are not a solution for Miami.
00:04:37:07 You see, my city is built
on porous limestone rock,
00:04:42:15 and the water will just
come up through it.
00:04:46:18 Now, as information about this,
about our project, started getting out,
00:04:51:10 all hell broke loose.
00:04:53:19 People started calling the mayor's office,
00:04:55:19 "What are you doing?
00:04:56:24 How are you supporting a project
00:04:58:14 that's going to inherently diminish
our property values?"
00:05:01:08 And the realtors were aghast.
00:05:02:20 "How are we going to make sales
in the neighborhood?"
00:05:05:08 This backlash,
this desire to hide a number
00:05:08:12 that's in every single one
of our flood insurance documents
00:05:12:24 made the city officials actually
reconsider the support for the project.
00:05:17:10 But by then it was too late.
00:05:19:05 The project had broad community support.
00:05:21:03 Hundreds of signs
were all over the neighborhood.
00:05:23:22 People wanted to do something.
00:05:26:00 So, we convened monthly
00:05:28:22 Underwater Homeowners Association meetings
00:05:32:11 where people came together
00:05:34:03 and they learned from relevant scientists
00:05:36:03 and experts and practitioners
00:05:37:14 and ultimately began planning for a future
00:05:41:10 with faulty septic tanks
00:05:43:10 and risky real estate
00:05:46:21 and water that would rise,
00:05:49:07 but unlike a hurricane storm surge,
00:05:52:06 will not recede.
00:05:57:23 I want to emphasize
what I'm talking about here.
00:06:00:09 I'm talking about social practice,
about socially engaged art.
00:06:03:17 The objects are important --
the yard signs, the street murals --
00:06:08:02 but the art is the process.
00:06:11:16 The art lives in the interaction,
00:06:14:24 in the community coming together
to plan to strategize.
00:06:18:20 It is in this way
00:06:20:00 that socially engaged art
provides a mechanism
00:06:22:24 that brings different people together
00:06:24:21 around a shared challenge.
00:06:27:13 And importantly,
00:06:29:07 it generates a sense
of agency, of responsibility.
00:06:35:01 I first started working with my neighbors
on environmental issues
00:06:39:08 when I witnessed a destruction of wetlands
00:06:42:14 on a drive down to the Florida Keys.
00:06:45:09 Miles upon miles of mangroves
were being bulldozed
00:06:49:01 to make space for a wider road.
00:06:51:17 And I imagined someone
driving down that road in the future
00:06:55:14 being clueless about the ecosystem
00:06:57:13 that once thrived there.
00:06:59:11 Just like many of us today
00:07:01:01 are oblivious to the nature
we've already destroyed.
00:07:05:14 So I used eco art.
00:07:07:06 I brought my neighbors,
my South Floridians,
00:07:10:01 on walks through majestic
mangrove forests.
00:07:12:12 There we were, knee deep in water,
crawling through mangrove roots.
00:07:17:07 And I would explain that these trees
sequester carbon from the atmosphere.
00:07:20:23 They support biodiversity,
they protect us from storm surges.
00:07:25:15 We collected mangrove
propagules, seedlings,
00:07:28:15 that we would then give
to store owners on Lincoln Road,
00:07:31:06 the busiest shopping area in Miami Beach.
00:07:35:02 We asked those store owners
to grow those mangroves
00:07:39:16 as vertical nurseries
right there inside their stores.
00:07:43:10 Our volunteers put the seedlings
in disposable cups
00:07:46:12 and hung them on the merchant
windows as installations
00:07:49:12 that reference the city grid
00:07:51:17 that displaced the mangroves
on that very barrier island.
00:07:57:15 When the people walk by that store,
00:08:02:01 it's really unexpected to see
a bunch of mangroves in a window.
00:08:05:23 So they ask a store owner,
"What is this about?"
00:08:08:06 The owner says, "These mangroves
are reclaiming their island.
00:08:11:04 Mangrove seedlings used to hang
on this very location, on trees,
00:08:14:19 before all of this concrete was poured."
00:08:17:21 Well, when the installations came down
after the seedlings were germinated,
00:08:21:10 we planted them.
00:08:22:15 Twenty-five acres of them
on Biscayne Bay.
00:08:25:18 But more importantly,
00:08:28:02 we inspired thousands of South Floridians
00:08:31:03 to become environmental stewards,
00:08:33:08 to care for the environment.
00:08:34:20 We did this in partnership with dozens
of schools, museums and libraries.
00:08:38:21 And it wasn't just about creating
ecosystems above and below the water line.
00:08:44:20 It was about developing
a cadre of eco emissaries,
00:08:49:10 of creative problem solvers.
00:08:53:03 Of Miamians, driven by empathy
and love of community.
00:08:59:02 Art did that. Art has that power.
00:09:03:12 Art has the power to break down
barriers and bridge divides.
00:09:07:18 Art can help us see things
in different ways.
00:09:10:11 When you look at one of those yard signs
with a number on it and ask,
00:09:14:09 “What is this about?” --
00:09:15:20 that's the moment when the seed
of awareness is planted in you.
00:09:20:09 We've piqued your curiosity.
00:09:23:07 When you're engaged in an eco art project
and begin caring for mangroves,
00:09:26:23 walking in that forest, collecting them,
sharing, talking about them,
00:09:30:07 installing them and then planting them,
00:09:32:19 you begin to develop a personal
connection with nature.
00:09:38:06 Finding ways to provoke
that moment of inquiry
00:09:44:01 and importantly,
00:09:45:19 creating pathways for further action,
00:09:48:16 that's what socially engaged art does.
00:09:52:13 And it is my hope that all of us,
across all sectors,
00:09:55:20 use the power of art.
00:09:58:20 That universal language, the power of art,
00:10:02:03 to engage our communities.
00:10:04:17 So that individuals can tap
into their own creativity
00:10:09:00 and work with others
in finding innovative approaches
00:10:13:04 to build a more just, a more loving
and a more beautiful world.
00:10:18:10 Thank you.
00:10:19:14 (Applause)