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Back in 2015, visionary and advocate Gustav Metzger initiated one of his last important works. Known for pioneering self-destructive creations, Metzger had dedicated his life to confronting human struggles from anti-nuclear advocacy to ethical eating. Via a concise video message, he made a plea for a worldwide initiative to honor the environment.

“This is my appeal for your involvement in this global appeal for a day of action to reflect on the environment on November 4th, 2015,” he announced, inviting cultural workers to stand against the continuing disappearance of species. “Our task is to remind people of the diversity and intricacy in nature … and by doing so art will enter domains that are fundamentally innovative.”

The Creation of Remember Nature

And so the Nature Remembrance initiative was born, a day when artists across the country produced pieces to the unfolding climate catastrophe. One of the curators, who worked closely with Metzger in his final years, notes his feeling of immediacy. “There was a strong sense of urgency for him at the final chapter,” she says. “My advice was – don’t delay. We shouldn’t hold back for funding or for anyone to authorize this. Let’s just do it.”

After Ten Years

Ten years later, the initiative did not sparked the widespread change across the arts that Metzger had dreamed of, but Joelson believes its legacy can still be felt in movements like Culture Declares and environmental protests, as well as in how artists approach the eco-friendliness of their work. For this purpose she is restaging it to commemorate its decade milestone. Part of the key participants participating now are Cornelia Parker and other notable figures. Each has produced imagery, shared messages, and developed pieces set to be presented on 4 November 2025.

Sowing Change

Interviewing one participant, she is working outdoors in a rural area, assisting with planting apple trees that will create a spiral-shaped orchard. Working with schoolchildren, her project is part creative piece and half educational workshop. According to her, the preparation and sowing sessions have already incorporated learning about maths (measuring out the distances between trees), science (studying the hereditary traits), and history (researching the journeys of how various cultivars were introduced to England).

Several the apples were chosen because they’ve got funny names such as the Bloody Butcher. We have one apple that releases red juice

“Many of the apples were selected because they’ve got amusing labels such as the Duck’s Bill,” the artist notes. “We have one apple that produces scarlet-colored sap. They all have stories behind them. The decio apple was imported by the Romans. The Flower of Kent is the apple that dropped off a tree and struck the physicist’s head.”

She hoped the children to be more thoughtfully connected of the environment and the control we have over it. “For a lot of them, apples were just things you buy from a supermarket, so I was urging them, next time they were out, to look on the bag and see what they’re called and where they were grown. Hopefully it says Kent!”

Creative Initiatives Throughout Britain

In London, one artist’s Book of Loss will include attendees looking through Tate Modern on a mission to find the seven major glaciers that have been disappeared in recent years. Each glacier will be depicted on the museum surfaces using invisible ink. When located, a alert will occur and a performance will be performed to honor that individual formation.

Meanwhile, up in another location, Maddi Nicholson will be hosting a open display about our alienation from the environment, as well as organizing a shared meal, made using sustainable ingredients. Over in Newcastle, an artist is broadcasting her environmental performance, in which local singers begin a project to perform for vegetation in Newcastle’s Jesmond Dene.

Children’s Voices

Following this approach, another participant will be collaborating with schoolchildren – on the scheduled date she is aiming to fill Cambridge’s Kettle’s Yard in children’s artwork that express their hopes and fears for the future. “Youthful expressions are powerful because they’re not as trammelled as adults’,” she says in her call to action video. “The contributions of youth to the world is something truly special and hopefully it will provoke a awareness of obligation from everyone. Youth is pure. They have anxieties about what’s next. But this shouldn’t be about worry – it should be about optimism and making sure that they get a future.”

Tributes and Thoughts

Paul Harfleet’s work also connects with children. As a former drag queen, his Birds Can Fly involves sketching winged creatures and then dressing up as them – and for the event he is intending to address Liverpool’s famous Liver bird. He is also conducting a guided walk of the city, stopping at places that have been part of his long-term work over the last two decades. This endeavor began when he experienced multiple occurrences of prejudice on a one occasion. In response, Harfleet decided to plant a pansy at the site of each occurrence and record it – the project has since spiralled to cover events shared by other people across the world. “I leave the pansies there but they are temporary,” says Harfleet. “Reportedly wildlife enjoys them, so they’re a ephemeral memorial.”

The artist selected the flower not just for the clear connection – it has long been a slur – but also because its etymology comes from the French verb, penser, to think. “It was linked to a man who is reflective, and that, of course, is a terrible thing,” he says.

The plan on Remember Nature day is to place blooms at new locations and also renew the tributes in places he has previously memorialised, all the while talking to those on the guided walk about the incidents and his recollections. “I’ve recorded quite a few since I last planted,” he says mournfully.

Progressing Optimistically

The artist wishes his work – and