April 2020 – Earth Day 2020: Committing to the Next 50 Years

April 2020 Newsletter

Earth Day 2020: Committing to the Next 50 Years

Today marks the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, the launch of our environmental movement. We enter Earth Day 2020 witnessing the Sixth Mass Extinction, a global pandemic, extreme weather, and the other consequences of the climate crisis we are enduring.
 
For more than a decade, environmental artist Xavier Cortada has celebrated Earth Day with massive reforestation efforts, lectures and events. This year, due to a global pandemic, those events were cancelled. Instead, Cortada opted to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Earth Day by creating daily videos to encourage viewers to write a letter to the future.
Participate

On Saturday, April 25th at 10pm, CNN’s climate correspondent Bill Weir features Xavier Cortada’s Underwater Homeowners Association in “The Road to Change: America’s Climate Crisis.” Please tune in to CNN then!

University of Miami Professor of Practice Xavier Cortada invites you to write an open letter to a University of Miami student living in 2070 . It will be posted online for the public to read, contemplate and act on.

Reflect on the current state of the environment through the lens of a global community. Perform the Longitudinal Installation to connect with others across 24 time zones and share your very own “25th Quote.”

Plan(T): A Mangrove in Every School

Plan(T), our “mangrove in every yard” reforestation effort encourages residents to plant a mangrove seedling and elevation-marked flag in their yards to facilitate climate conversations, help sequester carbon dioxide, and grow our salt-tolerant native tree canopy.
 
As part of Earth Day, Cortada Projects had partnered with Miami-Dade County Public Schools to plant a mangrove and customized elevation-marked flag in each and every public school. Planting salt tolerant mangroves in high ground will help to safeguard vulnerable areas of our city and provide future seed stock for areas surrendered to rising seas. 
 
However, due to the pandemic 19, this participatory eco-art effort had to be postponed. Cortada Projects will bring Plan(T) back once schools reopen.
Learn More

To see our full calendar of events please click here.

Xavier Cortada’s participatory art practice is implemented through Cortada Projects at Pinecrest Gardens. Cortada Projects uses the power of art to engage the community in learning about and addressing important ecological concerns including global climate change, sea-level rise, and biodiversity loss.

www.cortadaprojects.org