Below 2°: Melting art installation on climate change at Karma Lakelands

Aakash Ranison turns to art to raise climate awareness

‘Below 2°’, an innovative art installation created by climate activist Aakash Ranison, in partnership with golf club Karma Lakelands illustrates the urgent need for climate action by merging artistic expression with scientific insight.

The issue of climate change is no longer a subject only for discussions at global summits or elitist gatherings like the World Economic Forum at Davos in Switzerland, but the issue is serious enough to get into every aspect of life, including art as artists have begun to turn to their canvasses or installations to raise alarm over the way the world is going.

One such art work is on display at Karma Lakelands, an upscale golfing resort in Gurgaon, near Delhi. The golf club has collaborated with the artist Aakash Ranison, a climate activist and founder of Greener Earth Foundation, an NGO promoting sustainability, to unveil a climate responsive art installation, Below 2°.

The installation features a globe, about 1.5 m in diameter, created by Ranison and is an initiative that acts as a potent visual narrative about the urgency of the climate crisis, turning a serious worldwide issue into an expressive work of art.

“Climate change is a reality we all feel, with rising temperatures evident in our daily lives. However, we often lack concrete data to understand its impact. This installation aims to provide clarity by presenting actual numbers, highlighting that we are nearing the critical limit of 1.5 to 2 degrees Celsius. By 2050, we must stay below this threshold, and the installation communicates this urgent timeline, encouraging informed action,” Ranison tells India & You.

“When sustainability and creativity come together, they have the transformative potential to result in significant change. This synergy is best demonstrated by the Below 2° installation, which serves as a moving reminder of the delicate balance that we must preserve for the planet’s future,” Ashwani Khurana, Founder & CEO of Karma Lakelands, tells India & You.

Beyond merely being a work of art, Below 2° serves as a sobering reminder of how fragile our world is. This globe was hand-painted by the students of Scottish High International School located in Gurugram, the generation that will inherit the planet, using 1,000 recycled golf balls from Karma Lakelands.

“We helped in painting the golf balls used in the art installation and it was fun as well as a learning experience. This installation brings awareness among people that as soon as the wax used to make the installation starts to melt, we understand that the Earth is deteriorating,” says Tia Varmani, a student of Scottish High International School, who participated in creation of the artwork.

In order to represent the planet’s vulnerability as temperatures rise, the globe uses a special wax blend that melts at 53°C, serving as a metaphor for the consequences of surpassing critical climate thresholds. The installation changes as the heat increases, offering a spooky depiction of the state of the global climate.

“It took us six months to make this art installation. Apart from recycled golf balls we used a blend of natural waxes like soya wax, rice wax and wheat wax, ply wood, stainless steel and sunmica. Our aim was to not promote sustainability but to create awareness and introduce clarity among the people about their responsibilities towards the environment,” says Ranison.

“In a way that is beyond words, Below 2° communicates the urgency of taking climate action. The message is impossible to ignore because of this collaboration, which combines artistic expression with scientific insights,” says Diki Bhutia, Director – Environmental Sustainability, Karma Lakelands.

Ranison also tells India and You that the second half of the installation is a little dark in colour to represent that how biodiversity loss and habitat loss will be seen right in the next coming two decades and they have also added critically endangered or extinct species such as Siberian Crane, African Forest Elephant and Hawksbill Turtle, along with the extinct Bramble Cay Melomys- the first subspecies to go extinct due to climate change, from the list of IUCN Red List,  serving as a visual representation of the species most at risk due to climate change.

“The art installation is showing a complete time zone that shows the time, how this will melt. It portrays a warning as well and creates an awareness that we need to save the earth and we need to plant more trees to make it better,” says Shubhangi, a freelance Graphic Designer and is associated with the project.

Through projects like Below 2°, there is hope for fostering awareness and motivating future generations to safeguard our planet’s fragile ecosystems before it is too late.