The Ephemeral Marvels Perfume Store on One Earth

The Ephemeral Marvels Perfume Store (2014) is featured on One Earth, Cell Press’ flagship sustainability journal. 

Rising temperatures, sea level rise, superstorms, biodiversity loss, and many other climate impacts endanger the wellbeing of the Earth, which will result in unprecedented damages and losses including many scents and the memories we have of them—the smells of oceans, forests, food, just to name a few. The Ephemeral Marvels Perfume Store (T.E.M.P.S., or “time” in French) is an artist-created perfume line of scents that are threatened due to the climate crisis. These perfumes are created by the artist, Catherine Sarah Young, using chemical distillation and standard perfumery techniques. During exhibitions, visitors are allowed to smell the perfumes. As smell and memory are closely related, viewers are invited to reflect on how potentially losing these scents could affect their lives and hopefully be inspired to preserve them and take action on the climate crisis.

One Earth provides a home for high-quality research and perspectives that significantly advance our ability to better understand and address today’s sustainability challenges. 

Hurray for artwork having a DOI. Cite away: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.oneear.2023.03.009

Download the pdf here.