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In 2015, creative and campaigner Gustav Metzger launched one of his last important works. Known for introducing auto-destructive art, Metzger had devoted his career to confronting societal issues from nuclear disarmament to ethical eating. Through a short video message, he issued a call for a worldwide initiative to honor the environment.

“I call upon you for your engagement in this global appeal for a day of action to reflect on the environment on the fourth of November, 2015,” he declared, urging makers and thinkers to stand against the continuing disappearance of living beings. “Our responsibility is to remind people of the richness and complexity in nature … and by doing so creativity will explore domains that are inherently creative.”

The Creation of Nature Remembrance

Thus the environmental art day was established, a day when creatives nationwide created responses to the escalating planetary emergency. Jo Joelson, who supported Metzger in his later life, remembers his sense of urgency. “He had a profound sense of urgency for him at the final chapter,” she says. “My advice was – we must act now. We shouldn’t hold back for sponsorship or for anyone to authorize this. Let’s just do it.”

A Decade Later

Ten years later, the initiative hasn’t quite incited the mass movement across the arts that Metzger had dreamed of, but organizers feel its influence can still be felt in campaigns like cultural advocacy groups and climate activism networks, as well as in how makers handle the sustainability of their practices. That’s why she is relaunching it to celebrate its 10-year anniversary. Part of the key participants participating now are A Man Called Adam and Anya Gallaccio. They have all designed posters, shared messages, and developed pieces set to be presented on November 4, 2025.

Cultivating Awareness

When speaking to the artist, she is on site in the countryside, cultivating apple trees that will create a spiral-shaped orchard. Collaborating with schoolchildren, her project is part creative piece and somewhat instructive. As she explains, the planning and planting sessions have already included learning about measurements (spacing the distances between trees), genetics (discussing the apple’s DNA), and geography (researching the backgrounds of how various cultivars came to the UK).

Many of the apples were picked because they’ve got humorous titles such as the other unusual varieties. We have one apple that produces red juice

“Many of the apples were chosen because they’ve got funny names such as the Bloody Butcher,” the artist notes. “We have one apple that releases crimson liquid. Every one carries histories attached. The decio apple was imported by the Romans. The Flower of Kent is the apple that fell from a tree and landed on Isaac Newton’s head.”

Gallaccio wanted 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 get at a supermarket, so I was prompting them, next time they were out, to look on the bag and see what they’re called and where they were grown. Hopefully it says Kent!”

Cultural Projects Across the Country

In London, one artist’s work about extinction will involve participants looking through an art institution on a journey to find the seven major glaciers that have been lost in recent years. All formations will be depicted on the museum surfaces using invisible ink. Whenever one is found, a alert will occur and a performance will be held to commemorate that specific ice mass.

Meanwhile, up in another location, an artist will be putting on a open display about our separation from nature, as well as organizing a shared meal, made using regional food. In another city, an artist is broadcasting her Some Kind of Love / Forest Choir, in which regional performers begin a project to sing plants back to health in a local park.

Young Insights

Following this approach, Cornelia Parker will be engaging schoolchildren – on the day itself she is planning to decorate Cambridge’s Kettle’s Yard in kids’ letters and drawings that capture their hopes and fears for the years ahead. “Kids’ art are impactful because they’re not as restricted as adults’,” she says in her public appeal. “What children have to offer to the world is something quite unique and hopefully it will inspire a awareness of obligation from each person. Children are innocent. They have anxieties about what’s next. But this shouldn’t be about worry – it should be about hope and us ensuring that they get a future.”

Tributes and Thoughts

Another artist’s work also connects with children. With a background in performance, his avian project involves illustrating avians and then embodying them – and for the event he is planning to address an iconic figure. He is also conducting a guided walk of the city, visiting various sites that have been part of his long-term work over the last two decades. The project began when he faced several events of prejudice on a particular day. In response, Harfleet decided to sow a flower at the location of every incident and document it – the project has since spiralled to include incidents experienced by other people across the world. “I place the plants there but they fade quickly,” says Harfleet. “Apparently pigeons like to eat them, so they’re a very temporary memorial.”

He picked the bloom not just for the direct association – it has long been a slur – but also because its origin is the French verb, penser, to think. “People connected it with a man who is contemplative, and that, of course, is a negative trait,” he says.

The project on 4 November is to plant pansies at additional sites and also refresh the memorials in places he has honored before, all the while conversing with those on the itinerant journey about the incidents and his memories of them. “We’ve seen quite a few since I last planted,” he says sadly.

Moving Forward with Hope

Harfleet hopes his work – and