Little Sun 2018 | A Year in Pictures
Dear Friends of Little Sun,
The power is in our hands to stop the worst effects of climate change, even if the challenge often seems so abstract that it is hard to imagine what we can do on our own. We ask ourselves, How does climate change affect me as an individual? How do I, as a member of society, recognise that I have individual power? There are countless people wrestling with precisely these questions, and this year some excellent answers have been proposed, giving hope for a brighter future for all.
Take for example Mary Robinson’s book Climate Justice, or the film Paris to Pittsburgh, which both feature incredible individuals fighting global climate change with local solutions. At a time when governments are not acting quickly and boldly enough, there are many other players out there who are attacking climate change head on.
This is why, this year, Little Sun joined an incredible crowd of 50,000 people in Hambach Forest to urge the German government to end the use of fossil fuels – to keep it in the ground. For a second time, Little Sun also lit up the Pathway to Paris concert in San Francisco, which gathered musicians and artists in a global call to action for policymakers and leaders.
As an artist, I work to make the abstract tangible, to transform something as massive as the climate into a physical thing that you can touch and that you can be touched by. When we come into direct contact with the melting Greenland ice sheet in the immense ice blocks that make up Ice Watch, or grasp the power of the sun in our hands through Little Sun, the distant issues become local, emotional, urgent. This is the important role that art plays in changing the world. And this is what Little Sun is all about. I believe if you hold hands with the sun – or the ice – you hold hands with the future.
While Little Sun functions as a powerful symbol for global togetherness, it is most importantly your own little power plant. In parts of the world where there is no access to electricity, the little solar lamp has a huge impact and is building a future today that generations will inherit tomorrow. To achieve our goal of universal energy access for all, we need you. By donating to our Solar Power for Health Workers programme in Tanzania, you provide energy and can quite literally save lives. Find out more at littlesunfoundation.org/donate.
Together, we make a movement.
Olafur Eliasson
Founder of Little Sun
