ESTRANGEMENT - The state of being alienated or separated in feeling or affection; a state of hostility or unfriendliness between parties.

GAIA - The belief that living organisms interact with their inorganic surroundings on Earth to form a synergistic and self-regulating, complex system that helps to maintain and perpetuate the conditions for life on the planet.

Our planet, the earth, has been in constant evolution for four billion years. Over time it has seen dramatic variation in its physical features, and the make-up of its atmosphere. Within this tumultuous history a complex biosphere has evolved.

There has been no objective “normal” state for the planet since it
coalesced out of interstellar dust. In fact, our planet has seen many cycles and episodes, and is destined to do the same for billions of years to come.

Today the planet’s biosphere is dominated by a single species, us. And it is through our eyes that we assess the status of planetary health, principally in terms of the planet’s ability to support our species. We subordinate the health and viability of other species, and the physical planet itself, to this analysis.

It has recently dawned on us that current variations in the stability of ecosystems and physical phenomena are changing at an historically rapid rate. A pace of change clearly related to our presence and dominance in the planet’s biosphere, and which, from our perspective, represents an existential threat. From the planet’s perspective, our management of this situation will either be a new state of equilibrium that accommodates us, or a transitory epoch in a multi-billion year story when we were briefly present.

In our hubris, we characterize ourselves as an intelligent species. If we are, it is time to prove it. It is in our nature to treasure our ecological niche and environment. Both for its intangible beauty to us, and because we depend on it for our very existence. We are under pressure by the changes in the status of our planetary support system that represent an existential threat to our survival. (After all, from our parochial perspective, “it really is all about us”.)

We are currently on a path that does not bode well but which is not yet irreversible. Where is the tipping point where our presence in this planet’s evolutionary scheme leads to a significantly altered environmental state? Will it be one favorable to us? Where is the point where the planet moves on and ceases to accommodate our vanity and irresponsibility?

By our nature, through our neuro-biological endowments, we create perceptions and expectations of our future. We have impacted today’s environmental stability. We are experiencing chaotic and unexpected changes that directly affect our perceptions and expectations, our quality of life, and our ability to sustain our species. In the process we are inducing aberrations to the planet’s physical cycles and painful changes to other life in the biosphere.

NEW GALLERIES -
The work in these galleries trace how we have been warned but closed our eyes to prior prophecies about planetary change. Subsequently we have experienced chaotic and turbulent changes in the earth’s environment. Changes that have unmoored physical processes, altering cycles and processes. Dynamic changes with indeterminate end states. All of which leads to the ambiguity of our future, its livability, its comparative beauty, and our existence and role within it.

I hope for positive change. I am one person. Though my personal efforts may be limited, I work to increase consciousness of these issues. In my art, I hope to convey the urgency of addressing the current chaos, shifting global patterns, resource scarcities, distribution inequalities, loss of diversity, and other impacts of our current path.

- There will be a new “normal” state for the planet.
- Will it retain a niche for us, or will we dwindle to irrelevance?

The stress we have been putting on the earth cannot be sustained indefinitely.  It is my hope that global awareness of the many contributing issues emerges in time so our children and their children will have a livable environment.  HOPE is the central work for this theme and part of series on the "turning point" we are at.

When sharing time with your family and friends during this season of giving, take a moment to do something nice for our planet.  She will appreciate any actions big or small.