In the summer of 2022, as part of the Artist Residency Program at the Chautauqua Institution in western New York State, I began working on a new series of Climate Change BigHats. The purpose of my Agri-Culture Series of BigHats is for them to be worn in informal public engagement Pop-Up events, along with activated Climate Slogan Flashcards. Together, they become collaborative, non-hierarchical acts of caring, collective actions supporting sustainable and thriving agriculture/food systems. This first BigHat is titled SOIL. Others will be about livestock, pollinators, water, waste, and “future food” innovations. Pop-Up details and image: https://ArtSci-Climate.com/activist-pop-ups/
This is an image of the opposite side of this BigHat. It represents “what is” — the negative impact of topsoil loss due to typical industrial farming practices in the USA. The top image represents “what we need” — regenerative farming techniques in an interdependent ecosystem of healthy soil (with living organisms and fungi), plants, trees, animals, and water-source.