Don’t need a weatherman (Decarbonize!)
“Don’t need a weatherman (decarbonize)” is a benefit art exhibition for Habitat for Humanity Cape Cod scheduled to open at the Cultural Center of Cape Cod in South Yarmouth, Massachusetts on May 27, 2025. The exhibit will present one Cape Cod artist’s response to the growing threat of weather disasters caused by carbon pollution from the burning of fossil fuels. Net proceeds from the show will be donated to Habitat for Humanity Cape Cod. The artist, Barry Margolin, explains:
“Habitat on Cape Cod has long been known for directly partnering with families in need of an affordable home to build one of their own, fostering stability, self-reliance and a strong sense of community. It may be less well known that Habitat on Cape Cod has been a breakout leader in figuring out how to build these homes to be carbon-free. They build them to be so incredibly energy efficient that a family’s total energy needs for electricity, heating and cooling can be fully supplied by a modest array of solar panels on the roof. This is great news for demonstrating how to solve the climate crisis, and it also makes these homes even more affordable because it mostly eliminates utility bills for the family. While our towns debate whether to raise the minimum standards for energy efficiency in new buildings, Habitat is showing that it is feasible and economical to get there even faster.”
Margolin describes his paintings as “narrative abstraction”, using an abstract style to create visual metaphors for the challenges we face from a changing climate. A climate activist as well as a climate painter, Margolin is the founder of Cape Cod Climate Action Network and led the launch in 2023 of Decarbonize Cape Cod, a campaign to help Cape residents cut their own carbon impacts through energy efficiency and clean energy choices. “Don’t need a weatherman”, quoting Bob Dylan’s 1965 lyric, nods to our current reality – we all see the cascading weather disasters of floods, droughts, heat waves and freak storms that result from the heating planet, and we don’t need experts to tell us something horrific is happening. Margolin explains that “decarbonize” – ending the burning of oil, gas and coal – is the realistic solution, and Habitat Cape Cod is helping demonstrate that it is affordable and smart to end the burning of fossil fuels as the common way to heat our homes.