Epson teams up with digital artists to show younger generations’ feelings towards climate change

2023-12-19

Before COP28, Epson started a project under the motto ‘Projecting Voices’ to explore how younger generations feel about with the impact of climate change.

Epson invited the COP generation (those people born since the first COP in 1995) to choose the words that best express their feelings about climate change. The results reveal a paradoxical and surprising mix of fear, hope and anxiety in similar measures.

Epson Global President Yasunori Ogawa explains: “With world leaders meeting at COP28 to determine how to achieve a more sustainable planet, we wanted to focus on the future generation who will be most affected by the decisions we make now. “Our survey revealed a worrying combination of hope, fear and anxiety.”

To bring these voices to life, Epson has teamed up with digital artists such as Katy Wang and Gabriel Greenough to produce a piece of digital art original that aims to project the voices of Gen COP in a visually striking way.

Katy and Gabriel used Epson’s EcoTank inkjet printer for creative testing while inspired by research from the Epson Climate Reality Barometer< a i=2> in order to create a social animation in motion, which deploys a variety of techniques to express humanity’s complex relationship with nature and the environment in the 21st century.

Katy Wang indicates: “The interesting thing about the research that Epson conducted with the COP Generation is that these people are divided almost 50:50 between hope and fear. She made us think about the moments we have experienced over the past few years since the pandemic and, on a personal level, and how we have become more connected to the environment.”

Katy shares how the paradox between the hopeful and pessimistic descriptions of the climate barometer resonated with her creative analysis and how she sought to produce an animation that celebrates the diversity and beauty of the natural world, as well as reflecting some of the inherent tension and power that exists. in it.

“We have focused our animation on the beauty and interconnectedness of the natural world to remind audiences that climate action can arise not only from fear but also from genuine gratitude for nature,” he explains.

“The simple fact of feeling more about your environment and being present with its sounds, colors and changes of seasons prompts us to recognize that nature has everything we need and that it gives us infinitely. Preserving it and taking care of our home has never been more important or urgent. We have really enjoyed developing this concept and feel great excitement at being able to share the animation,” she concludes.

Epson’s “Projecting Voices” project was first devised as part of the company’s ongoing commitment to taking action on climate change, culminating in its Environmental VisionEnvironmental Vision, in which it commits to becoming a company with a negative carbon footprint and eliminating the use of subsoil resources by 2050.

Epson has long aspired to achieve sustainability and enrich communities in many ways, as can be seen in the company’s latest report (Sustainability Report).

“We hope that by projecting the voices of the generation that will play a key role in the transformation towards a better future for our planet, we can help understand how complicated our current feelings are in relation to the climate crisis. Despite the anxiety and fear people feel, the fact that Gen COP remains hopeful is a sign that optimism endures. Our planet is a closed and finite environment, so we must now take all the measures we can to transition to a more sustainable society,” Ogawa concludes.