Ice lens

Artists and writers are starting to respond to the challenge of climate change. For example, Rachel Whiteread, Antony Gormley, Ian McEwan, Max Eastley and Gary Hume have all been involved in the Cape Farewell project:

"Cape Farewell is a series of expeditions into the Arctic, through a route previously icebound but now passable. The journeys explore the very seas that hold the key to understanding the health of the worlds' ocean currents. By physically sailing to the heart of the debate and drawing together scientists, teachers, and renowned artists, Cape Farewell aims to illustrate the workings of this crucial part of the planet and engage the public and schools in the debate about climate change - drawing people's attention to the role ocean currents play and the effect changing weather patterns and rising seas could have on us and our climate."

Examples of the art projects are at the Cape Farewell site site, including a luminous Ice Lens created by Heather Ackroyd and Dan Harvey. There will be an exhibition of artworks from the project, The Ice Garden, in December at the Bodleian Library in Oxford. This will be followed by a bigger exhibition, The Ship – The Art of Climate Change in June next year at London’s Natural History Museum.

I see that yesterday’s demonstrations against climate change warranted just a few brief lines in today’s Observer…