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| The Come togehter! team at the Cité de Sciences et de l'industrie. |
Climate change is not only a complex and challenging topic to understand, but it also evokes many difficult conversations, and emotional responses. Recently, we have seen an increase in climate anxiety, particularly among young people. Yet, resistance to address this topic and boredom are also prevalent. Discussing climate change with individuals who, for a variety of reasons, such as economic and social disadvantage or belonging to a specific ethnic group, are rarely seen as discussants on this topic, presents a special challenge. Our questions in this project include how to engage marginalized adults in these debates, how to encourage them to recognize their power and possibilities to act, and how to listen to and learn about their perspectives, experiences, and understandings of climate change, rather than simply presenting scientific information. We will tackle this by using theater techniques that we learned about at the project meeting at the Cité de Sciences et de l'industrie in Paris.
Between January 21 and 23, 2025, a workshop led by Maurizio Bertolini and Alberto Pagliarino, experts from the Social and Community Theater Center of the University of Turin, was held in Paris. Various approaches were offered to help facilitators of science communication activities in breaking the ice, creating an atmosphere in the group, opening up desired topics, exploring the participants' embodied beliefs and habits, and encouraging creativity. The presented techniques are an excellent starting point for sensitizing people to a topic and connecting it with personal experiences and reflections. Two days of learning about not only the theory, but also the practice of the theater approach, allowed us to experience the techniques firsthand and facilitate them ourselves in the project group.
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| The team at the space of the theater workshop. |
We also developed three scenarios for exploring the topics of mobility, gardening, and the future. These detailed scenarios for one to two-hour activities incorporate theater techniques that facilitators can use to address each topic. These scenarios will serve as our guidance as we plan artistic activities for specific target groups, addressing a variety of climate change issues. Next to this fascinating and engaging improvisation theater workshop, the Come together! project team was able to visit and experience exhibitions and activities at the Cité de Sciences et de l'industrie. This included a get-together with the museum's science communicators and facilitators as well as a visit to the museum's various different areas.
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| Working together on the scenarios. |
For instance, we saw and experienced the exhibition »Climate emergency« together, we had a look at the kids' area and we even danced in area specifically designed for this purpose. From this, we could not only learn about pressing climate issues and foster our ability to talk about them, but we also experienced how we can use our own bodies to express ourselves. This was interesting and challenging at the same time; however, we also had lots of fun.
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| Visiting the exhibition "Climate emergency" together. |
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| An interactive visualisation of our globe. |
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| Working together! |
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| The Paris Agreement, a big milestone in climate change policy, was discussed in the exhibition. |
Im summary, we really enjoyed the Come together! meeting in Paris. Not only did we discuss important next steps and milestones, but we also grew together as a team further. As Come together! is an international project with partners from various countries, this aspect cannot be emphasized enough. The challenges we overcame will help us in conducting the future activities of the project.
Thanks to our wonderful hosts, the Come together! team had both a productive and good time when meeting at the Cité de Sciences et de l'industrie in Paris.
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| The happy project team at the end of the 3-day-meeting in Paris. |