Climate Labor (Assisted Migration)

Human-Assisted migration:

Carry Over (Climate Labor)

2023, work in progress

clear backpack, soil, young douglas fir

This work-in-progress depicts personal means for carrying a young conifer tree northward, in a nod to the federal government’s increased human-assisted migration program. Rapid changes in climate are exceeding the natural migration and adaptation abilities of many tree species, including the douglas fir, whitebark pine, and ponderosa pines. While humans have moved plant species around the globe for millenea, this is an intentional effort to steward tree species further north and plant seedlings in areas which will be more hospitable, in direct response to anthropogenic climate change. The labor of humans to “carry” trees northward reflects a burden of the impact we have had on forest ecologies.

In an upcoming video / performance, I carry young douglas fir trees in a backpack on a northward path.

Growing works in backpacks is part of an ongoing collaborative concept with John Santomieri