Tuesday morning commuters looked into the eyes of trees and heard their stories. Reclaimed waste googly eyes looked out from magnificent trees opposite UNSW Anzac Parade light rail station in Sydney, Australia and dispersed invitations to passersby to reconnect with nature.

The temporary ecoculture jam was a co-creation of climate play experiences startup Be The Future, for Day 100 of a 100 days of climate play series, and grassroots and global (Daily) Delight~Disrupt, for Tree Hugging Tuesday.

The activation aimed to focus attention on the intrinsic value of trees – as well as all they do for ecosystems. Urban greening provides countless benefits for communities, including ecological, social, economic, and cultural. With two in three Australians living in or close to capital cities – and urban landscapes quickly expanding – urban greening is critical.

The giant googly eyes – and eyebrows embedded with “messages” from the trees – were made entirely of reclaimed waste, such as frisbees, bottle caps, lids,and bubble wrap, with many items sourced from Reverse Garbage. The lightweight eyes were carefully and temporarily placed on the trees with recycled plastic thread to avoid any impact on the trees. The eyes were then removed immediately after the ecoculture jam to be re-used, up-cycled, and re-cycled.

The sight of mature trees with anthropomorphic eyes attracted much interest from morning commuters along Anzac Parade.

Be The Future CoFounder Sally Giblin said:  “We wanted this to be a playful, delightful moment for light rail commuters. Passersby smiled as they saw the eyes – and stopped to take photos. Trees do so much for us – creating oxygen, providing shade, absorbing sound, storing carbon. We wanted to draw attention to just a few of the things trees do for us – in a playful bid for reconnection to nature, and better protection of nature.” 

A recent Biodiversity Council report found that only one in three Australians have a strong relationship with nature. Environmental communication research indicates that culture jamming can be a creative way to collaboratively generate transformation.

Mohamad Faazeli, of UNSW’s local (Daily) Delight~Disrupt Club, said: “While we might be in the hustle and bustle of a city, we can still find delightful ways to reconnect with each other and the places we love. The notion that we can possibly dialogue with trees is a fascinating invitation to engage more deeply with nature.” 

Footnote:

100 days of climate play showcases the incredible breadth of climate play as a way to inspire people to be part of creating a climate positive future.

Sally Giblin, CoFounder of Be The Future, has collaborated with many visionary organisations,  startups & communities across 100 consecutive days such as Taronga Zoo, the Australian Museum, Climate Salad, UNSW, Koori Kinnections, OzHarvest, Sydney Climate Crew, Greenspace and Goterra.

Be The Future is a startup for good in Australia and the UK that creates playful climate solutions experiences in collaboration with schools, governments and cultural institutions.

Watch daily climate play videos here and learn more about climate solutions experiences here.

(Daily) Delight~Disrupt offers a grassroots platform for delightful, scalable playful moments to generate massive social and environmental change through reconnecting with each other and the places we love. 

These playful moments – focused through daily themes (e.g., Tree Hugging Tuesdays, Feast Fridays, Screen-free Sundays) – provide opportunities for anyone to create restorative ways of being, and to disrupt the destructive status quo.   

(Daily) Delight~Disrupt is a Massive Action Sydney project developed with support from the ADA Faculty Innovation Hub. UNSW Prof. Tema Milstein and Dr. John Carr are Project Co-Leads.

Try out (Daily) Delight~Disrupt. Check out its open public Library of Playful Moments here or learn more about this radically simple way to increase well-being for ourselves and our planet here.

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