Accessibility & Sustainability: World Environment Day

Today is World Environment Day, a time to reflect on our relationship with the Earth and the impact of our choices.

We often hear: “Just recycle", but nearly 80% of single-use plastics aren’t recyclable due to design choices, mixed materials, and inadequate recycling infrastructure.

Recycling helps, but it’s not the full solution. We need better design, better systems, and a collective shift in how and what we consume.

Have you heard of eco-ableism?

Eco-ableism refers to environmental actions that inadvertently exclude or disadvantage disabled individuals. Many sustainable practices require physical and mental labor, which can be challenging for individuals with disabilities.

While gardens, composting, and recycling are often seen as ideal solutions, they also require time, energy, mobility, and resources not available to everyone. Some days, for many, just hydrating or getting out of bed is the win.

Sustainability shouldn’t be measured by how much individuals can push themselves to perform; the responsibility should be held by the industries and systems that create the problem in the first place.

If more manufacturers took responsibility by using biodegradable materials, reducing excess packaging, and designing with the planet in mind, the burden wouldn’t fall so heavily on people with different needs, bodies, lifestyles, and capacities.

What do Accessibility and Sustainability have to do with ART?

Art is often framed as a luxury, something we experience in galleries, museums, and events that not everyone can attend. Even creating art can be a luxury.

Having the time, resources, and energy it takes to engage in creative practice isn’t always accessible to those living in poverty, navigating chronic illness, or managing disabilities.

For many, just getting through the day takes everything. The idea of buying supplies, finding a workspace, or carving out uninterrupted time to create can feel out of reach.

However, Art is a language of healing, protest, culture, and connection, and when access is limited by: cost, mobility, chronic illness, geography, or gatekeeping, entire voices and perspectives are left out.

Art is a tool for healing, for processing emotion, for building identity, for imagining something better. That’s why accessibility in art matters so deeply. Not just physical access, but emotional, financial, and systemic access. Who gets to create? Who gets to share? Who gets to be seen?

Accessibility in art means more than ramps and captions, it means creating spaces (virtual and physical) where people of all abilities, identities, and circumstances can participate, be represented, and feel welcome, without exhausting themselves to get in the door.

Sustainability in art means thinking beyond materials. It’s about reimagining how we share, showcase, and celebrate creativity in ways that don’t rely on mass production, wasteful shipping, or harmful environmental practices.

When we prioritize accessibility and sustainability in how we share and support art, we open the door for more people to participate, not just as consumers of creativity, but as creators with something to say.

Virtual galleries, shared resources, and low-impact practices make it possible to enjoy and create art in harmony with the planet. Art can be a bridge, not a barrier. That’s why we’re committed to doing things differently, in ways that honor the planet and the people we share it with.

We are trying to do our part for sustainability AND accessibility, by embracing virtual art exhibitions. This choice reduces plastic use and shipping waste, and it promotes accessibility with global consideration.

Accessibility is a big reason we chose to go virtual and test the experience with an Earth Day Art Exhibition. Many in our community live with chronic illnesses, disabilities, or mental health challenges that make attending in-person art events difficult, if not impossible. Getting to a gallery doesn't have to be the barrier to experiencing art, creativity, and community.

Our Earth Day Virtual Art Exhibition means no plastic packaging, no printed materials, no shipping waste, just meaningful, accessible art experienced from wherever you are.

Going virtual, for us as art lovers, nature lovers, and community builders, is both sustainable and accessible. We deeply appreciate the advancements that help us as humans, and as a society, choose both.

We invite you to have a deeper conversation and reflect on this topic with us.

What are some ways that you have noticed obstacles in maintaining sustainable practices while having physical limitations, or mental health challenges?

How has your access to creative or artistic spaces been shaped by your environment, income, or health?

In what ways has art helped you navigate or express your experience with access, disability, or burnout?

Have you ever felt excluded by environmental or artistic spaces? What would have helped?

What does an accessible and sustainable art space look and feel like to you?

We look forward to learning more about your lived experiences with sustainability, accessibility, and creativity.

Explore the Earth Day Art Exhibition through June 30th!

Click the photo to see the virtual gallery.

Submit Your Work for Our Wild World Art Exhibition

Click the photo for details and submission form.

Thank you for giving your time today, for reading, participating, and connecting with us. It truly means a lot.

If you have feedback, questions, want to collaborate, or if you are simply seeking community, please reach out to us at:

connect@confluencecommunity.org