Quilting Ecologies: Pennsylvania Tree Memorial Quilt Project
Date
2024
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Bi-College (Haverford and Bryn Mawr Colleges). Department of Environmental Studies
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Award
Language
eng
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Haverford users only until 01/01/2029. Afterwards Tri-College users only
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Abstract
Climate change is altering entire communities, ecosystems, and entire biomes in a variety of devastating ways and the question still remains–how do we get people to care? Scientists are notoriously bad at communicating their findings and ideas and discussions about climate change have a tendency to end in apathy or anxiety that is not conducive to action. For this project, I propose that art can and should be utilized as a means to shift the conversations about climate change to allow people to feel, think, and act in ways that science alone cannot. I have created a memorial quilt of Pennsylvania tree species that are specifically vulnerable to climate change to highlight some of the culturally, historically, and ecologically important species that may not be on this land in fifty to one hundred years due to the drastic shifts in climate and all the byproducts of such effects. Yet the purpose of this project is not just to grieve the potential loss we will face, but to kindle reflection, discussion, and action towards protecting the biodiversity that defines our landscapes. In this supplementary paper, I expound on the ideas of communicating climate change and the advantages to utilizing art as the platform for social change. Additionally, I look specifically at how quilts have been used in the past as a means towards social justice and the history and meaning that quilts hold. I also delve into my specific quilt piece, examining climate change’s effect on native Pennsylvania tree species and each individual tree.