[globaloneness project] [Art and Social Change] I believe the connection between culture, art and the environment is a very important one, and one that, in this day and age, has been lost and... [Mia Hanak San Francisco, California Founding Executive Director, Nabura World Museum] ...luckily, at least in the past several years, there's this new opportunity to reconnect because in ancient civilizations, art was at the epicenter of culture. Art is what documented what's happening in the surrounding environment. Whether you look at the Mayan temples, or Egyptian temples, everything is documented through art. And the exciting thing about contemporary art and looking at the environment, it's documenting our times, today. You know, what's happening in the environment-- we're at a pivotal point, with global warming, climate change and so forth and so, the artists are truly the ones that are capturing that and what's happening in our point in history. I believe the role of the artist is very important. They, essentially, are the voice of the natural world, right now, in terms of the exhibits we produce, and they have this amazing opportunity to submerse themselves in an environment and through their own sources of inspiration around them, create something visual that could be anything from painting, photography, multimedia, conceptual installation; and by sharing that work of art, with the public, they open a whole new way of looking at things. They--artists, essentially, provide new ways to generate dialogue about sometimes harsh--what could be sometimes harsh or dry topics. And I think they also can help create change, and that's the most important thing. You know, our goal is to use this inspiration-based approach to inspire change. And many times, it's a fear-based approach that people are being presented with, such as--you know, Al Gore's presentation on climate change is essentially before and after, and it worked. It was effective because it was kind of the shock factor of, "Oh, my gosh! Global warming is real! It's happening. What are we supposed to do?" And I think through the arts, it's a more exciting, gradual approach to explore what's happening around us. www.globalonenessproject.org