Amy Brady: The Distance Plan journal is published by the Distance Plan organization, which is a collective of artists, writers, and activists. Can you describe your org's mission and the type of work you create and promote?

Amy & Abby: We founded The Distance Plan in 2011 because we felt that discussion about climate change wasn’t happening in humanities contexts that we knew. While there were people working on the issue in various fields, especially in the sciences, we wanted to bring them together with artists, activists, and writers, and to provide a platform that would present these interdisciplinary conversations to a broader audience. Today a lot of people understand that the response to the climate crisis will require a mobilization in the arts; we need to represent the problems of the past and present and imagine a better future, and telling stories that reflect the diversity of our experience is important in these regards. But back then, knowledge about climate change was relatively siloed within a few academic spheres, and the way this knowledge was communicated to the public involved equally remote images and narratives. All those photographs of polar bears and melting arctic ice!


The Distant Plan journal, issue #5: "Charismatic Facts"

Amy Brady: The journal contains gorgeous poetry and prose about climate change. What do you hope readers take away from each issue?

Amy & Abby: Our most recent issue, “Charismatic Facts: Climate Change, Poetry and Prose,” focuses on the ways language can be used to circulate powerful pieces of information about the climate crisis (one example, borrowed from David Wallace-Wells, is the fact that humans have emitted more carbon in the last thirty years—since the premier of Seinfeld—than in all prior history). For other issues, we’ve invited artists and scientists to produce images of local climate impacts: things happening within their various communities. The idea is that this may inspire others to attend to the more immediate effects of climate change while also acknowledging the global scale of the problem. The hope is that readers will take away an anecdote, image, or feeling—something that relates to their own sphere of life and work and enables them to imagine possibilities for climate action within their own practices and political endeavors. We want people to get involved. 

Amy Brady: The "Lexicon" is a project you are exploring both in print and in your exhibitions. What is the "Lexicon" and how did it come about?

Amy & Abby: The Distance Plan “Lexicon” is a collaborative glossary of terms (each accompanied by an image) that describe aspects of the climate crisis, providing language through which we can address problems or giving names to under-represented categories of experience. One example is “Gendered Climate Impacts,” a Lexicon term that refers to the way global warming affects women and non-binary folk differently from others, often with disproportionately negative outcomes. Another term is “Real-Time Attribution,” which is a relatively recent phenomenon within climate science wherein extreme weather events are now being linked to anthropogenic warming, even as they are happening.    


The "Lexicon" on view at an art festival on Governor's Island.

Amy Brady: Why are narrative and artistic responses to climate change important?

Amy & Abby: Climate change is a cultural problem as much as it is an economic, scientific, and political one. We need to radically transform our societies and social ideals (at least our contemporary capitalist ones) in order to meet this challenge. Historically, art--and especially storytelling--has played an important role in mobilizing social movements, critiquing wrongdoing, and envisioning positive change. But because the climate crisis is transcultural, the visual arts and other non-verbal forms are increasingly valuable as we seek to activate a global response. It’s wonderful to see Extinction Rebellion using creative modes of performance and a strong graphic-design identity to speak to people around the world.  

Amy Brady: Large presses have given us several novels and poetry collections about climate change in the last couple of years. But what kind of freedoms does an independent zine allow you? Do you feel that there are ways in which you can discuss climate change in the journal that you may not be able to elsewhere?

Amy & Abby: Well, to begin with, we’re not subject to the constraints of a for-profit publishing model. But our independence also means that we can be more nimble and mobile when it comes to what we do and the audiences we engage. The Distance Plan is run between Aotearoa New Zealand (where Abby Cunnane is based) and New York City (where Amy Howden-Chapman now lives). The project has represented the work of contributors from all over the world and we value the ability to turn our attention in each issue to different places and concerns. 

Amy Brady: What's next for you both?

Amy & Abby: We just participated in the Our Futures Festival, which was associated with the UN’s Climate Week, and also hosted a discussion with Janine Randerson, a climate artist and writer, and Albert Refiti, an architect and researcher who studies Pacific spatial and architectural environment. Stay tuned for updates about more Distance Plan events in New York. And we’re working on the next print issue. Sign up for our newsletter to stay informed about everything and to receive our next call for submissions. 

Amy Brady: How can my readers get copies of the journal?

Within the US and Europe the journal is available for purchase directly through our website. If you’re in New York City, you can find the latest issue at Printed Matter. There are a number of bookstores in New Zealand that stock our issue and they are listed at TheDistancePlan.org.

Amy Howden-Chapman is an artist, writer and co-founder of The Distance Plan.org. Howden-Chapman was the 2016 DAAD fellow at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, Germany, and she currently teaches at the Harry Van Arsdale Jr. Center for Labor Studies, SUNY, Empire State, New York City. See amyhowdenchapman.com

Abby Cunnane is a curator and writer based in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland, New Zealand. She is co-founder of The Distance Plan. Other recent texts include 'A voice suggests (expects, demands) a body', Can Tame Anything (Wellington: The Dowse Art Museum, 2019), and 'The finest powder in the largest quantities', Superstimulus, Auckland, 2019.

The Burning Worlds newsletter interviews are syndicated monthly on Artists & Climate Change.