Can eco art help Mongolia solve the climate crisis?

You may say I’m a dreamer
But I’m not the only one
I hope someday you’ll join us
And the world will live as one
– John Lennon, 1971

Ecological Art is a movement prompted by the manifold challenges of climate change. It was pioneered in the 1960s by artists such as Herbert Bayer, Joseph Beuys, Hans Haacke, Agnes Denes, Alan Sonfist, Helen and Newton Harrison, just to name a few. Eco Art emphasizes the interconnectedness between living species and their habitats. The artworks can directly contribute to the conservation and restoration of ecosystems, as well as raising awareness of cultural, economic, and political issues related to climate change.¹

One of the major dilemmas in resolving the climate crisis is the linear “take–make–consume–dispose” approach to natural resources.² For this reason, countries have begun to recognize the fundamental rights of nature as part of their constitutions. Initiated by Ecuador in 2008, this principle accepts that humans are part and parcel of nature, and not its independent proprietors.³ The rights of nature can endorse a new model of circular economy where each economic sector receives from and provides for another. The resulting networks eliminate waste by continuing the use of resources and develop like ecosystems do.

Still, modes of operation adopted from the advent of industrialization are proving difficult to change. Rapid urbanization increases the sense of human detachment from the price it costs to make the energy, transport, food, and goods we consume. Eco artists are agents of transformation in attitudes toward the use of natural resources.

Climate Change and Eco Art in Mongolia

Reverence for Mother Earth is deeply ingrained in Mongolian nomadic culture. However, following the growth in urban populations, these ecologically friendly traditions are gradually becoming forgotten. Mongolian artists have been reflecting the subjects of development, unregulated urbanization, and the loss of traditional culture in their artworks.

In mid-May, destructive sandstorms in southeastern aimags and heavy snow blizzards in northwestern regions of Mongolia swept over the country. “Mongolia is geographically located in an area where climate change is happening rapidly,” said Dr. D. Dagvadorj, founder of the Climate Change and Development Academy.⁴ According to the Paris agreement, countries must work to ensure global warming does not exceed an increase of 1.5°C relative to the temperature prior to the industrial revolution. However, Mongolia’s temperature increased on average by 2.3°C in 80 years since 1930, he says. Ecosystems are extremely sensitive to changes in temperature. The evaporation of moisture from melting ice glaciers in Mongolia will lead to drought, further depletion of groundwater, and the degradation of flora and fauna in the long term, he explained.

Eco Art is an influential agent of education, civic mobilization, and community activism. This spring, twelve graphic design students from the Mongolian Academy of Fine Arts and 111 children participated in the “Nogoonbaatar” (Green Hero) Eco Art Festival. Their art is a sobering reminder of the destructive impacts of greenhouse gas emissions. Below are just a few examples of their work:

Alongside children’s art, the “Nogoonbaatar” Eco Art Festival presented artworks by sixteen artists who turned the streets of a northern Ulaanbaatar ger district into a vibrant outdoor exhibition. The main site was once a wasteyard. Mr. S. Ulziitogtokh turned it into “Uulyn Park” in 2012 (Google maps mistakes it for Nogoon Nuuryn Park). The key attraction is a reservoir where neighborhood children can ice-skate in the winter and row boats in the summer.

When I met Mr. Ulziitogtokh, he had just been presented with two cherry blossom trees by a kind elderly gentleman. “Did you know that there are 1,000 different types of Sakuras and that two of them grow in Mongolia?” he asked me with enthusiasm. He has planted trees all around the reservoir and waters them regularly – that is how the lake stays clean. This year, he is working to turn the boathouse into a small community center for children, where they can read books and learn to play musical instruments.

The newly created artworks render the neighborhood a place full of color and character. The street is livened up with decorative murals by Ts.Tuvshinjargal and S.Batsaikhan, graffiti art by B.Ider (Ren) and O.Tuguldur, a mongol zurag mural by R.Chinzorig, mixed media prints on wood by J.Shijirbaatar, and printed illustrations by students A.Undramsan, B.Narankhuu and others. The messages in some of them are neutral and more decorative. Others depict scenes from nomadic traditions, children with happy faces and writings in Mongolian Cyrillic reminding viewers to “spread love.”

Still, messages in others are more cautionary and sardonic, showing images of childhood innocence set against pictures of smoke from powerplants, or the question, “What color is the sky?” written in a font that suggests a children’s book but placed in the foreground of a suburban scene with a black sky. The eclectic collection of artworks turns the street into an unconventional gallery that tickles the minds of passers-by in spite of themselves.

Inside the park, artworks enhance the fun and friendly atmosphere for children and invite visitors to enjoy the views of the lake from various vantage points. Paintings by Ts.Ariuntugs and M.Batzorig, ceramic sculptures by D.Otgonbayar, sculptures from recycled metal, wood, and other materials such as mirrors, bicycles by T.Enkhbold and plastic by R.Luvsandorj enrich the imagination and channel creative inspiration. There are unique sculptures that pay heartfelt homage to childhood in Sunny Rain by E.Tsagaantsooj and B.Bat-Erdene, and endangered wildlife in Spirit by M-Munkh-Erdene.

One can play basketball at fun-size hoops in the shape of trees created by E.Jantsankhorol. They will chime when you score, as the ball collides with tiny bells attached to the net. Everyone is happy when you score your green goals. On top of the hill, overlooking the lake, N.Amarsaikhan’s gregarious bench with an impressive mane of windfallen trees will embrace visitors. If they’re nice and gentle, it might show them green visions through its eye.

The Impact of Eco Art

Witnessing new life be given to discarded fruits of human genius – from bottle caps to bicycle wheels – felt a bit phantasmagorical. A time-travelling ceremony where artists saluted scientists seemed to have taken place. Staggering images emerged. The bottle caps and plastic are over 100 years old. The wheel is about 1,000 years younger than civilization, which is 6,000 years old. All of this is similar to blink of an eye in the 4,499,994,000 years it took for our planet to produce civilization. We are like a speck in nature’s timeline. Yet our collective sense of entitlement to natural resources has grown larger than nature itself.

Although the climate crisis presents a colossal challenge, thanks to scientists and ethical leaders, we can accomplish what children and artists instinctively know. We need to leverage the collective wisdom and reform our approach to progress by going with, not against, nature.

Education in Mongolia needs to be regarded not only as a discipline but also as an emotional and physical outlet for kids to learn, play, experiment, and share. Such a culture can smooth the path for interdisciplinary cooperation between scientists and artists, R&D and business clusters.

At the festival, artists, teachers, and environmental experts Jitka Kopejtková and David Strauss from the Czech Republic, Julien Malland (Seth Globepainter) from France, and Julia Neuhaus and Christian Escher from Germany, shared their valuable know-how. Christian Escher’s insight stood out as an important warning in Mongolia’s road to prosperity:

“Economic development usually means more environmental impact, at least in the way that economic development works at the moment. It simply means more consumption and with that, more use of plastic, more emission of greenhouse gases, more intensive agriculture and loss of biodiversity. I am aware that it is unfair to ask less developed countries to go a different route of development. The point is, this development is a trap!”⁵

Mongolia, as a developing country, is learning from the experiences of industrialized nations. Challenges of climate change present an opportunity for Mongolia to develop wisely. We need to embed the concept of a circular economy into future strategic sectors from the beginning. Waste and water recycling plants could be built with these ideas in mind. To accomplish this, we need to rehabilitate our culture from corruption and support private sectors in innovative businesses by providing startup investment.

Prosperous countries allocate a major portion of their funds into providing the legal framework for developing and deploying new technologies.⁶ Economist Hakan Gergils in Dynamic Innovation Systems in the Nordic Countries? wrote, “In 1999, the USA was more than three times as good as the EU at exploiting scientific advances for commercial ends.” This suggests that innovation is one important key to development by way of solving problems.

Within a half a year after the global outbreak of COVID-19, Mongolian scientists invented a pain-free test for the virus infection. Due to general disbelief and absence of solid frameworks for exporting scientific innovations to international markets, Mongolia lost a fantastic opportunity to alleviate suffering and make profit from its discovery. This oversight reveals that innovators and creators in Mongolia need to be valued and integrated into the economy.

There is no denying that system reforms and investments into development of new technologies are initially expensive, but cost-effective in the long term. That is why Mongolia must begin to allocate the revenues from the extractive sector into research and development of a circular economy to develop and help relieve climate change at the same time.

Eco Art is changing our attitude toward consumption of natural resources and creating a new culture of harmony with nature. If artists and scientists collaborate in future Eco Art Festivals, we can come up with more ideas to help save our home – the planet Earth. Our survival depends on it.

References:

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