Background  Seeing frightened and angry children calling upon adults to respect the real peer reviewed science of the IPCC, during the  extraordinary Extinction Rebellion experience of  2019 was a wake-up call for Paul Miskin . `Climate change` and climate change ignorance became a felt threat to his children, grandchildren, and friends.  Exploring how best to be useful he discovered `pollinator cities` and urban insect nurture projects and realized that his world -touring street theatre of appreciation of nature and insects could play a useful role in promoting the city as a refuge for depleted insect populations. The lack of road kill on the windscreen while European touring brought the insect loss problem into sadly sharp focus. He pitched the idea at an Arts Council conference in Coventry

 

The birth of an idea He began attending eco  conferences, and studying. In  Lucy Wood`s seminal article in the Guardian fri 28th Oct 2016  she identifies art as a tool against eco science denial. This helped focus the idea for PASA  which is predicated on a special synergy in open air art /science fusion for presenting environmental issues. The idea is that supporting open air art /science fusion will benefit us all by accelerating the slowly growing profile of the eco issue in media and public discourse, and help position the most serious problem of our age in a place  proportionate to its level of threat.   

In 2020  Paul proposed a charity to focus energy and resources and recruited a talented and well connected  board and advisors The idea of a specific street art charity for the environment is new. Defined by being under the sky and in the environment, with its historic roots in agit-prop, and its maximum accessibility and ability to reach new audiences, polygeneric street arts (including everything from fine art, sculpture, theatre, music, dance, circus or carnival etc)  fit perfectly with the promotion of eco solutions to everyday people in city streets squares and parks.

 

Street art of the environment. There have been many fine examples of environmental street art.   As the World Tipped by Wired Aerial Theatre . had the important aim to shock us out of complacency. There has been developing a growing need for positive approaches as well as the horror bulletin,   `It is easy to catastrophise climate change: faced with the sheer enormity of the climate challenge, people can tend towards despair and nihilism'  says  Lucy Wood. In the Guardian .We believe that our supported arts should suggest  paths to actions and better feelings for the individual: and do's rather than don'ts, choice rather than restriction of choice, action rather than sufferance, nature enjoyment rather than guilt and penance, joining  a 'cool' community rather than becoming a pariah in a social wilderness. In short to replace lonely eco worriers with a community of eco warriors. After several meetings and different titles Planet Action Street Arts PASA was conceptualized to reflect this approach.

​