Category: Climate, Art and Culture

Our work relating to the role humanities, art, and cultural practise play in mitigating and adapting to climate change.

Sustainability Frontiers: Inner Transformation and Imaginaries

This is the fourth in a series of blog posts about the Sustainability Frontiers conference, written by Laila Mendy. The first can be read here, the second post can be read here, and click here for the third.

Diego Galafassi curated the next session and explained how this session appeared to be cross-cutting, noting how the idea of the imagination and imaginaries had been brought up throughout conversations in the conference. Galafassi introduced the topic, shortly explaining that imagination and creativity is a real component and important skill for transformation. He was joined by panellists Myanna Lahsen, Henrik Karlsson and Lara Houston.

Myanna Lahsen began, following the same structure as the earlier sessions, with a five minute intervention into the theme from her own field. She probed the idea of the individual when it comes to inner transformations, suggesting that this is an important component but also a significant hurdle in societal change. As a cultural anthropologist by training, Lahsen explained that looking at who counts and where impact happens in democracies gives an indication that it is the economic elites, business-oriented organisations and interest groups who matter. So when it comes to the idea of inner transformation, scaling that is critical.

What may seem inner and private, she suggested however, is deeply social and political. This is where Sustainability science is struggling to work. There is a tendency to put faith into groups of people and assume that people will mobilise around an issue; scaling happens through the numbers. Social activism is assumed to be progressive, but we know this is not always the case. Little attention has given to how people come to know what they know in the first place. Lahsen argued that the political economy and market place of ideas is neglected in this field.

Lahsen then explained this issue in the context of mass media communications. Cognitive sciences show that repetition is needed to shape people and give them the ability to collectively frame an issue. This, arguably, is not understood as a power agent. Yet much of media is owned by the same groups who legitimise certain political issues through their own agendas. The example of Brasil was given, where the media was not recognised in terms of power. Addressing this gap is critical for social action: social marketing can lead to change, she said, without leaving the movements pushing an issue without support.

Henrik Karlsson followed with a presentation on the diversity in futures in literature and fiction. He started by plotting a matrix with general images of a desired future, prompted by his reaction to a Chinese participant in a Thai workshop who said sustainability is only possible with a strong leader. This table is imitated below:

Replicated from Karlsson’s presentation at Sustainability Frontiers.
The dotted arrow indicates “wishful thinking” from the West on the behalf of China’s future.

The figure above demonstrated how there is an assumption about what other (groups of) people might find desirable when discussing sustainable futures. He had assumed that China would move to the upper right quadrant. This began a search for the different forms of futures and what could be understood as desirable. Was it to maximise happiness? Human utility? Or perhaps it was about minimising suffering.

Asking different groups of environmental philosophers will get you different ideas on what means can be justified for the ends of sustainability futures, he explained. He quoted a Finnish philosopher, Pentti Linkola, whom Karlsson described as an eco-fascist for making the statement that “We still have a chance to be cruel. But if we are not cruel today all is lost.”

It was not only literature that had such provocative ideas of the future. Karlsson offered an image from a recent exhibition which probed the questions about whether the future needed us. The idea of human extinction, though, is not necessarily something he wants people to aim for when opening up ideas about alternative futures. Rather this was mentioned merely to provoke new ways of thinking about what wider possibilities could exist.

The final presentation came from Lara Houston who discussed creative practises for futures transformations. This included different forms of aesthetic, experiential, multi-sensory and embodied experiences to enable transformations to sustainability.

One exemplification of this, The Hollogram, was elaborated on in the presentation during which it was described as having enabled a collective imagining of sustainability transformations through expanding shared meanings and feelings. The experience demonstrated how knowledge politics can be misunderstood in sustainability sciences. The idea of empathy was brought up here in how it can be motivating for mobilising action towards sustainability during processes of change.

The impact was a transformation on the understanding of relationships, particularly of friendship. The experience had challenged cultures of financialisation, in which some forms of friendship can be considered transactional. The move away from these modes of relationships may, it was argued, lead towards a shift in more sustainable living.

In the plenary, Galafassi asked the panellists to think more on imaginations as a type of transformative capacity. Houston responded first by discussing imaginaries in the context of art installations. Imagination points towards an individual cognitive experience, but this is done within a shared collective. Lahsen had similar approaches, this time considered in terms of agency and obstacles in new technologies and media systems. There are ways to overcome obstacles to opening up ideas and capacities, such as public wisdom councils. Social marketing really works, but there is aversion to this. Polarisation is happening, but these technologies can be used for good: VR empathy, for example. See the Oxford Handbook of Compassion Science for more examples. For Karlsson much of this discussion concerned interdisciplinary partnerships. He suggested that throughout history, academia has had better practises for moving across disciplines. These should be explored again today.

The Non-Human Animal: Negotiating Bio Relations

In this report you can read about the 2019 collaboration between Zennström Climate Change Leadership at Uppsala University and the Uppsala Art Museum. Some of the ideas and findings from this report are elaborated upon in a forthcoming publication.

This report is written in English.


Några ord från Kuratorn, Rebecka Wigh Abrahamsson, Uppsala Art Museum

En rapport om samarbetet mellan Uppsala konstmuseum och Uppsala universitet kring utställningen ”The Non-Human Animal –  Negotiating Bio-relations”  hösten 2019. Samarbetet leddes av Keri Facer, Zennströmprofessor i Climate Change Leadership vid Uppsala universitet, som i sin forskning har ett stort fokus på konstens och humanioras roll i samtalet om och förståelsen kring klimatförändringarna.

Här beskrivs de olika aktiviteterna och de multidisciplinära perspektiv som vävdes samman i projektet, från pedagogiska och rituella, till diskussion om den politiska infrastrukturen.  

En premiss i papporten är behovet av skapa fler intellektuella och emotionella rum för att diskutera alla de konflikter och motstridiga intressen som blir tydliga under antropocen, t ex möjligheten att bearbeta sorg. Här diskuteras vilken effekt ramverket kring dessa skapade rum får på samtalen.

Flera exempel på olika interdisciplinära modeller som prövades under projektet lyfts fram, samt den stora potential som finns i att se över och tänka nytt kring vad det betyder att vara människa idag genom pedagogiska, imaginära, rituella och politiska strukturer.

Resources

Find recorded lectures, podcasts and reports with members of the Climate Change Leadership initiative.

Follow our youtube channel for talks and events with the Climate Change Leadership initiative at Uppsala University. Follow the CEMUS youtube channel for associated talks and events.

Find resources and reports for climate justice and Just Transition here.

Find resources and reports for the Swedish Carbon Budget work here.

Find resources and reports for the work on universities and education here.


Föreläsning: ”Laggards or leaders (bromskloss eller ledare); Paris, 2°C & the role for Sweden” av Kevin Anderson. Den hölls på Hotel Lysekil den 9 mars och publik var människor som hade samlats för att protestera mot Preems utbyggnad av oljeraffinaderiet i Lysekil. Dagen efter deltog Kevin Anderson som vittne i Mark- och miljööverdomstolens förhandlingar om Preems ansökan om utbyggnad. Mars 2020.

Seminarium: Fossilfri välfärd och negativa utsläpp – vision, kollision eller tomma ord? Den 11 februari 2020 samlades forskare och beslutsfattare för att ta sig an dessa två centrala idéer i den aktuella klimatpolitiken: fossilfri välfärd och negativa utsläpp. Isak Stoddard, doktorand hos CCL och NRHU, var med i panel diskussionen.

Report: Internationalisation and Sustainability The report below provides a brief exploration of the relationship between internationalisation and sustainability agendas in the contemporary university. It reports on a short programme of desk research by the team and a workshop bringing together university leadership, students, faculty and administrative staff. It identifies key tensions, possibilities, and routes towards achieving more sustainable internationalisation strategies in universities. The report has been compiled rapidly to respond to current debates and is intended as the basis for wider discussion.

Transforming Universities for the Future keynote lecture by Keri Facer at the International Association of Universities Conference. December 2019.

En koldioxidbudget för Umeå: Vår del av Paris avtalet. Med Aaron Tuckey och Martin Wetterstedt. October 2019.

Watch Professor Keri Facer’s inaugural lecture on Renewing the European University’s Mission in a Changing Climate. An early version of the text of this talk is also available here. October 2019.

Universitetens roll för en hållbar värld – omvärldens förväntningar. Almedalen lecture and panel discussion with Keri Facer, Göran Enander, Ingrid Petersson, Matilda Strömberg, Lotta Ljungqvist, and Carl Johan Sundberg. July 2019.

Climate vision – what is the role of universities in combating climate change? Almedalen panel hosted by Keri Facer with Eva Åkesson, Emma Nohrén, and Matilda Ernkrans. July 2019.

Climate change leadership – perspectives from science, industry and politics. Almedalen panel hosted by Keri Facer with Anna Rutgersson, Åsa Wikforss, John Hassler, Klas Palm, and Kristina Persson. July 2019.

Four-part interview with Keri Facer, on the role of the future, the richness of the meanwhile, and desirable futures at the Constructing Social Futures Conference 2019 for Futuuri magazine. June 2019.

Sustainability Talk on Campus Gotland, Uppsala University by Keri Facer. Building a University for the Common Good. March 2019.

Watch a short film: Professor Kevin Anderson on Living within our carbon budget: the role of politics, technology and personal action

A Democracy Now! broadcast with Kevin Anderson: World’s Richest Must Radically Change Lifestyles to Prevent Global Catastrophe. From the United Nations Climate Summit in Katowice, Poland. December 2018.

Sweden’s carbon budget challenge – turning Paris’ aspirations into local climate action Part 1 and Part 2. A lecture and panel discussion with Kevin Anderson, Agneta Green, Anders Wijkman, and Karin Sundby. July 2018.

The Swedish Carbon Cycle 2018 with Kevin Anderson.

From Paris to Sweden: 2° C, integrity, and the climate law, Kevin Anderson talk in Halmstad. June 2018.

ClimateExistence Conference: The Science, Politics and Culture of Climate Change – Beyond a Climate of Fear by Kevin Anderson followed by a dialogue between Vanessa Andreotti, Jens Holm, Anja Fjellgren Walkeapaa and Kevin Anderson, hosted by Sanna Gunnarsson, intervention by Klimatriksdagen. May 2018.

Kevin Anderson on Climate change and the need to change behaviour in the West. Research and the Sustainable Development Goals at the Danish Institute for International Studies. 26 April 2018.

Kevin Anderson on Climate change and economic growth: Can they be managed together? From Klimatriksdagen seminarium. February 6, 2018.

Kort intervju: Kevin Anderson om flygets utsläpp och alternativa fakta. February 2018.

Kevin Anderson: Revealing the naked emperor – Paris, 2° & carbon budgets. Talk at SR and SVT-event, November 2017.

A Democracy Now! broadcast with Kevin Anderson: Our Socio-Economic Paradigm Is Incompatible With Climate Change Objectives. From the United Nations Climate Summit in Bonn, Germany. November 2017.

Quit the loose climate talk and let’s get serious! A talk between Kevin Anderson and Hugh Hunt. Climate Matters show live from COP-23 in Bonn, Germany. November 2017.

Kevin Anderson discusses negative emissions at UNFCCC with Glen Peters, Corinne Le Quéré, and Youba Sokona. November 2017.

Kevin Anderson and Isak Stoddard on Carbon Budget and Pathways to a fossil free future in Järfälla Kommun. October 25, 2017.

Podcast: Transition for beginners – How not to fly with Kevin Anderson, Radio Luftbalett, October 27, 2017.

Leader or Laggard? Reviewing Sweden’s climate and sustainability agenda . A lecture and panel discussion from Almedalen 2017 with Kevin Anderson, Ranjula Bali Swain, Hanna Hansson, and Erik Westholm.

Are universities making the world worse? Education and research in an age of climate change . A panel discussion from Almedalen 2017 with Kevin Anderson, Josefin Wangel Weithz, and Johanna van Schaik Dernfalk.

Sustainable development dilemma – why are facts not enough to convince? A panel discussion with Kevin Anderson, Henrik Hamrén, Maria Osbeck, and Anna Rudels from Almedalen 2017.

Climate Catastrophe or Societal Transition – What is Needed of Politicians and Individuals? An interview with Kevin Anderson and Stigbjörn Ljunggren. Almedalen 2017.

Courage and Climate: An Interview with Kevin Anderson. Interviewed by Paul Campion and Stephen Tuscher, students at the Newman Institute, for Civic Courage in Theory and Practice, a course taught by Brian Palmer. November 2016.

Climate Change: A Parisian Tale of Triumph and Tragedy. Uppsala University Lecture in Climate Change Leadership August 2016 with Kevin Anderson.

Education, Sustainable Development and the Challenges of Climate Change . CEMUS Spring Semester Introduction lecture 2016 with Professor Doreen Stabinsky.

Find external resources linked to people and groups doing inspiring work.

Sister’s Academy develops new art-based research methods to collect data. Based in Denmark.

Emergence Network is a research inquiry into the otherwise via practices that trouble the traditional boundaries of agency and possibility.

Climate and Mind explores the relationship between climate disruption, human behaviour, and human experience.

Bifrost is an environmental humanities intervention on climate change bridging nature and culture, science and art, understanding and action, challenges and solutions.

Gesturing towards decolonial futures is a portfolio of artistic, pedagogical and cartographic experiments that seek to not only imagine but also enact the world differently.

Ecoversities network explores what the university might look like if it were at the service of our diverse ecologies, cultures, economies, spiritualities and Life within our planetary home.

Dark Mountain is a radical project looking for other stories that can help us make sense of a time of disruption and uncertainty.

Legacy 17: Learning For Change

A month ago, I had the opportunity to join in a two day workshop in Kollaboratoriet, Uppsala on Learning For Change. A small group of passionate individuals joined me in an emotional and challenging exploration to understand how we work as individuals and in the collective, towards our goals of sustainability. You can read more about Legacy 17 here.

I went with the conservative expectation of a workshop on how to integrate the Sustainable Development Goals in to one’s work. It was a pleasant surprise to be met with emotional and personalised approaches to understanding how we engage with sustainability, particularly in terms of structuring meetings, of deep listening, of celebrating achievements and humility, of mentoring speakers, and of reflecting as groups. In short, an emotionally reflective workshop on processes for working with sustainability. The culmination of which was a group largely made up of strangers, volunteering highly personal information and feeling confident enough in each other to share vulnerabilities.

The conclusions of this workshop are still ongoing, with the participants divided in to small groups to catch up over fika or through skype/ zoom periodically; we continue to work on using the Learning For Change process to strengthen our capacities in work with sustainability.

You can read more about these processes in the Learning For Change Handbook.

Reimagining Climate Change – Winter Sparklets

Over the course of the past few months, a small group of climate-interested Uppsala residents have been gathering to discuss climate fiction. The group was initiated by the Zennström Climate Change Leadership professor in order to explore how we might rethink, re-relate to, and reimagine our experiences of climate change in more creative forums. In our most recent meet up, we were tasked with bringing poems, short texts, and songs that reminded us of winter. Below are two poems written by Carolina from sparklets selected from 9 of these pieces. We realised, as Carolina read them out to us, that the meanings and tempos drastically change from the different orders through which they can be read.

It is December and nobody asked if I was ready
I just want somebody to hold me through the night
Aflame among the rest
When your cheeks are wet from weeping on your own
Stuck in a frozen state of shame
My soul instantly ignores what was there before
Perhaps the future is a tiny flame
Ring, happy bells, across the snow
There were no reindeer, but there were cats

There were no reindeer, but there were cats
Ring, happy bells, across the snow
Perhaps the future is a tiny flame
My soul instantly ignores what was there before
Stuck in a frozen state of shame
When your cheeks are wet from weeping on your own
Aflame among the rest
I just want somebody to hold me through the night
It is December and nobody asked if I was ready

These sparklets were taken from the following texts: A child’s Christmas in Wales, Dylan Thomas; Ring Out, Wild Bells, Alfred, Lord Tennyson; Winter Without You, Sarah Kay; The Cold Swedish Winter, Jens Lekman; Green and Red, Oisin Challoner; En Liten Konstnär, Nils Ferlin (translated by Urban); Gässen Flytta, Dan Andersson (translated by Urban); Untitled, Jakob Willerström