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During 2015, creative and campaigner Gustav Metzger embarked on one of his final important works. Known for introducing auto-destructive art, Metzger had dedicated his life to addressing human struggles from anti-nuclear advocacy to vegetarianism. Via a concise video message, he requested support for a global day of action to remember nature.

“I, Gustav Metzger, am asking for your involvement in this international summons for a day of action to commemorate our planet on November 4th, 2015,” he announced, encouraging makers and thinkers to oppose the continuing disappearance of species. “The mission is to help the public recall of the richness and complexity in nature … and by doing so the arts will venture into territories that are fundamentally innovative.”

The Inception of Environmental Reflection

And so Remember Nature was born, a day when artists across the country developed works to the escalating planetary emergency. An organizer, who worked closely with Metzger in his later life, remembers his sense of urgency. “There was a profound sense of urgency for him at the final chapter,” she says. “I urged him – we must act now. Let’s not wait for sponsorship or for anyone to green light this. Let’s just do it.”

After Ten Years

A decade on, Remember Nature may not have triggered the broad uprising across the arts that Metzger had hoped for, but supporters think its impact can still be felt in movements like Culture Declares and Extinction Rebellion, as well as in how creatives consider the environmental impact of their methods. That’s why she is relaunching it to mark its decade milestone. Part of the key participants involved this time are Cornelia Parker and other notable figures. All participants have created visual art, made video appeals, and produced installations set to be revealed on the fourth of November next year.

Sowing Change

In conversation with Anya Gallaccio, she is working outdoors in the countryside, helping plant apple trees that will grow to form a circular grove. Engaging schoolchildren, her project is part creative piece and part learning experience. According to her, the preparation and sowing sessions have already included learning about maths (measuring out the distances between trees), science (discussing the apple’s DNA), and origins (mapping the backgrounds of how various cultivars came to the UK).

Many of the apples were selected because they’ve got amusing labels such as the other unusual varieties. We have one apple that produces scarcolored sap

“Several the apples were selected because they’ve got funny names such as the other unusual varieties,” says Gallaccio. “We have one apple that releases crimson liquid. They all have stories behind them. The decio apple was imported by the Romans. The local breed is the apple that descended from a tree and hit the physicist’s head.”

The artist aimed the children to be more thoughtfully connected of nature and the control we have over it. “For a lot of them, apples were just things you buy from a supermarket, so I was encouraging them, on their next shopping trip, to check the packaging and see what they’re called and the source. Ideally it reads Kent!”

Cultural Projects Throughout Britain

At the capital, one artist’s Book of Loss will include attendees looking through Tate Modern on a quest to find the seven major glaciers that have been lost in modern times. All formations will be depicted on the museum surfaces using special pens. When located, a bell will ring and a reading will be held to remember that individual formation.

At the same time, up in Barrow-in-Furness, an artist will be hosting a free exhibition about our separation from nature, as well as hosting a shared meal, cooked from regional food. In another city, a participant is streaming her Some Kind of Love / Forest Choir, in which community vocalists undertake a task to use music to heal flora in a green space.

Youth Perspectives

Similar to other artists, a featured creator will be collaborating with schoolchildren – on the scheduled date she is planning to fill a cultural venue in kids’ letters and drawings that capture their dreams and worries for the years ahead. “Kids’ art are powerful because they’re not as trammelled as adults’,” she says in her recorded message. “Young people’s input to the world is something truly special and it may inspire a sense of responsibility from everyone. Youth is pure. They have concerns for tomorrow. But this shouldn’t be about anxiety – it should be about hope and making sure that they see a better world.”

Remembrance and Reflection

Another artist’s work also resonates for children. Drawing on past experience, his avian project involves illustrating avians and then performing as birds – and for the initiative he is intending to address an iconic figure. He is also staging a itinerant journey of the city, exploring locations that have been part of his ongoing series over the last two decades. This endeavor started after he faced several events of homophobic abuse on a single day. As a reaction, Harfleet decided to sow a flower at the spot where it happened and record it – the project has since grown to include incidents reported by other people across the world. “I place the plants there but they are temporary,” says Harfleet. “It seems pigeons like to eat them, so they’re a ephemeral memorial.”

He picked the pansy not just for the direct association – it has long been a term of homophobic abuse – but also because its origin is the French verb, penser, to think. “It was linked to a man who is contemplative, and that, of course, is a negative trait,” he says.

The project on 4 November is to place blooms at new locations and also renew the tributes in places he has honored before, all the while conversing with those on the itinerant journey about the events and his memories of them. “We’ve seen quite a few since I last planted,” he says mournfully.

Progressing Optimistically

He desires his work – and