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Back in 2015, artist and activist Gustav Metzger embarked on one of his last major projects. Known for introducing auto-destructive art, Metzger had devoted his career to addressing human struggles from nuclear disarmament to vegetarianism. Via a concise video message, he made a plea for a worldwide initiative to honor the environment.

“I, Gustav Metzger, am asking for your involvement in this worldwide call for a day of action to reflect on the environment on 4 November 2015,” he declared, urging cultural workers to stand against the ongoing loss of flora and fauna. “Our task is to remind people of the richness and complexity in nature … and by doing so the arts will venture into territories that are fundamentally innovative.”

The Creation of Environmental Reflection

Thus the environmental art day was born, a day when cultural practitioners throughout Britain created responses to the unfolding climate catastrophe. An organizer, who supported Metzger in his final years, recalls his feeling of immediacy. “He had a profound sense of urgency for him at the final chapter,” she says. “My advice was – don’t delay. No need to pause for sponsorship or for anyone to approve this. We should proceed.”

Ten Years On

Ten years later, the initiative did not sparked the widespread change across the arts that Metzger had envisioned, but supporters think its influence can still be observed in initiatives like artist-led declarations and Extinction Rebellion, as well as in how makers handle the eco-friendliness of their practices. This is the reason she is reviving it to commemorate its ten-year mark. Included in the 18 lead artists involved this time are Cornelia Parker and other notable figures. Each has created visual art, recorded calls to action, and produced installations set to be presented on November 4, 2025.

Planting Hope

In conversation with one participant, she is out in a field in Kent, cultivating apple trees that will create a coiled garden. Collaborating with schoolchildren, her project is half artwork and somewhat instructive. As she explains, the preparation and sowing sessions have already involved learning about mathematics (measuring out the distances between trees), biology (exploring the hereditary traits), and history (mapping the backgrounds of how various cultivars came to the UK).

Several the apples were chosen because they’ve got amusing labels such as the other unusual varieties. We have one apple that releases red juice

“A lot of the apples were selected because they’ve got humorous titles such as the other unusual varieties,” she explains. “We have one apple that produces red juice. Each has background narratives. The decio apple was brought over by the Romans. The Kentish variety is the apple that fell from a tree and landed on the scientist’s head.”

She hoped the children to be more consciously engaged of nature and the influence we have over it. “In their experience, apples were just things you get at a supermarket, so I was encouraging them, when they go shopping, to check the packaging and see their names and their origin. Ideally it reads Kent!”

Artistic Responses Throughout Britain

Within the city, Youngsook Choi’s project on disappearance will engage visitors searching a major gallery on a journey to find the frozen formations that have been disappeared in modern times. Every ice sheet will be illustrated on the museum surfaces using special pens. Whenever one is found, a alert will occur and a recitation will be held to honor that specific ice mass.

At the same time, up in another location, Maddi Nicholson will be hosting a free exhibition about our disconnection from the land, as well as holding a community dinner, made using regional food. In another city, a participant is sharing her environmental performance, in which local singers undertake a task to use music to heal flora in a local park.

Children’s Voices

Similar to other artists, Cornelia Parker will be collaborating with schoolchildren – on the actual event she is planning to decorate a cultural venue in kids’ letters and drawings that capture their aspirations and concerns for the future. “Children’s words and images are powerful because they’re not as trammelled as adults’,” she says in her call to action video. “Young people’s input to the world is something truly special and hopefully it will inspire a feeling of duty from everyone. Youth is pure. They have fears about the future. But let’s not make it about anxiety – it should be about hope and our responsibility that they see a better world.”

Remembrance and Reflection

Another artist’s work also connects with children. As a former drag queen, his avian project involves illustrating avians and then embodying them – and for Remember Nature day he is intending to tackle an iconic figure. He is also organizing a itinerant journey of the city, stopping at places that have been part of his long-term work over the last two decades. This endeavor commenced following he experienced multiple occurrences of prejudice on a one occasion. To counter this, Harfleet decided to plant a pansy at the location of every incident and photograph it – the project has since expanded to cover events experienced by other people across the world. “I leave the pansies there but they fade quickly,” says Harfleet. “It seems birds consume them, so they’re a short-lived memorial.”

He picked the flower not just for the direct association – it has long been a slur – but also because its origin is the French verb, penser, to think. “It became associated with a man who is thoughtful, and that, of course, is a terrible thing,” he says.

The plan on 4 November is to sow flowers at new locations and also replant flowers in places he has marked earlier, all the while talking to those on the walking tour about the incidents and his memories of them. “I’ve recorded quite a few following earlier installations,” he says with regret.

Advancing Positively

The artist wishes his work – and