In the 1930s electricity from Australian made wind turbines was powering lights, playing radios and charging batteries in outback towns and on remote properties. Solar power was generating hot water. ‘Green oil’ or ‘fresh fuel’ was developed in 1942 from the Earth’s premier oxygenator—algae. As a supplement to local wind, solar and battery power, ‘fresh fuel’ could be produced and distributed in decentralised and resilient systems designed to meet community needs. Did we ever need fossil fuels?

Algae grows incredibly quickly and flourishes in a range of highly efficient, closed loop systems which require minimal water and no fertilisers or pesticides. In addition to energy, its biomass produces nourishing food supplements, soil biochar, therapeutic treatments and medicines, polymers for ‘bioplastics’, innovative textiles and more…all the while oxygenating and purifying the local atmosphere and repairing degraded ecosystems. Just imagine if all of these regenerative solutions were produced as part of the remediation of 80,000 inactive toxic mine sites around Australia? What if all this was community-led through democratically organised cooperatives? How much legacy carbon could be removed from the Earth’s atmosphere if this model was adapted for local use all around the world?

This project explores intersecting regenerative innovation and is created in collaboration with scientists and researchers. It’s timed to coincide with Australia’s leading role in COP31, for which Federal Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen is the President of Negotiations until November 2027. You can read our Open Letter to Minister Bowen here. Please follow the action here.

City of Yarra Exhibition – the first presentation of COOL: How We Did It artwork

When: Thursday 29 October 2026 – Sunday 24 January 2027 

Where: Bargoonga Nganjin North Fitzroy Library

Please join us for the official opening Wednesday 11 November, 6-8pm – Day 3 COP31

Participating artists: Daniella Conser, Lichen Kelp, Grace Lipson, Julian Meehan, Bridget Nicholson, Ata Tara and Giselle Wilkinson
Creative Producer: Deborah Hart

COOL: How We Did It Artworks List pdf

COOL: How We Did It Creative Statements pdf 

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Changing Wilds Ensemble Concert featuring the world premiere of Robert McIntyre’s 85 Seconds to Midnight  

When: Tuesday 10 November 2026, 6pm – Day 2 COP31 

Where: Melbourne Recital Centre, please see full concert details here 

Following the concert, please join us for a discussion with Robert McIntyre (composer, lawyer and Wattle Fellow alum), Dr. Brad Jessup (climate lawyer), Tany Brahmanand (Doctor, visual artist and Wattle Fellow alum) and Deborah Hart (CLIMARTE Creative Director and Chair). This project is generously supported by the Robert Salzer Foundation.

Sharon Field’s multi-award wining project The Scrolls 3,000 Days…and counting with The Scrolls Ensemble

When: 12-15 November 2026 – Days 3-6 COP31

Where: The Lyrebird Festival, Megalong Valley, NSW

This creative climate collaboration grew from a CLIMARTE-led participatory workshop with musicians and educators from the Australian National Academy of Music.

In defiance of the current path towards an unliveable world, COOL: How We Did It presents creative blueprints and roadmaps for community-focussed economies powered by 100% clean and regenerative production systems. Inspired by ARENA’s Production of Biofuel from Microalgae project (2009-2013), this project explores how Fresh Fuel* complements community driven solar, wind and battery technologies to secure clean, reliable power that directly responds to local needs; powering things that were challenging to electrify, and providing flexible backup fuels essential for the transition to the Symbiocene.

In drawing down carbon and generating oxygen, by 2035 fast growing, natural alternatives to petroleum-based products grown in globally distributed, locally scaled (in contrast to ‘industrial’) models are also delivering jobs, purpose, and hope for a better future for communities everywhere.

Inspired by the possibility of a transformed future, COOL is grounded in the past and anchored by First Nations’ ‘caring for country’ principles and protocols.

‘Not commercially viable’? In obstructing R&D for regenerative alternatives, this is precisely what the fossil fuel industry said about solar and wind energy as well as batteries. Meanwhile, for some time now independent evidence has been showing that renewables are already significantly cheaper and more efficient in spite of ongoing political and financial obstacles as well as major construction constraints. Consumer International’s June 2025 report shows that 80% of global consumers not only support a transition to renewable energy but are mobilising at scale to realise it. For a historical reflection, please see our What we know and how long we’ve known it resource.

So, what role do artists play in lighting the way towards a regenerative future?

At this development stage, participating artists include Daniella Conser, Lichen Kelp, Grace Lipson, Robert McIntyre, Bridget Nicholson, Maria Simonelli, Ata Tara, Catherine Abigail Ward, Giselle Wilkinson, 198 Studio, participating artists from the Looking for the Wetlands: betwixt & between project including Kate Gorringe-Smith, Jo Lane, Nancy Lang, Melissa Murphy-Vella, Gomathi Suresh and Emma X Zhang, The Scrolls Ensemble featuring musicians Ronan Apcar, Sola Hughes, and Maria Zhdanovich responding to Sharon Field’s ongoing project The Scrolls: 3,000 days…and counting.

After years of dedicated community advocacy, Culture’ (with a capital C) was finally adopted at last year’s COP30 in Brazil, as Objective 19 under Pillar 5 on fostering human and social development, one of the 30 objectives of the Action Agenda. Logically, all of this presents exceptional opportunities for creative, collaborative climate justice action.

We gratefully acknowledge the generosity of leading algae experts Professor Greg Martin and Dr Anna Kaksonen for their guidance, and the City of Yarra for its material support and constant encouragement.

* such as from algae biofuels (in development in 1940s), oleaginous bacteria, hemp, bamboo, yeast, mycelium and fungi.

Second image: Geo Art by Ata Tara, Energy mixity, GIS-based digital maps printed on paper in four layers, combined with a resin coating, 2025.