Sustainability is a universal goal by which human development balances social, economic, and environmental dimensions, applicable to both terrestrial and marine environments. Several authors argue that arts are valuable tools to frame and engage with current environmental issues related to sustainability, including pollution, climate change, and biodiversity loss. In this work, we ask - what is the role of art in the sustainability of coasts and seas? To address this question, we conducted a systematic literature review about how artistic practices contribute to sustainability in coastal and marine environments. We searched the two most important scientific databases of articles (Scopus and Web of Science) and retrieved 1352 articles. Several screening tasks were made to narrow the articles to 79 studies that address our research question. For each article, we identified and categorised the art form, target audience, geographical location, expected impact, and method to measure the impact. We found a variety of artworks from the four art categories (Literary, Media, Performing, and Visual) around the world, but more frequently in the US, UK, and Australia. In this review, we deal largely with the use of art in local issues, rather than at a global scale. Visual Art is the most frequent art category (~40%), comprising painting, carving, photography, comics, and architecture, amongst others. Nevertheless, there are mentions of 26 artworks from Performing Arts, 22 from Media Arts, and 16 from Literary Arts. We found that different artists address or are inspired by the same sustainability-related theme, for example, the ocean’s vulnerability is portrayed in a poem and in a theatre play. Only 19 articles measured the impact of artistic activities on their audience. Engagement is a highlighted pursued impact (~40%); however, other authors also intend to promote marine conservation and restoration, management, education, and activism. Art contributions to sustainability are recurrently made through raising awareness, learning, and promoting engagement and enjoyment of artistic project participants. With this systematic review, we set the current state of knowledge on an emerging topic and argue that further research and new strategies of impact measurement are needed to gain a deeper understanding of the role of art on coastal/marine sustainability.

How to cite: Matias, A., Carrasco, A. R., Pinto, B., and Reis, J.: From art to the sustainability of coasts and seas, EGU General Assembly 2023, Vienna, Austria, 23–28 Apr 2023, EGU23-1873, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu23-1873, 2023.

Agriculture students, soil science faculty and farmers are familiar with the popular soil zone concept map for the Canadian Prairies. The map, first depicted by Professor AH Joel back in 1928 was based on organic matter contents as affected by climate and parent materials. Newer versions of the soil zone map have been created with colors associated with each soil zone (Brown, Dark Brown, Black, Gray and Dark Gray) that most people would be familiar with today. However, even though we have this mental picture of the color associated with the soil zones, what do the soils really look like if one were to visit sites in each of the different soil zones? Thus, the objective of the project was to collect surface soils samples from N-S transects along three highways in the province of Saskatchewan to convey the soil zones visually through art. Soil samples were collected every 25 km along the three highway transects: one in the east (Highway 9), one in the middle (Highway 2) and the west side of the province (Highway 21). Soil samples were dried, ground and sieved and then the samples used to create soil rubbings on watercolor paper for each of the transects. These transects would then be hung in the College of Agriculture building. A booklet would be developed with QR codes identifying where the samples were collected (GPS, nearest town, land management) and the organic matter content of the soils (measured in the soil science laboratory) that would be used for educational purposes whether in our soil science labs, lectures or summer children camps. This presentation will highlight the development of this project and how the information was used to visually communicate to students and the public the science behind the soil zones of the province.  

How to cite: van Rees, K.: Soil Zones of the Canadian Prairies: Creating Art to Visualize the Concept, EGU General Assembly 2023, Vienna, Austria, 23–28 Apr 2023, EGU23-4635, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu23-4635, 2023.

Marine heatwaves (MHWs) are extreme events in the ocean when temperatures are well above the long-term average. As global temperatures rise, MHWs are becoming more frequent, more intense, and dramatically impacting marine biodiversity, fisheries, and, ultimately, our coastal communities. The Northeast U.S. continental shelf has become a hotspot for such events in the recent decade. 'Marine Heatwaves' is part of SYNERGY II - a collaboration between Art League Rhode Island and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. Self-selected pairs of scientists and artists collaborate to create a 'common language' using the arts to illustrate and communicate science. Through extensive conversations, we examined the scientific and artistic process and were surprised and delighted at the many similarities in our work. We spoke in-depth about the challenges of communicating big ideas, big data, and multi-scale, complex bio-physical interactions in meaningful ways and how we all had to be compelling storytellers. As our 3D kinetic sculptures spin, they capture the ocean's constantly moving and swirling motions. The printed imagery evokes the thrill of discovery and details the complexity and phases of our research: data acquisition from historical sources, research vessels, and remote sensing to ocean and climate model simulations, coding to visualization, and ultimately conveying a message. This collaboration has not only added a new enriching dimension to our work scientifically and artistically but has also inspired students and engaged adults.

How to cite: Ryan, S., Ummenhofer, C., and Ehrens, D.: Marine Heatwaves – Ocean Research Through Art, EGU General Assembly 2023, Vienna, Austria, 23–28 Apr 2023, EGU23-7861, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu23-7861, 2023.

Climate change is one of the most prominent challenges of our times. A pervasive topic that actively involves countless actors around the world, conditioning every sector of society. More and more initiatives worldwide are devoted to spreading awareness on climate change and engaging the public to bring the change we need. 

In this context, the CMCC Climate Change Communication Award “Rebecca Ballestra” showcases and promotes innovative projects and initiatives that deliver engaging messages and communicate climate change in education, advocacy, media production and social engagement activities through different forms of communication such as art, theatre, video making, music, photography, journalism, gaming, education, data visualization, and the use of digital channels and tools.

Through this initiative, the CMCC Foundation - Euro-Mediterranean Center on Climate Change is building an innovative and continuously growing global platform (www.cmccaward.eu) that collects and rewards the best climate communication projects worldwide, and connects their authors in a network that fosters collaborations, offers opportunities and opens a space of discussion for climate change communication experts.

Now at its second edition, the CMCC Award honours the memory of the artist Rebecca Ballestra, who was committed to shaping a sustainable future and promoting positive transformation processes in the fields of science, humanities, economy, ecology and art and collaborated with the CMCC in various cultural initiatives.

The CMCC Award focuses on projects that:

• increase public awareness on climate change and its interactions with society, the economy, the environment, and policy-making processes;
• disseminate science-based information and data related to climate change through the application of innovative ideas, technologies and methodologies in the field of media, journalism, and communication at large;
• communicate the threats and opportunities posed by the climate change challenge using multiple languages and innovative mediums, including journalism, art, videos and music;
• trigger action in the audiences addressed, including students, consumers, businesses and politicians.

The biennial initiative is developed through:

• a Call for Proposals to collect the best ongoing climate communication projects from all over the world. Over 100 projects were admitted from the 1st call for proposals. The 2nd call for proposals was launched in November 2022 at COP27 in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt and will close in June 2023;
• a series of online and in-person events in which international experts in the field of climate change communication debate with scientists on the best strategies, initiatives and solutions to build a stronger awareness on the climate crisis;
• the evaluation of the admitted projects by an international Jury of outstanding experts;
• the final event hosting the Award Ceremony, climax of the initiative, during which the winners and other selected projects have the opportunity to present their work; 

a series of interviews, articles and podcasts on the CMCC magazine climateforesight.eu in collaboration with the authors of the best projects.

How to cite: Buonocore, M., Mazzai, A., Santin, S., and Carlon, O.: The world’s best initiatives raising awareness on climate change: the CMCC Climate Change Communication Award “Rebecca Ballestra”, EGU General Assembly 2023, Vienna, Austria, 23–28 Apr 2023, EGU23-15796, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu23-15796, 2023.

Purls of Wisdom is a programme that utilises crafting to raise awareness of Earth’s changing climate. Specifically, the programme frames climate change as a local issue and aims to make this important topic accessible to people of all ages. Purls of Wisdom tackles these issues through fibre crafting as fibre crafting often utilises locally sourced fibres (e.g. wool from local sheep) and can be sustainably dyed (e.g. dyes from local plants). The Purls of Wisdom event took place in August 2022. The event was co-created through a partnership between the Science Foundation Ireland Research Centre in Applied Geosciences (iCRAG) and local community leaders and fibre crafters in a small rural village in County Galway, Ireland. For the event, researchers from institutions across Ireland travelled to rural Galway for a day of crafting and climate conversations. The key aim of the event was to facilitate organic conversations between the participants and the researchers. By creating a safe, non-judgemental space at the crafting tables, participants and researchers were able to have conversations about climate change research and how participants could make a difference in their local environment, and the researchers and participants could work together to co-create crafts that reflected these discussions.  Together, the participants and researchers created hand woven fabric that showed the Irish climate stripes, a series of needle felted squares that depicted everything from Ireland in the past to geothermal energy and a collaborative wall hanging that displayed Galway’s climate change over the past 80 years.

Evaluation data from the event suggests that participants’ knowledge about the science of climate change has increased, and they feel that geoscience has an important role in combatting climate change and in their everyday lives. Selected quotes include: “(Purls of Wisdom) opened my eyes, I’m interested to learn more about geoscience.” “Most definitely geoscience has a huge role to play in climate change going forward.” “Soil is more important than I thought.” and “I believe it is very helpful to incorporate the science and everyday life, including crafts, in presentations re-climate change so as to engage more people in the discussion of this topic.”

The Purls of Wisdom event specifically targeted retirees as retirees have a huge desire to take part in climate initiatives, but initiatives for their age groups are lacking. In creating the event with community leaders (of retirement age), we ensured the event was suitable for them. Furthermore, some participants brought along their children and grandchildren which encouraged cross-generational learning. 22 local people attended the pilot event.

Purls of Wisdom has been funded through the EGU Outreach Grant, 2020 and we hope to showcase some of the climate crafts created at EGU 2023.

How to cite: Sinclair, E. and King, S.: Purls of Wisdom: crafting to raise awareness of the role of geoscience in climate change, EGU General Assembly 2023, Vienna, Austria, 23–28 Apr 2023, EGU23-16109, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu23-16109, 2023.