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Back in 2015, creative and campaigner Gustav Metzger launched one of his last important works. Known for pioneering art that erases itself, Metzger had devoted his career to responding to societal issues from anti-nuclear advocacy to plant-based living. Through a short video message, he issued a call for a international event to celebrate the natural world.

“I, Gustav Metzger, am asking for your engagement in this global appeal for a day of action to reflect on the environment on 4 November 2015,” he stated, urging makers and thinkers to resist the steady eradication of flora and fauna. “Our responsibility is to make audiences aware of the diversity and intricacy in nature … and by doing so creativity will explore domains that are inherently creative.”

The Creation of Environmental Reflection

Thus the environmental art day came into being, a day when creatives nationwide produced pieces to the escalating planetary emergency. An organizer, who worked closely with Metzger in his later life, notes his drive for action. “There was a profound sense of urgency for him at the close of his days,” she says. “I urged him – don’t delay. No need to pause for sponsorship or for anyone to approve this. Let’s just do it.”

Ten Years On

A decade on, the initiative hasn’t quite incited the mass movement across the arts that Metzger had envisioned, but organizers feel its legacy can still be felt in campaigns like cultural advocacy groups and climate activism networks, as well as in how creatives consider the environmental impact of their practices. For this purpose she is relaunching it to celebrate its 10-year anniversary. Part of the featured creators participating now are Cornelia Parker and prominent artists. They have all designed posters, made video appeals, and developed pieces set to be revealed on 4 November 2025.

Sowing Change

When speaking to the artist, she is on site in the countryside, cultivating apple trees that will develop into a coiled garden. Working with schoolchildren, her project is somewhat artistic and half educational workshop. According to her, the planning and planting sessions have already included learning about maths (measuring out the distances between trees), genetics (studying the hereditary traits), and origins (mapping the stories of how different apples arrived in Britain).

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

“A lot 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. Each has histories attached. The historical cultivar was brought over by the Romans. The local breed is the apple that dropped off a tree and struck the scientist’s head.”

Gallaccio wanted the children to be more consciously engaged of the environment and the power we have over it. “To many of them, apples were just things you get at a supermarket, so I was urging them, next time they were out, to check the packaging and see the variety and their origin. Hopefully it says Kent!”

Creative Initiatives Across the Country

In London, one artist’s work about extinction will involve participants exploring Tate Modern on a mission to find the seven major glaciers that have been vanished in the past decade. Each glacier will be depicted on the gallery’s windows and walls using ultraviolet markers. Whenever one is found, a bell will ring and a performance will be held to commemorate that particular glacier.

At the same time, up in a northern town, an artist will be putting on a public show about our separation from nature, as well as hosting a community dinner, cooked from sustainable ingredients. Further north, a participant is broadcasting her environmental performance, in which regional performers begin a project to use music to heal flora in Newcastle’s Jesmond Dene.

Children’s Voices

Following this approach, a featured creator will be collaborating with schoolchildren – on the scheduled date she is planning to decorate a cultural venue in children’s artwork that capture their aspirations and concerns for the future. “Children’s words and images are powerful because they’re not as inhibited as grown-ups’,” she says in her recorded message. “The contributions of youth to the world is something quite unique and perhaps it can inspire a feeling of duty from us all. Kids are unbiased. They have fears about the future. But it isn’t meant to be about worry – it should be about optimism and making sure that they have a tomorrow.”

Remembrance and Reflection

A participant’s work also appeals to children. As a former drag queen, his feathered initiative involves sketching winged creatures and then dressing up as them – and for the initiative he is planning to tackle a local symbol. He is also conducting a itinerant journey of the city, exploring locations that have been part of his Pansy Project over the past twenty years. That ongoing series commenced following he endured several events of discrimination on a particular day. To counter this, Harfleet decided to sow a flower at the spot where it happened and record it – the project has since expanded to incorporate experiences experienced by other people across the world. “I place the plants there but they don’t often last,” says Harfleet. “It seems wildlife enjoys them, so they’re a ephemeral memorial.”

Harfleet chose the pansy not just for the obvious reason – it has long been a slur – but also because its name derives from the French verb, penser, to think. “People connected it with a man who is reflective, and that, of course, is a terrible thing,” he says.

The project on Remember Nature day is to plant pansies at fresh spots and also renew the tributes in places he has previously memorialised, all the while conversing with those on the walking tour about the occurrences and his recollections. “We’ve seen quite a few following earlier installations,” he says with regret.

Moving Forward with Hope

Harfleet hopes his work – and