Aviva Community Fund has provided £1,829 of match funding
The Mossy Carpet Grand Finale
Plymouth, England, United Kingdom
Aim: Celebrate climate action! 72,000 people helped to grow The Mossy Carpet. Join the unique finale as COP30 begins. Be part of the story!
Over 72,000 people across the South-West region and further afield have joined in to make this massive mossy artwork. The carpet is now more than 75 metres long, full of mossy tufts and pompoms, and still growing.
During this final stage of the project we're inviting communities to come along to a special event in Plymouth to roll out the full artwork and come together in celebration.
If we raise enough money then we'll spread further to include events in Dartmoor, Exeter, Cornwall and Bristol!
Scroll to the very bottom of this page to see photos of some of the rewards!
In November 2025, the world will come together for COP30 in Brazil. Here in the UK, we're noticing the effects of the climate and ecological crises and seeking ways to respond. The Mossy Carpet shows there’s still hope! We look to moss for inspiration as a carbon-sequestering super-hero, a symbol of action, and the possibility of a positive future for our world.
In 2021 Art and Energy took our award-winning project Moths to a Flame to Glasgow for the UN climate conference, COP26. We spent 3 amazing weeks in the beautiful Glasgow Botanic Gardens chatting to people about moths, energy, and environmental concerns. Whilst there we began to develop our next project - amongst all the amazing plants in the botanic gardens, we found ourselves fascinated by the tiniest, most ancient and easily overlooked plants - moss!
Throughout the project, we have been supported by scientists, bryologists, farmers and landscape restoration experts, sharing knowledge and ideas from far and wide. We have learnt so much together!
People of all ages and backgrounds have joined in, bringing existing communities together and starting new conversations.
The resulting artwork carries a message of resilience and creativity, showing that by working and learning together we can encourage a deeper understanding of the ecology of moss and how we can make small changes in our own lives which together make a giant difference.
Why mosses?
At the dawn of time, moss was the first plant to venture out of the sea and onto the barren land.
Over millions of years, mosses trapped energy and buried carbon deep beneath the surface, transforming our planet into a place where life could thrive.
Moss grows in the cracks, at the edges and in the shadows. Look closely and you will discover a truly wild place on your doorstep.
Each tiny moss reveals skills for successful living. Persistence, resilience, simplicity, adaptability. From moss, we gain hope as they return carbon to the earth.
There is so much to learn from nature. Though small, moss tells us that tiny actions can make a big difference. When we work together, we can bring abundance back to abandoned places.
Mosses are amazing and often un-noticed, yet they:
- Sequester carbon (worldwide, peatlands store 2x carbon of forests).
- Slow the flow, reducing flooding.
- Create biodiverse environments for all of life to thrive.
So what are we asking?
£11,000 would bring the artwork to life and set up a powerful energetic event to increase climate literacy and create nature-connected climate action.
We need your help to:
- Set up and run the celebration event in Plymouth in autumn 2025, including two interactive solar-powered artworks that celebrate the sustainable future we’re working towards.
- Include a moss ecology table from which people learn the role of nature
- Provide rewards to our backers, including exclusive art experiences, limited-edition prints, and recognition for supporting this inspiring project. (Scroll to the bottom of the page for photos!)
You are all invited to this celebratory event.... Walk through the Tardigrade Portal solar archway and along the Mossy Carpet, feel the mossy pompoms, hear different voices telling of the small things that we are all doing to make the world better.
How does this project help the environment
You may think ‘but it’s just Art, that can’t really help our planet’...
Seeing and valuing mosses, touching, really taking notice of them opens up new ways and ideas to do more for nature and the eco-systems that we are all part of. It encourages actions. The Mossy Carpet will be celebrating existing climate action and encourage new.
The Mossy Carpet is an epic mass-participation moss inspired artwork which supports and celebrates small steps towards a brighter greener future. Mossy Carpet participants have said that they enjoyed coming together as families, communities, and even with people they'd never met.
We have enjoyed getting creative, learning about the amazing role that moss plays in ecosystems, creating carbon-rich soil, slowing the flow of water and reducing flooding, purifying the air, nurturing other forms of life. Thousands of people have been feeling inspired to share the small actions, now it is time to experience the whole carpet and enjoy the energy that has come together to make it.
“The project made me feel less lonely, as it showed how many other people also cared…It enabled a conversation with my 9yr old son that I wouldn't otherwise have had. Whilst we were making pompoms, we just sat down and chatted in a way that felt more relaxed, and so we could share our feelings more openly".
"Art and Energy's activity and convivial conversation create a really welcoming, safe little port of call for those of us that are a little shy. I enjoyed meeting other residents and chatting at The Mossy Carpet and will be bringing my family and a few friends back *especially* to meet Jenny and talk on the tardigrade telephone and about all things nature, craft and community."
Peat-Fest South-West
We have been very fortunate to gain funding from The National Lottery Heritage Fund to run a region-wide peatland festival encouraging people (particularly young people) to love peat, feel it's power and experience it's heritage. This series of events will take place alongside a variety of peatlands from in Dorset, Somerset, Devon and Cornwall. Festival participants will all be invited to add to the Mossy Carpet artwork, but the focus will be the peatlands.
This Mossy Carpet Finale is a little different, focusing on the creativity and mass participation artwork.
More about The Mossy Carpet!
The Mossy Carpet is an artwork inspired by moss and made by many people! All the yarn used has been donated and created into thousands of individually made pom-poms and textile tufts adorn fleecy felt from Dartmoor, creating a beautiful mossy carpet. Inspired by moss, each pompom represents someone’s small attempt to make the world better for all of life.
On the carpet artwork are handcrafted textile tardigrades with integrated sensors and speakers - as you stroke The Mossy Carpet, you hear about the things that other people are doing. We hope this artwork will be inspiring, comforting, hopeful, fabulous and friendly, showing that together, we can make something magnificent.
A wide range of organisations have helped support The Mossy Carpet so far - including rural and city schools, care home residents, youth groups, community cafes, visitors at National Trust properties....too many to mention individually here!
Solar Artworks
Art and Energy are a pioneering collective of artists, designing and creating artworks that speak to the energy challenge. Our interactive solar artworks are powered by the sun, drawing attention and starting conversations around innovation in energy generation. When people interact with the artwork they trigger celebratory illumination and other effects. These are joyous experiences that bring people together.
Who are Art and Energy?
The Art and Energy Collective is an award-winning group of artists who use our skills to respond to the climate emergency. Founded in 2018, we are experts in designing enjoyable participatory artworks and solar energy art that help people connect with our energy systems, nature, inspiring them to take small creative steps to a better world.
Our collective is knowledgeable and passionate about nature, our energy systems, materials, communities and their wellbeing. We have designed a unique approach to supporting people to make changes for a better world and have made artworks that explore renewable energy, eco-anxiety, utopia, bio-diversity, green travel and what home means.
Rewards
We have lots of lovely Mossy Carpet themed rewards available, your pledge for a reward also supports our work - thank you.
- Hand lens with decorated ribbon (£12)
- Denim Apron (£50)
- Denim Tote Bag (£25)
- Mossy Carpet print Tote Bag
- Mossy Carpet tea towel (£18)
- Handmade Textile Tardigrade (£60)
- Moths to a Flame book (£30)
- Be More Moss: A Mossellany of Questions for Life (£15)
- Maidens Plums (£6)
- Solar House craft kit (£25)
- The Mossy Story book (£12)
Rewards:
Rewards will be sent out if we are successful and once the Crowdfunder closes (we don't receive your personal details until this point).
Rewards will be sent via Royal Mail 2nd Class post in the week of 4th August, some rewards may need to be ordered from our suppliers and may take longer to arrive.
Contact us to discuss any of our rewards, if you'd like a bundle of various rewards mix and match then we can do this for you - get in touch to discuss [email protected]
Funding method
All or nothing – this project will only receive pledges if it reaches its target of £11,000 by 1st August 2025 at 4:49pm