By Jared Opsal
This past August MCE hosted a traveling art exhibition titled “Americans Who Tell the Truth” in order to promote environmental ideals to a new audience and gain new followers and supporters from the arts community. The exhibition featured 11 portraits of environmental change makers from throughout the U.S. including the unveiling of a new portrait for the series of Debbie Njai, founder of Black People Who Hike and Vice President of MCE. The exhibition was supported in part by The Staenberg Group, Dr. Bryan Meyers, Seed-Sprout-Spoon Catering, and the Regional Arts Commission of St. Louis.
The stories of the change makers featured in the exhibition helped illustrate that there is no need to wait for a superhero to protect people and their environment, environmental advocacy starts with regular people using their voices to demand a change. Anyone can make a difference!
The exhibition garnered just over 300 attendees throughout August, and 70% of them had no previous connection to MCE or other environmental organizations. We are excited to engage these new folks in environmental causes in the months and years to come!
As you enter the holiday season and spend time with friends and family, consider new ways you can garner the support of those who do not consider themselves environmentalists. We need to continue finding new ways to reach new audiences with different messages because the environment does not care what political party you belong to, where you live, or what you look like. We all need clean air, safe water, protected parks and lands, and sustainable food sources! Get them involved by sending them to moenvironment.org.