The Earth is changing. This Northern California art pop-up shows what we can do about it
Riders might soon find a surprise at your stop along Sacramento Regional Transit’s Gold Line. It could be a sculpture of a butterfly habit built from a chain of interconnected pipes or a kaleidoscope made with mirrors, scrap metals and other waste collected around the region.
These installments, created by Daniel Tran and Melissa Uroff Millner respectively, will be featured with other local artwork along the RT line as part of Sacramento Valley Spark’s pop-up Art Stops from Aug. 14 to Aug. 21.
The art is quirky, yes, but the organizers hope the pop-ups persuade people to help soothe the Earth’s rising temperatures.
“We’re talking about the literal sustainability and survivability of our planet going forward,” said Ed Fletcher, president of the art nonprofit and a former Sacramento Bee reporter.
The Art Stops center around sustainability, as the pop-up series is designed to be experienced via train and stars upcycled art — or garbage waste that’s been assembled by artists and repurposed as art. Tran and Millner will be posted to deliver statements about the impacts of the climate emergency at the station.
But at this point, to be encouraged to reduce, reuse, recycle may seem like a platitude after the climate change report the Intergovernmental Panel released Monday. The report painted a candid picture of the global doomsday most of us are familiar with — acres of lands in the West scorched by deadly wildfires, neighborhoods flooded by heavy rainfall, and regions stifling under sweltering heat waves.
“The climate report this week made it seem even more relevant and important that we’re talking about the need for changing our transportation modes, and decarbonizing our transportation,” said Fletcher.
The Art Stops’ goal is to create a vibrant community space, similar to the New York City subway, that’ll entice people to re-engage with and to grapple with sustainability. The challenge it poses for the train riders: pause for a second to take it all in.
“The world is better when we turn off our phone or at least pay attention to the world that’s around us and. We often miss out on the conversations in front of us,” Fletcher said.
The program launched a mile-long drive-through nighttime festival called Summer Spark last year as a way to bring people together during COVID — “that was great, but the only way to experience that was in your car. We thought, ‘What are some other ways to make this experience more green?”’ Fletcher said.
After adding a bike component in the second rendition of the event, the organizers decided to “flip it on its head,” in Fletcher’s words, and make a completely public transit-oriented project.
Climate experts have poised cities’ public transit systems like buses and trains as a simple, effective way to lower carbon gas emissions. Cars and trucks emit carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases that contribute to smog and poor air quality. The Art Stops encourage people to ditch their cars and spend time admiring art from the train tracks.
As the climate change clock runs down, mass transit is the greener way to go, and this art exhibit says you can save the planet and enjoy a nice view at the same time.
This story was originally published August 12, 2021 at 1:04 PM.