Should we be dropping everything to save the planet?
In the wake of the Notre Dame cathedral fire there was an outpouring of grief from around the world; many were united in their dismay at the destruction of this icon of Catholicism, of France, of history. The embers of the fire had not yet cooled before donations and pledges of funding to restore the church came flooding in. Over $1bn raised within 48 hours. And then, just like that, the criticism began; why is it right that a crumbling building receive these funds, in record time, when < > insert any number of horrific natural disasters afflicting the planet, its people, animals and flora & fauna are on the rise (side note; can we really continue calling them natural disasters when it’s pretty evident that their frequency and severity are increasing due to human action?)
My co-founder of The Dinner, a dining and debate club for the intellectually curious woman, and I reflected on this question. We grappled with the purpose of historical preservation before expanding our discussion to The Arts more broadly: what value does art bring to the world?
This is a highly personal and subjective question but my belief is that The Arts — in whatever form — store meaning. The interpretation of that meaning is as valuable, if not more so, as the intention of the artist in its creation. A building, a canvas, a piece of music, a poem, will surface political, societal, religious sentiment and invoke feelings of pride, horror, wonder, rage, adulation — the full gambit of human emotion. And yet, lest we forget the existential threat we face, we concluded that whatever value an individual ascribes to The Arts, it is all for naught in the face of this planetary peril. Should all artistic endeavors be shelved until we can unite, as we did for Notre Dame, to combat climate change?
Our sense is that to down the paintbrush and take up the carbon banner is a blinkered approach that could generate sustainability traction in the short term but will result in sustainability fatigue in the medium to long term. Anyone who has ever read an epic hero novel will know that every quest to defeat the enemy is non-linear. It requires a lover, a betrayal, friendship, loyalty. It is these emotional trials, tribulations, and joys that remind us why we are fighting in the first place. Our belief is that The Arts are a means of capturing, storing, and exposing what is beautiful in the world and what is ugly. We are dually horrified and galvanized to action by art, as well as enthralled and inspired by it. To neglect The Arts, in order to pursue the greater mission of saving the planet, is to undermine that mission altogether.
