Why use the arts for environmental sustainability?

The arts are uniquely placed to explain the problem of climate change and other environmental challenges to the general public, and to motivate people to work towards solutions and adopting more sustainable lifestyles. According to research funded by Land and Water Australia and the Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation, the arts can assist us to shift towards more sustainable lifestyles by:

  • Communicating science
  • Building community capacity
  • Catalysing ecologically sustainable development
  • Creating an empathy for the natural environment
  • Motivating people to live more sustainably

Previous eco-art projects have shown that using creative engagement through the arts can influence all of the factors that lead to people adopting pro-environmental behaviour – values, beliefs, attitudes, changing habits, constructing self-identities, generating community involvement and providing alternative modes of consumption.

For more information about EcoArts Australis, please click here.