“The transboundary nature of digital art has allowed me to participate in fifteen international art shows during September.”
Selva Ozelli has been busy making art shows and interviewing artists, museums and international NGOs to support Net Zero Festival London and its aims to be a catalyst towards a net zero, equitable and resilient future.
“Our planet needs everyone to work together, including the public, policymakers, academia, artists, business, community, civil society, NGOs and museums.”
Selva Ozelli is an environmentalist working as an artist, writer, international tax attorney and public accountant, who has curated a climate change art shows with various organisations.
Running parallel to the United Nations General Assembly — holding its 76th annual meeting between 14th and 30th September in New York City to bring countries together at a critical time for marshalling collective action to tackle the global environmental crisis which has worsened the COVID-19 Pandemic — the Net Zero Festival London aims to cover the full breadth of the green industrial revolution. I have prepared a new art show and collaborated with artists, museums and an international NGO on three themes.
Theme 1: Green, fair and resilient recovery from the pandemic
2021 – The International Year of Creative Economy for Sustainable Development – has witnessed the rapid spread of the highly transmissible delta variant of Covid-19, as well as a new coronavirus variant, with multiple mutations amidst the worst wildfire season. But then, akin to pollution and corona, the transboundary nature of digital art has allowed me to participate in fifteen international art shows during September, with the theme of a sustainable and resilient recovery from the pandemic with my ‘Art in the Time of Corona’ series of art shows that were published by CUHK Jockey Club Museum of Climate Change.
Theme 2: Road to COP26
200 of the world’s leading health journals released a joint statement pleading with global leaders to cut greenhouse gas emissions to mitigate climate change, which they say is the greatest threat to public health.
New World Health Organization Global Air Quality Guidelines provide clear evidence of the damage air pollution inflicts on human health, at even lower concentrations than previously understood. The guidelines recommend new air quality levels to protect the health of populations, by reducing levels of key air pollutants, some of which also contribute to climate change. Air pollution is one of the biggest environmental threats to human health, alongside climate change.
Ambitious climate action has now become a matter of urgency according to the latest report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Especially since the initial NDC Synthesis report showed that the world is not on track to reach the Nationally Determined Contributions in accordance with the Paris Agreement to address climate change.
With thousands of companies now committed to delivering net zero emissions and the UK set to host the critical COP26 Climate Summit this November, the Net Zero Festival will provide both invaluable practical guidance on how to navigate the economic and technological shifts that are already underway and an exploration of how to accelerate decarbonization strategies towards a green recovery from the pandemic. My Net Zero Festival Booth is here.
Theme 3: Whole of society climate action
Our planet needs everyone to work together, including the public, policymakers, academia, artists, business, community, civil society, NGOs and museums. Ahead of Net Zero Festival London, I interviewed Viviane Gosselin for TiredEarth. Viviane, Director of Collections and Exhibitions for the Museum of Vancouver and a member of the Advisory Group for the Coalition of Museums for Climate Justice, explained “I just want to stress that it’s clear […] that social and environmental justice are interconnected.”
Net Zero Festival London runs from 29th September to 1st October and aims to cover the full breadth of the green industrial revolution. You can find Selva’s digital art shows the festival here. Selva’s Art in the Time of Corona, was originally published by CUHK Jockey Club Museum of Climate Change.
In the UK, The Lancet published the joint document, Call for emergency action to limit global temperature increases, restore biodiversity, and protect health (4/9/21).
Selva’s interview with Viviane Gosselin, Director of Collections and Exhibitions of the Museum of Vancouver and a member of the Advisory Group for the Coalition of Museums for Climate Justice, is published at TiredEarth.