While I do discuss whether anti nuke art activism can be seen as EcoArt, the most important part of my essay for the WEAD special issue on Atomic Legacy Art is my identification of the art activism groups I think would help make a real impact on shutting down nukes in Florida. At the moment, the Public Service Commission is considering allowing the FL power companies to charge customers up front for the billions it will cost to update/replace aging reactors. We know that none of the “old” energy sources is “clean” and that includes oil, gas, coal AND nuclear. Here in Florida especially, the “sunshine state” after all, we have an opportunity to make the case for cleaner energy. What the earnest anti nuke people in Florida have not been able to figure out yet is how to get the message across. They are adept at their lawsuits and lobbying, but most efforts to do traditional crowds-in-the-streets approaches have failed. What I see as potentially very effective at grabbing and utilizing the media would be a traveling performance anti-nuke, pro clean energy activist art initiative. In my essay, I identify these art groups as most interesting for this purpose: Earth Ambulance, Sisters of Survival, Talk Nukes!, HOT POSSE, Luz Interruptus and The Illuminator. And, of course, the assistance in choreographing such an initiative from the YES LAB. See my essay at: https://directory.weadartists.org/anti-nuke-ecoart

 

MJ Aagerstoun

EcoArt South Florida, Inc.

West Palm Beach, FL

www.ecoartsofla.org