Sustainability Connection

Tracks We Share: Aboriginal Artists Speak Out (click video)

In many ways, we have normalised a "culture of uncare"—a way of being that has intensified during rapid globalisation. As British psychologist Oliver James has observed, our culture of mindless consumerism and entitlement stems from a belief that the Earth exists solely to provide for us and absorb our waste. This illusion of infinite abundance has driven patterns of extraction and exploitation, with little regard for the living systems that sustain us.

In the 1960s, economist Garret Hardin described this phenomenon as the "tragedy of the commons": when individuals act out of short-term self-interest, they deplete shared resources, harming the whole. In 1968, he argued that safeguarding humanity’s collective future would require a "fundamental extension in morality." Today, this call to evolve our collective consciousness is more urgent than ever.

To shift the trajectory of our planet, we need to transform the way we communicate about climate change—sharing stories that embrace complexity and urgency without inducing fear, blame, or despair. Now is not the time for eulogies for our planet, nor for surrendering to an apocalyptic narrative. Helplessness serves no one. Instead, we can choose to nurture the regenerative potential within us and around us.

We are not powerless. But the time for complacency has long passed. The planetary emergency we face transcends borders, politics, and individual interests. It calls for us to embrace our interconnectedness and respond with care, courage, and shared responsibility. In a world that has numbed itself to crisis, empathy is the medicine we need.

One of the most powerful ways to reconnect our hearts and minds is through creative expression. Climate storytelling—through literature, music, film, and visual arts—can help us engage with this crisis in ways that facts and figures alone cannot. Artists and storytellers of all kinds are essential in reawakening our capacity to feel, to care, and to act with intention.

If we are to cultivate a culture of care, we must begin by listening—to our own hearts, to one another, and to the living world. We must remember what it is to feel deeply and to act from that place of connection.

Here are a few books and artistic movements that explore this intersection of climate, creativity, and care:

• Engaging with nature & connecting with the non-human world – guided Deep Time Walks
• CLIMARTE Gallery – the World’s First Gallery Dedicated to the Climate Emergency
• Humanity’s Moment: A Climate Scientists’ Case for Hope - Joëlle Gergis
• Green Stories Project - Habitat Press
• Literature for a Changing Planet - Princeton University Press
• Saving Us: A Climate Scientist’s Case for Hope and Healing in a Divided World - Katherine Hyhoe
• Power Pack: Climate Emergency – Serpentine Galleries

Continue reading: Learn about Sustainability Science & Complexity.