A committee of artists has created climate change emojis, called “Climojis” to amplify conversations and inspire action on the issue.
They’re available free for download as a sticker pack on iPhones and Android devices.
“…if a starving polar bear becomes a metaphor for personal despair, then the language of climate change might actually be entering into the common discourse.”
The project began in an effort to create a visual representation of the realities of climate change as well as to facilitate a seamless way for climate change-related ideas to penetrate daily dialogue.
A “Climoji-thon” took place, where the SustainableITP committee, part of the New York University Tisch School of the Arts Interactive Telecommunications Program, facilitated image-generating brainstorming sessions. The group created a collection of visual icons, which range from images of floods and tornados to a cow emitting methane gas or a whale ingesting a plastic bottle, among others.
“Artistic expression and the construction of non-scientific visual or verbal language are more than illustrations; when successfully rendered, they resonate and become a lens for seeing the world in new ways,” explains Marina Zurkow, an ITP professor who spearheaded the project.
“Climate change is not exactly the kind of subject matter most people are addressing in their intimate SMS conversations. But if a starving polar bear becomes a metaphor for personal despair, then the language of climate change might actually be entering into the common discourse.”
A Green Grant through the NYU Office of Sustainability supported the work.
Source: NYU
