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Back in 2015, artist and activist Gustav Metzger launched one of his final important works. Known for introducing auto-destructive art, Metzger had spent a lifetime to addressing global challenges from nuclear disarmament to ethical eating. In a brief video message, he made a plea for a global day of action to remember nature.

“This is my appeal for your engagement in this international summons for a day of action to remember nature on 4 November 2015,” he stated, encouraging artists and creatives to stand against the steady eradication of species. “Our responsibility is to make audiences aware of the diversity and intricacy in nature … and by doing so art will enter realms that are inherently creative.”

The Inception of Environmental Reflection

In this way the environmental art day was established, a day when artists across the country developed works to the escalating planetary emergency. An organizer, who supported Metzger in his final years, recalls his feeling of immediacy. “There was a strong sense of urgency for him at the end of his life,” she says. “I urged him – don’t delay. No need to pause for financial support or for anyone to approve this. Take action immediately.”

Ten Years On

After ten years, Remember Nature hasn’t quite triggered the broad uprising across the arts that Metzger had hoped for, but supporters think its influence can still be felt in movements like Culture Declares and environmental protests, as well as in how makers handle the environmental impact of their work. That’s why she is relaunching it to mark its decade milestone. Among the featured creators involved this time are A Man Called Adam and Anya Gallaccio. Each has created visual art, made video appeals, and developed pieces set to be revealed on November 4, 2025.

Cultivating Awareness

In conversation with one participant, she is on site in the countryside, assisting with planting apple trees that will grow to form a circular grove. Working with schoolchildren, her project is part creative piece and half educational workshop. She describes, the design and cultivation sessions have already incorporated learning about maths (measuring out the distances between trees), science (studying the genetic makeup), and origins (mapping the stories of how various cultivars were introduced to England).

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

“A lot of the apples were picked because they’ve got funny names such as the other unusual varieties,” says Gallaccio. “We have one apple that produces red juice. They all have histories attached. The ancient variety was introduced by the Romans. The local breed is the apple that fell from a tree and hit the scientist’s head.”

She hoped 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 find in a supermarket, so I was prompting them, next time they were out, to check the packaging and see the variety and where they were grown. Ideally it reads Kent!”

Cultural Projects Nationwide

Within the city, a participant’s project on disappearance will include attendees searching a major gallery on a journey to find the ice masses that have been disappeared in recent years. All formations will be drawn on the museum surfaces using special pens. Each discovery, a chime will sound and a reading will be conducted to honor that particular glacier.

Meanwhile, up in Barrow-in-Furness, an artist will be putting on a public show about our alienation from the environment, as well as hosting a community dinner, prepared with regional food. Over in Newcastle, a participant is sharing her environmental performance, in which community vocalists begin a project to sing plants back to health in Newcastle’s Jesmond Dene.

Youth Perspectives

Like Gallaccio, a featured creator will be working with schoolchildren – on the actual event she is aiming to fill an art space in youth creations that express their aspirations and concerns for the future. “Children’s words and images are compelling because they’re not as trammelled as mature perspectives,” she says in her call to action video. “Young people’s input to the world is something truly special and it may provoke a awareness of obligation from each person. Children are innocent. They have fears about the future. But let’s not make it about worry – it should be about hope and our responsibility that they get a future.”

Remembrance and Reflection

Another artist’s work also connects with children. Drawing on past experience, his avian project involves illustrating avians and then dressing up as them – and for Remember Nature day he is planning to tackle an iconic figure. He is also organizing a walking tour of the city, exploring locations that have been part of his long-term work over the last two decades. The project started after he endured several events of discrimination on a single day. In response, Harfleet decided to sow a flower at the site of each occurrence and photograph it – the project has since spiralled to incorporate experiences experienced by other people across the world. “The flowers remain there but they fade quickly,” says Harfleet. “Apparently wildlife enjoys them, so they’re a short-lived memorial.”

He picked the flower not just for the direct association – it has long been a derogatory label – but also because its origin is the French verb, penser, to think. “It became associated with a man who is thoughtful, and that, of course, is a terrible thing,” he says.

The project on the event day is to plant pansies at fresh spots and also refresh the memorials in places he has marked earlier, all the while conversing with those on the guided walk about the incidents and his personal experiences. “We’ve seen quite a few after my previous work,” he says mournfully.

Progressing Optimistically

The artist wishes his work – and