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Back in 2015, visionary and advocate Gustav Metzger launched one of his final significant endeavors. Known for pioneering auto-destructive art, Metzger had dedicated his life to addressing societal issues from peace activism to plant-based living. Through a short video message, he issued a call for a global day of action to remember nature.

“This is my appeal for your engagement in this worldwide call for a day of action to remember nature on 4 November 2015,” he announced, urging artists and creatives to oppose the continuing disappearance of flora and fauna. “The mission is to remind people of the diversity and intricacy in nature … and by doing so art will enter realms that are naturally imaginative.”

The Creation of Environmental Reflection

In this way Remember Nature was born, a day when creatives nationwide developed works to the unfolding climate catastrophe. Jo Joelson, who cared for Metzger in his last days, remembers his sense of urgency. “He had a strong sense of urgency for him at the final chapter,” she says. “My advice was – let’s not mess around. Let’s not wait for financial support or for anyone to authorize this. Let’s just do it.”

Ten Years On

A decade on, the project hasn’t quite sparked the widespread change across the arts that Metzger had dreamed of, but Joelson believes its legacy can still be seen in campaigns like cultural advocacy groups and environmental protests, as well as in how artists approach the environmental impact of their work. For this purpose she is restaging it to commemorate its 10-year anniversary. Part of the key participants involved this time are A Man Called Adam and other notable figures. They have all produced imagery, shared messages, and produced installations set to be unveiled on 4 November 2025.

Sowing Change

When speaking to Anya Gallaccio, she is out in a field in Kent, cultivating apple trees that will create a circular grove. Collaborating with schoolchildren, her project is somewhat artistic and somewhat instructive. According to her, the design and cultivation sessions have already included learning about maths (measuring out the gaps in the orchard), science (studying the apple’s DNA), and origins (researching the journeys of how various cultivars came to the UK).

Many of the apples were picked because they’ve got amusing labels such as the Duck’s Bill. We have one apple that releases scarcolored sap

“Many of the apples were picked because they’ve got funny names such as the other unusual varieties,” the artist notes. “We have one apple that produces red juice. Each has background narratives. The ancient variety was brought over by the Romans. The Kentish variety is the apple that dropped off a tree and hit Isaac Newton’s head.”

Gallaccio wanted the children to be more actively aware of the environment and the power we have over it. “For a lot of them, apples were just things you get at a supermarket, so I was prompting them, when they go shopping, to read the label and see their names and the source. Ideally it reads Kent!”

Creative Initiatives Throughout Britain

In London, Youngsook Choi’s Book of Loss will engage visitors searching a major gallery on a mission to find the ice masses that have been vanished in the past decade. All formations will be depicted on the museum surfaces using ultraviolet markers. Each discovery, a bell will ring and a performance will be performed to commemorate that particular glacier.

At the same time, up in Barrow-in-Furness, a creative will be presenting a free exhibition about our alienation from the environment, as well as holding a shared meal, cooked from organic, local produce. Over in Newcastle, an artist is broadcasting her environmental performance, in which regional performers undertake a task to perform for vegetation in Newcastle’s Jesmond Dene.

Young Insights

Following this approach, a featured creator will be engaging schoolchildren – on the scheduled date she is aiming to cover an art space in youth creations that document their hopes and fears for the tomorrow. “Kids’ art are powerful because they’re not as restricted as adults’,” she says in her call to action video. “The contributions of youth to the world is something distinctive and hopefully it will stimulate a sense of responsibility from each person. Youth is pure. They have concerns for tomorrow. But let’s not make it about anxiety – it should be about hope and our responsibility that they get a future.”

Remembrance and Reflection

A participant’s work also appeals to children. Drawing on past experience, his Birds Can Fly involves drawing birds and then dressing up as them – and for the initiative he is intending to represent Liverpool’s famous Liver bird. He is also organizing a guided walk of the city, exploring locations that have been part of his Pansy Project over the past twenty years. This endeavor commenced following he faced three incidents of homophobic abuse on a one occasion. In response, Harfleet decided to place a bloom at the site of each occurrence and photograph it – the project has since spiralled to incorporate experiences shared by other people across the world. “I place the plants there but they are temporary,” says Harfleet. “Reportedly birds consume them, so they’re a very temporary memorial.”

The artist selected the flower not just for the obvious reason – it has long been a term of homophobic abuse – but also because its etymology comes from the French verb, penser, to think. “People connected it with a man who is contemplative, and that, of course, is a bad quality,” he says.

The intention on the event day is to place blooms at fresh spots and also replant flowers in places he has marked earlier, all the while discussing with those on the walking tour about the events and his personal experiences. “I’ve recorded quite a few after my previous work,” he says mournfully.

Advancing Positively

Harfleet hopes his work – and