At the core of the Green New Deal is a profound transformation of the means by which we power our lives. The vast majority of energy consumption is still powered by fossil fuels, gravely harming human health and intensifying the climate crisis. How can we artists support, reflect, and explore the transition to clean and renewable sources of energy?
The fifth installment of our Spring Speaker Series: Artists Envisioning a Green New Deal focuses on the transition to clean and renewable energy. Join us on Wednesday, May 26 for a conversation with Toba Pearlman, Senior Attorney and Renewable Energy Advocate with NRDC’s Climate & Clean Energy Program; Alex Nathanson, a multimedia artist, designer, technologist, and educator whose work explores sustainable energy technologies; and Joan Sullivan, a photographer and writer who has documented the construction of some of the largest utility-scale wind and solar projects in North America. The panel will begin with a reading of Javaad Alipoor’s short play “The Deal,” written for Climate Change Theatre Action 2021. The conversation will be moderated by Thomas Peterson, Artistic Associate with The Arctic Cycle.
Wednesday, May 26, 2021
7:00-8:00 pm ET
Free Zoom Webinar
RSVP to receive the Zoom link and join the webinar. The conversation will also be livestreamed on our YouTube channel.
Alex Nathanson is a multimedia artist, designer, technologist, and educator. His work explores both the creative and traditional applications of sustainable energy technologies. His work has been featured at Issue Project Room, the Museum of the Moving Image, Film Society of Lincoln Center, and the Art Prospect Festival. As a solar power designer, he has created interactive and educational projects for The Climate Museum, Solar One, and the NYC Department of Education, among others. Currently, he runs Solar Power for Artists, a design studio and education platform. His book, A History of Solar Power Art and Design, will be released by Routledge on July 16, 2021.
Elizabeth Toba Pearlman leads NRDC’s work on renewable energy expansion in the Midwest, which encompasses wind, solar, storage, transmission, and grid design. Before joining NRDC, Pearlman worked at Tesla and at SolarCity. After graduating from the George Washington University Law School, she was a legal fellow with the United Nations Environment Programme based in Nairobi, Kenya and then a legal fellow and outside counsel with Sierra Club’s Environmental Law Program. She lives in Chicago.
For more than a decade, the Canadian photographer Joan Sullivan has documented the construction of some of the largest utility-scale wind and solar projects in North America. More recently, Joan has started to shift her attention toward what she likes to call “the human transitionâ€: the talented men and women who are building our post-carbon infrastructure – electricians, mechanics, ironworkers, lineworkers, and heavy machinery operators. Joan is also experimenting with abstract photography as a new language to express her anguish about the climate emergency.