A traveling eco art exhibit has set up at Canalside. It’s hard to miss the line-up of giant globes, each one representing an artist’s interpretation of what’s wrong with the planet. The globes also stand as words of advice, with powerful ideas about how to combat pollution and climate change. The Cool Globes: Hot Ideas for a Cooler Planet project was first exhibited in Chicago on 2007, with 120 globes lining the waterfront. Since that time, the globes have been traveling around, from city to city, as a warning and a reminder that we are all part of the solution. It appears that some of the globes have been updated along the way.
I found it interesting that someone had discarded a plastic water bottle on the base of one of the globes (see above). The act signaled to me that while this is a commendable and important undertaking, some people will never comprehend the seriousness of the issues, let alone how to address the solutions. The person who left the bottle behind will never look for a water fountain, will never think about recycling, will never pass eco lessons along to his or her kids, and will never stop to think about the repercussions of buying a plastic bottle of water to begin with,
I thought about taking the water bottle with me. Then I thought that maybe the bottle might actually help to get the message across to others who would see it and ponder the same things that I was. In the end, it was the bottle that told a powerful story, as much as the globes themselves did.
For more information, visit CoolGlobes.org. The installation will be in place until November 2016.