exploring contemporary regenerative culture

My name is Sam Bower (he/him). I’m a husband/father, artist, activist, creative consultant, and former director of greenmuseum•org, an online museum of environmental art.

This is a collection of writings and ideas about a systems approach to culture.

At its core, is the insight that our contemporary (“Western”, industrial, settler-colonial) idea of “art” is rooted in a culture of separation that makes a more holistic, and resilient way of life more difficult to bring about. Taken to an extreme, this disconnected mindset makes climate catastrophe more likely. If we deeply embrace how interdependent life is and ensure our culture reflects that, it will be easier to step back from the most severe climate disaster scenarios facing us and the Earth. We can do this with some level of joy and beauty or out of fear and desperation. To maintain a paradigm, it helps to surround yourself with constant reminders of what’s important. That’s where art systems and articulture come in.

I’ve gone through phases - thinking I wanted to build a movement, implement proof of concept mini-projects or even write a book about it all. At this point, I’m most eager to learn from others who may already be working on related topics or who may have thoughts on what I’ve written here. Please email me if any of this resonates with your experience.