Hope, wonder, satisfaction, amazement, reverie. These are just a few words people shared upon seeing the completed Climate Justice Mural on Olympic Way.

The word that comes to mind for me is bold. While the Chrysalis Project: Transforming Together felt like a very personal project, focused on our own individual transformations and putting pressure on elected officials to take strong climate Action, the Climate Justice Mural Project is incredibly visible, and it is not shy about stating its intent.

Twenty-six thousand cars drive by the new mural every day, plus transit, pedestrians and bikers. Every day they read the 35-foot long statement: Climate Justice. It is surrounded by beautiful and symbolic images, prayers, and poems telling a visual story of how we can create a future where Climate Justice is not some vague hope, but a reality.

“It is an inspiration. I was on my way and committed, but this keeps me moving toward encouraging leaders to do more as well as do what I can in my life to make my carbon footprint smaller.”

Community member and participant in the Climate Justice Mural Project

A Bold Statement for Climate Justice in Olympia, Washington

The visual story of the mural begins on the left-hand side with a strong brown fist, fashioned after the fist of Design Team Member Imani Mabwa-Childress and illustrating the importance of black and brown leaders in the climate justice movement. The fist is holding a braid of ribbons representing the trans flag, the gay pride flag, and racial diversity. They weave together becoming roads that feature alternative building, energy, and transportation options. The roads transition into images of tree roots. Within the roots of the tree you’ll find canoes representing indigineous people’s connection to the water throughout the world. A Lushootseed Prayer, shared by Candice Penn, Climate Ecologist and member of the Squaxin Island Tribe is painted in both Lushootseed, the language of the Squaxin Island Tribe, and English. Penn and Jeremiah George, also of the Squaxin Island Tribe, consulted on the script. Painting these tribal images and gifts in the roots of the tree shows how Climate Justice work needs to be rooted in Indigenous knowledge and leadership.

The roots travel around a slight bend in the wall, becoming the word Climate, then transition to water for the word Justice. Salmon are hidden withing the watery letters and a killer whale tail makes the T. To the right the braid continues as vines featuring the flowers of medicinal and edible plants, then a kalaidascope of butterflies representing transformation and hope for the future. One butterfly lands on a child’s outstretched finger, symbolizing the gift of a future which we are creating for all future generations through our actions today, a future where we not only survive, but thrive.

Beneath the butterflies we penned a land acknowledgement, written by Jennifer Johnson: “Our future's children deserve hope transformed into action. May our ancestors witness our ability to create change, rippling forward and reaching back. We are the center. The now. The change. We acknowledge our responsibility to this land of the Coast Salish People. We stand in solidarity with all tribes, without whom there is nothing.”

Climate Justice in Action

The mural itself is stunning, but for me, the story of its creation is equally important. The mural came to be due to a city of Olympia grant, Grants to Arts and Culture Organizations. When writing the grant with the Thurston Climate Action Team (TCAT), it felt essential that we put Cimate Jutice into practice throughout the project. To this end, we included stipends to hire other artists to be part of the Mural Design Team. As a white, cis-gendered, heterosexual woman, I couldn’t lead a Climate Justice Mural on my own and be in my full integrety. I knew that a diverse group of artists co-leading the project, and creating a community process, would bring in a myriad of perspectives. It would make the project much richer, more inclusive, and ultimately, more impactful.

The artists selected to be part of the Design Team definitely did not dissapoint. In a project filled with amazing moments, collaborating with the Design Team and growing relationships with them was the highlight. The six-artist design team made up of artists from around Thurston County included Darshima Alphonse, George Galvez, Karina Greenlee, Imani Mabwa-Childress, Ahna Rader, and myself.

The overarching goal of the design was to be solution oriented. We wanted a design that would draw people in, that would ask the hard questions, and leave people wanting more, wanting to be part of this movement.

We brought this goal forward during our public Mural Design Workshop. For this workshop, we invited our communities to join us in exploring Climate Justice and coming up with ideas and images for the mural. The design workshop was TCAT’s first in-person event since the pandemic, and was held outdoors at Priest Point Park for that reason.

Working towards Climate Justice while experiencing Climate Change

The day of the workshop landed on the hottest weekend on record for our area. Exploring Climate Justice while experiencing record, life threatening, heat brought front and center the importance of the conversations we were having.

Climate Justice acknowledges that some populations will be, and are already, disproportionately impacted by climate change. This proved true during the workshop. Several elders who had planned to attend the workshop, instead stayed home in order to be safe from the heat. While I did reach out to them later, their voices, perspectives, and wisdom were missed at the workshop.

Candace Penn honored us by opening the workshop with a tribal blessing and song, setting a beautiful tone for the day. Each of the artists shared their own perspectives on Climate Justice with the audience of more than 25 people. We had an insightful group conversation and heard the perspectives of many participants.

“The fact that more people, cities, states, countries are not joining this effort is nothing short than alarming. Our earth is screaming. Our original mother is screaming for our help to stop not only the injustices that continue to overwhelm our beautiful earth, but the suffering it is causing for those that have to live and eventually just survive. The work I did with the artists on this team inspire me to continue to pursue climate justice on my own and to spread its importance through word and action, in all my affairs.”

-George Galvez, Design Team Member

Each of the 5 artists facilitated a group that focused on one of TCAT’s action groups: Youth, Trees, Food and Agriculture, Buildings, and Transportation. They explored how equity and justice is or could be incorporated into solutions to the climate crisis. The images and ideas that came out of this workshop were incredibly moving, particularly those shared by our youngest members.

After the community workshop, I met with the Design Team to create the mural design, pulling from the images and ideas that came forth in the public workshop. This was where the real magic began. The 6 of us met outside my home and in two sessions created a design for the mural that everyone absolutely loved. The synchronicity of this process was nothing less than astounding. We are a diverse group of folks, yet we had a common goal and approached it with a Yes, And philosophy. Whenever someone shared an idea, it was immediately met some version of “Yes! I love that! And what if we added this?”

We kicked off mural painting with 2 community painting days, then completed the mural over the following month. The mural is receiving so much positive feedback from the community, the artists involved, and the city.

When asked about the project, Karina Greenlee, one of two design team members from local Thurston County high schools, said, “I think this project is really about hope. We’re coming together to work on this and this is a vision of what we want the future to be. A lot of bravery too. This mural is the culmination of everyone's hope and bravery.”

Let’s continue to put that hope into action, one brave act at a time.

What are you doing to support Climate Justice?