Apologize to mother nature.

When, in the course of everyday life, one person injures another in minor or major ways, almost always in the form of some sort of violence—emotional or physical, subtle or crude-- an apology, with amends if necessary, is a powerful transaction which can deliver peace of mind and healing for all parties involved.

There is at the present moment in history a great interest in apologies. From high officials or whole governments who are apologizing to people of their own or other countries to everyday, garden variety apologies delivered at home, on the street and at work. Most of these apologies are not taken seriously however since they are rightly perceived as lacking in sincerity, and don’t include reparation. The question becomes: “What constitutes a respectable, effective apology?

Apologies are usually associated with guilt. The word “guilt” can refer to a judgment as in: “The defendant is guilty!” or it can refer to an emotion. As an emotion, guilt has come to be seen as relatively useless in that it does not necessarily lead to any positive results. However, guilt is not the only reason why one would apologize. Regret, an emotion akin to sadness rather than guilt, coupled with a realization that we bear responsibility in another person’s suffering is far more likely to bring the changes in behavior and amends that can generate true forgiveness. Unlike guilt, which causes most people to be defensive and not to want to apologize regret motivates the person in the opposite direction, toward apology and making things right.
— (Quoted from Claude Steiner, PhD)

We developed an interactive installation just before COP15 started in Copenhagen. The installation enabled the user to interact with nature. It gave each user 30 seconds of free speech to nature. Enabled one to generate true apologize to nature. We are all bad childrens of mother earth, we just need to have the possibility to say 'Sorry'.

The concept was presented at "COP Kreativ" the 26. of september 2009 at The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts - School of Architecture. The concept was awarded 1. place in the category "Realization of environmental challenges through art & culture".

Read more at The Danish Ministry of Culture's website.

With Gertrud Wiik & Emil Frøge

Side note: If you visited the The United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen 2009 you might have noticed a concept very similar exhibited at the Vattenfall pavillion at Rådhuspladsen, Copenhagen. This installation was not produced by the above mentioned people, but simple a blatant rip-off by the swedish Vattenfall Corporation. They approached us after our award ceremony with a wish to exhibit the installation. We did not agree on the timeline and terms, which resulted in Vattenfall just copied the idea.