Sierra Club Wyoming organizer Conor Mullen is hopeful that two events he’s organized for Earth Week will be inspirational for attendees who feel overwhelmed by the climate crisis.
“I think for a lot of folks, climate change seems insurmountable, it feels like a problem that day-to-day has people wondering, ‘Well, what can I do?’” said Mullen. His events are part of the Sierra Club’s Earth Day Fight For Our Future mobilization, in which people across the country are taking action to demand Congress and the Biden administration take bold action to address the climate crisis.
Mullen is working with local art museums in Laramie and Casper to connect art with advocacy. On Thursday at the Nicolaysen Art Museum in Casper, attendees will gather to discuss climate change and climate solutions, and then get a tour of artwork in the museum’s vault. “We’ll see some works related to the environment or climate and use that to continue our discussion,” said Mullen.
From there an instructor will teach the ins and outs of block printing and attendees will make their own block print art. “There’s a long history of advocacy around block printing, and we’ll add to it,” said Mullen.
Attendees of Friday’s event in Laramie will do similar activities at the University of Wyoming Art Museum. “Both events will involve discussion of the connection between art and advocacy and how we hope to use the arts and thinking creatively to address climate issues,” said Mullen. At the University of Wyoming event, a local artist will discuss their work’s relationship to the state’s natural landscapes.
With these events, Mullen hopes to help participants imagine creative solutions to the climate crisis. “I hope we start to think a little bit differently about climate,” he said. “I hope folks leave our events feeling a sense of possibility and more of an openness to reflect on climate without turning away. I think the joy of making art together is something that can help with that.”
Mullen is optimistic that all the Earth Day mobilization events will inspire people to take action to address climate change. “I think it’s important for people to come together at these events around the country,” he said. “Earth Day may be one day, but the problems we have to solve around climate are here every day. If we can have one day that motivates us for the rest of the year, then that’s why it’s important to come together for Earth Day and Earth Month.”