How Art Helps Humans Comprehend Climate Change

Visual art is a form of expression. It expresses how one views reality and can be a collation of ideas, emotions, perception, and imagination. It truly accentuates what it means for your cognition to be the only boundary for creation. Since the beginning of time, art has remained the fabric of being human and is quintessential for the development of society. Sensory, attentional, cognitive, emotional, and motor capacities are all enhanced through art

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The visual arts, especially drawing and painting has been one of my favorite past-times and hobbies ever since I was introduced to it. Other than the satisfaction you get from finishing an extensive project, arts bring about many significant benefits as well. Personally, doing art results in tranquility and relaxation from the stresses of the real world, and helps promote self-discovery. Art also has many benefits in cognitive development, whether it is motor skills in young children, or learning about proportions or human anatomy, art can teach you anything. As a result of this, art has been used throughout history to convey ideas, express views, or even start revolutions. Although not a visual artist, the famous playwright William Shakespeare used “problem plays” to express various societal problems (The Merchant of Venice) and brought about positive change.

The Merchant of Venice, Court Scene

Nevertheless, it is common human perception for a human to not care about the consequences of an action in the future. This is scientifically proven, as we tend to care more about ourselves and the incidents affecting us, and less about the aspects which we aren’t related to or getting directly affected by. Today, the best example of this can be climate change and global warming. The effects of climate change can be seen everywhere, whether it’s the melting of glaciers, ozone layer depletion, or unconditional weather. The problem is that we aren’t doing anything to combat this. Even with major crises taking place around the world, many refuse to believe climate change is a real obstacle.

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Under an MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging), the Medial Prefrontal Cortex (MPC) reacts to long term memories and decision making. Thoughts about yourself show great response in the MPC, while thoughts about family, friends, and other aspects slowly degrade the response. This is one of the greatest proofs why humans can’t comprehend climate change. Thinking about polar bears losing their habitat in the Arctic or entire island populations being submerged just doesn’t affect your MPC to a great extent. Our MPC will only be activated when this crisis affects us personally, but then at that point in time, it will be too late. The “phenomenon” creating an impact through art is actually more scientific than it looks. The primary principle of this is termed as “embodied cognition”.

"When you observe a profound piece of art you are potentially firing the same neurons as the artist did when they created it thus making new neural pathways and stimulating a state of inspiration. This sense of being drawn into a painting is called “embodied cognition." - Jacob Devaney

In my opinion, I think the first step we should take as a community is to raise awareness about this problem, with the bigger challenge being “reprogramming” the human mind to think about the consequences of not dealing with this now. After a bit of prior research, I can say that some art expressions and displays have undoubtedly moved me. These are not only “light bulb” moments for a lot of people in realizing what they have to do for the greater good, but also a simple reminder of the consequences coming and the urge to save our planet. The task of artists like myself is to create an original piece of art that has the capability of influencing people to make the right choice, and help support the people working hard to make a difference. To be effective, the artwork has to have the right element of reflection. To elaborate, when an individual looks at this, a chain of thought should be created, and questions should emerge. Why should I care? How can this affect me and my loved one’s future? What can I do for the betterment of society and helping bring about change? What are the first steps I can take? We all have been moved by a painting, performance, or novel at one point, and we can only make it the number one priority to influence as many people as we can in sparking a change within our communities.

Huna, Sean “Hula” Yoro