Eco Collage was created from various garbage and litter consisting of broken glass, a plastic spacer ring, and a piece of a light bulb. The green colors were added to represent a vibrant, lush “Eden-like” earth when people and ecosystems live in harmony. It is disheartening that as the planet burns with scorching heat, massive wild fires and unquenchable drought, humanity remains oblivious to the existential threat that approaches. This collage also consists of various shapes and forms to represent how every nation and its peoples seamlessly fit together and thus must work together to address climate change through consistent policy and fiscal investments regardless of so-called socio-economic status – developed or third world – especially since both the former and latter share the same planet.

While the development of the hydrogen economy is likely a decade or more away, there are solutions for today – nuclear energy with mini reactors (in the 21st century in the United States, 21 people have died in nuclear accidents, predominantly from falls and electrocution[1] versus the 892 from coal mining accidents[2] and the more than 1500 figure for oil and gas extraction[3]; so regarding safety you be the judge!), the expansion of wind, solar and geothermal energy usage, the planting of trees, preservation of rainforests, the reintroduction of indigenous flora, the banning of pesticides that continue to exterminate crucial pollinators (bees and butterflies) and the shuttering of coal-fired plants that are not retrofitted to use the necessary filters for “clean coal.” At the same time hard deadlines no later than 2040 must be established for the end of fossil fuel use to promote the necessary investment and research and development for 100% clean energy use.

Bottom line: If the world continues to dither, then the prophesy of the 1500 CE triptych The Garden of Earthly Delights by Dutch master painter Hieronymus Bosch (c. 1450-1516) will come true and we will be left with a scorched, charred planet. :( smarthistory.org/garden-bosch

If people come together and work together, then we will continue to have a green planet with ecosystems that thrive and humanity will be spared. :)

[1] Zakaria Hsain, Alissa Johnson, Erin K. Reagan. Nuclear Energy Meets Climate Change. Kleinman Center for Energy Policy. 5 October 2021. kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu/research/publications/nuclear-energy-meets-climate-change

[2] The U.S. Department of Labor – arlweb.msha.gov/stats/centurystats/coalstats.asp
and Statistica – www.statista.com/statistics/541314/mining-fatalities-in-the-united-states

[3] Fareed Zakaria. In tackling climate change, don’t let the perfect become the enemy of the good. The Washington Post. 21 July 2022.
www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/07/21/practical-steps-fighting-climate-change-heat-wave-nuclear-gas-coal