Art to Warm By

Among the more anticipated works of climate-change reading is the forthcoming novel by Ian McEwan -- although, as McEwan has said, the book is less "about" climate change than about human nature, in particular, the "rackety, quarrelsome, competitive, greedy, ambitious, politicking" climate scientist who is the novel's protagonist. McEwan was inspired in part by an Arctic expedition he took in 2005 sponsored by the British organization Cape Farewell (capefarewell.com), which seeks "to instigate a cultural response to climate change" by bringing together scientists and artists, including the playwright Suzan Lori-Parks, the conceptual artist Sophie Calle, and the performance artist Laurie Anderson. An exhibition that includes some Cape Farewell artists, "Earth: Art of a Changing World," will open in December at the Royal Academy of Arts in London.