This learning journey was co-designed by young adults for young adults so as to transform the way we tackle the climate crisis. Our goal was to inspire and empower you to mobilize the arts, creativity and our community, so that we can deal with this global emergency effectively and with joy, through activism and climate change work. The learning journey finished in April 2024, but you can join our ‘Becoming Climate Artivists’ learning community.
We are living in the midst of a climate crisis. Devastating droughts, floods and fires are raging in Europe and around the world. The urgency of the crisis, combined with lack of political action, can easily lead to despair, powerlessness and apathy. That is why alternative narratives are so important. What if urgency means that there is only time for what matters most? Now, more than ever, we need young people to take a leap, be creative and dare to do things differently.
With the support from the Erasmus+ program, One Resilient Earth and Climate Creativity offered a free online Learning Journey targeting Europe-based youth, while being open to participation of youth from around the globe.
What was the purpose of the learning journey?
The purpose of the learning journey was to create a safe space where young people can explore ways to cultivate awareness and social change through art and storytelling, also known as artivism. As young people are entering organizations and workplaces, they often find themselves trapped in limiting mindsets, systems and structures. This learning journey provided students and young professionals with the knowledge, skills and tools they need to co-create initiatives transforming universities, workplaces and communities. The journey was undertaken as a community to nurture resilience, creativity and wellbeing.
Who was the Learning journey for?
The Learning Journey was open to all young people of 18-30 years of age, who are curious about climate change. We welcomed (aspiring) artists, creatives, climate activitists, young sustainability professionals, … as well as youth who have not been involved in climate action in the past.
This Learning Journey was particularly targeting those who:
- Wish to work with the arts as a channel for transformation, and are willing to explore your own creativity through various artistic expressions
- Wish to address the root causes of the deeper ecological crisis we are entangled in
- Feel the need to address climate injustice, environmental racism, colonial continuities, and flawed developmental paradigms
- Understand that self-care is community care, and vice versa, and value all living beings or ‘the more-than-human world’
- Need community, either locally or transnationally, and are wiling to engage with respect for all, and humility
- Are ready to play, be vulnerable, un-learn, re-learn, share, and support others to grow
What did we learn together?
The Learning Journey featured a variety of practitioners, scientists, artists, and storytellers, who shared their lived experience as well as a simple methods and tools to mobilize the arts and creativity to rethink activism and/or engage in transformative work in the sustainability sector. Those wonderful humans included: Tori Tsui (Author, Climate Justice & (Environ)mental Health), Joshua Konkankoh (Indigenous Elder and Permaculture Practitioner), Sarah Queblatin (Designer for Resilience and Regeneration), Meera Dasgupta (Poet and Eco-Activist), Iselin Shumba (Actress and Climate Activist), Amy Franceschini (Artist, Designer and Founder of Futurefarmers) and Liv Torc and Chris Redmond ( Poets at Hot Poets) .
Through eight online workshops participants got to learn about the impact of different art forms in fostering effective climate action, and will have an opportunity to practice with theatre, dance, music, drawing and storytelling. Becoming a Climate Artivist is a personal and collective journey where we explored:
- what can be the role of arts in climate activism and climate change work
- how telling better stories about global heating can change everything, and what you need to know to become a compelling storyteller;
- why engaging with our emotions associated with the climate emergency is key to climate resilience, transformation and regeneration;
- how the arts can help us face the root causes of climate change, as well as cope with, prepare for and prevent some of the unavoidable impacts of climate change;
- what people will tell you to dismiss the arts and creativity and how to counter it;
- how the arts can shift perspectives to achieve political objectives when everything else failed;
- how to unleash empathy, imagination and creativity to facilitate transformation at work when everything seems blocked.
Throughout the learning journey, we gathered at ‘We Are One Resilient Earth’, a dedicated online community platform to facilitate exchanges, foster collaborations and reflection. Stories and insights from the learning journey were also shared with a global audience through conferences and via social media.
How can you access the learning material and community of the learning journey?
Even if you could not join us online during the learning journey, we are happy to give you access to the learning material we gathered for participants, including recordings of the workshops. Feel free to dive deeper join our learning community here.
If you would like to join some future learning journeys we organize, please subscribe to our newsletter to stay in the loop.
How was the learning journey designed?
The learning journey was co-designed by Climate Creativity and One Resilient Earth, in close collaboration with youth co-designers from Europe and other parts of the world. Co-designers had a say in the choice of speakers, formats and directions of the different workshops.
How was the learning journey supported?
The Learning Journey was offered for free thanks to the generous support of European Commission through the Erasmus+ programme.
If you have questions, please reach out: [email protected]
