Across the US, sustainably

Most people can identify the obvious areas when it comes to making moving around more environmentally friendly. Reducing emissions down to zero. Minimising the use of non-renewable and unclean fuels. Finding new ways to commute, to get around, that don’t unnecessarily burden the one planet we call home.

Daily driving, however, is only one aspect. Mobility is a many-sided die. Last-mile deliveries, intercontinental air travel, personal watercraft, and travel for the thrill of exploration (for the fun of it, in other words) are all areas that need solutions if the climate crisis is to be mitigated. And making people more aware of the complexities of mobility, and the possibilities afforded by cleaner travel, is the first step towards true change.

Enter Florence Montmare.

Vienna born, Sweden raised, and Manhattan based, Montmare is an artist and photographer whose work has often explored the themes of context, subject, and identity. She set out to redefine what it means to travel sustainably, emphasising the need to “recharge and restore”, reconnecting to both nature and ourselves in order to “drive change from a place of authentic truth and power” (we’re paraphrasing slightly). So, she took a road trip, driving from Los Angeles to New York via Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, the Carolinas, Virginia, Maryland, and New Jersey, in both Polestar 2 and Polestar 1, taking pictures along the way.

Titled “Going Home”, the transcontinental photographic survey explores both the drive to explore and the need to return home, both physically and spiritually. “I tell stories from my personal domain that are specific, yet universal,” she explains. “I explore the subjects of home, identity, and transience in different ways, which I hope will function as a catalyst for the viewer’s personal fantasies.”

The fantasies, in this case, being those of the jump-behind-the-wheel-and-chase-the-horizon variety. And doing so without damaging the very thing you’re setting out to explore. Montmare’s undertaking shows that this is more than possible. It’s the future. And if it isn’t, then there won’t be anything left to explore.

Sustainable mobility is complicated. But with people like Florence Montmare showing what’s possible in the world of electric vehicles, it can begin to be less so.