They are increasingly sounding the alarm on global warming, through new works and collaborations with scientists

Helen Stoilas

Alexis Rockman’s Pioneers (2017) Courtesy of the Artist and Sperone Westwater, New York/Chicago Cultural Center.

A sense of urgency is at the heart of a number of climate change-themed exhibitions and projects in the US and Canada. Mel Chin, Douglas Coupland and Edward Burtynsky are among the many artists behind current and forthcoming works that look at environmental issues, and the pictures they paint of the future are stark. “We are fucked,” says Alexis Rockman, whose Great Lakes Cycle series of paintings is now touring the US. “You can’t even imagine what is headed our way in terms of fresh water.”

SeaWalls art in Cairns Australia

Rockman, who has been creating ecologically minded work since the 1990s, often using materials such as soil and plants from the landscapes he depicts, says…