Reach for the Sun: Ten Steps to Creating a Solar-Powered World, is a new creative communications campaign from Little Sun.
Illustrated by Nigerian-Italian artist Diana Ejaita and supported by the IKEA Foundation, Reach for the Sun is designed to inspire, inform and activate those concerned by climate change to create a thriving world for all powered by the sun. We invite you to feel, imagine, then effect a majority solar-powered world.
Our campaign consists of a ten-step digital guide to creating a solar-powered world and includes an open-source communications toolkit and resources for you to start creating change today.
“Now is the time to reach for the sun. The climate crisis is here: if we are to transition to a world powered by renewable energy in the next decade, we need everyone to recognize the opportunity of solar energy. Art helps us do this; it enables us to feel the power in our hands.”
– Olafur Eliasson, artist and founder of Little Sun
“Art comes from a space of freedom,” said Ejaita, whose illustrations have appeared on the cover of The New Yorker. “You have the choice to see differently. The sun is our life force, it enables us to thrive. My hope is that creatives across the world will join us to tell the story of its powerful force for good.”
Identifying ten simple and actionable steps for powering the world with the sun, our campaign charts a roadmap from personal to social climate advocacy, activating users to alter personal behavior, from energy use, supply, and investment to community and political engagement.
Aimed at individuals and organizations working toward the global energy transition, Reach for the Sun seeks to inspire, inform, and activate audiences to join together and create a zero-carbon world by 2040.
The campaign is part of our culture program to engage creatives in climate action and is endorsed by the Global Solar Council, the trade body for the world’s solar energy industry, with partners including The Climate Museum, Community Arts Network, Sail GP, Sustainable Energy for All, SolarPower Europe, Efficiency for Access, GOGLA and SELCO Foundation.
“We believe that art can create possibilities for climate action, inspiring global connectivity, promoting positive action and enhancing citizenship engagement.”
– John Heller, Little Sun CEO
Little Sun is investing in its culture program, says Heller, with the goal of shifting the public’s perspective on the climate crisis—grounding the climate conversation not in fear and despair but in hope and possibility for what we can create together.
The campaign, conceived by Little Sun’s Head of Communications, Charlotte Webster, begins by encouraging audiences to reflect on our connection to the sun. “Our fixation with looking for energy underground has pushed us dangerously close to a warming limit that will trigger irreversible conditions for us all. If we reach for the sun now, we stand a very real chance of creating a thriving world instead,” says Webster.
Although it provides only three percent of the world’s power currently, research suggests that solar can meet the majority of the world’s energy needs by 2040 and is the most powerful means of preventing runaway climate change if implemented now.
“Solar is readily accessible, versatile, and affordable,” explains Heller. “It offers the promise of a better life now, particularly for the 800 million people who live beyond the reach of the electricity grid. Lighting the world is possible—but getting there depends on all of us.”
The campaign aims to galvanize public and political engagement in the potential of solar to meet the majority of the world’s energy needs ahead of the 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26), set to take place in Glasgow, Scotland in November 2021.
“Reach for the Sun is an innovative way to champion renewables for communities living in poverty and persuade the energy sector to do more. It bridges the gap between knowing something must be done and acting where it counts most.”
– Jeffrey Prins, Head of Renewable Energy at the IKEA Foundation
