Conversations regarding environmental health are ongoing as climate change and global warming continue to pave the way to Earth’s next predicted mass extinction. As this threat looms over the world, nations, communities, and individuals are convening in efforts to understand it, to educate others and spread awareness. Coming up with ways to communicate the climate crisis can be challenging, which is why it is important to acknowledge the variety of mediums that these messages can be communicated and the power of art to make an impact.

Whether it be through music, film, theatre, paintings, or photography, the personal connection that artists have with their work, as well as the connections that the public make with their work, can be more meaningful to certain audiences. For example, if a movie is portraying climate change by telling a story that may personally relate to the audience, then it can strengthen the understanding and provide insight on the seriousness of those real issues.
Historically, some Canadian artists have explored climate change and environmental degradation through their work. For example, Edward Burtynsky is a photographer that focuses on industrial landscapes. His work depicts humans’ increasing impacts as industrial development increases across environments, which is disturbingly contextualized by the sublime—a philosophical concept that refers to greatness or grandeur beyond all possibility. He incorporates his advocacy for environmental conservation into his art, which included a number of mediums. Notably, Anthropocene: The Human Epoch and The Anthropocene Project, is a multidisciplinary body of work that won the Rogers Best Canadian Film Award in 2018. The Anthropocene refers to our current time period, an era of unprecedented human activity leading to such threats as the next global mass extinction.
Emily Carr is another famous Canadian artist who portrayed the natural landscapes of British Columbia, and was inspired by the art and villages of First Nations communities. She was a painter whose landscape pieces expressed her observations and documentations of industrialization and climate change. One of her works, Odds and Ends, demonstrates the disturbing changes of the landscapes that she enjoyed painting. Carr was designated a National Historic Person as she remains a cherished figure of Canadian arts and letters.
Christi Belcourt, an iconic Métis painter from Ontario, creates whimsical ecosystems of plants, insects and birds in a way that resembles beadwork. These scenes are constructed with thousands of tiny paint droplets that are deposited onto a canvas using a knitting needle. Belcourt is an eco-activist, and as she states in her book, Christi Belcourt, her “love for the earth drives [her] life and [her] art.” Belcourt emphasizes on the importance of Canadians acknowledging and protecting the beautiful ecosystems and environments that she depicts in her work.
Locally, an upcoming interactive play plans to immerse its audience in a wild New Brunswick wetland adventure. The Wetland Wonder Adventure, presented by the municipality of Tantramar, is a children’s play that will be touring between February 24, and March 31, 2025 for local schools. Students in third to eighth grade can learn about actions that help protect the environment by meeting the character of Ranger Ron and friends. While engaging in hands-on activities, young audiences will gain an understanding of wetland ecosystems, why they are vital, and why they should be protected.
As climate change becomes a growing concern, people are finding new ways to share these important messages. There are differing levels of access to knowledge between demographics of people, so incorporating educational information about climate change in a way that speaks to a majority of consumers, in different pieces of media, strengthens the conversation.