Communicating Climate Change with Socially Excluded Adults: Training at the Slovene Ethnographic Museum

Communicating about climate change is often demanding and complex. Discussions about climate with socially excluded adults, who are rarely seen as discussants on this topic and often do not identify with this role themselves, pose a particular challenge. With the training, which was intended for museum educators and curators, science communicators, researchers, and representatives of various non-governmental organizations implementing programs for socially excluded adults or on the topic of climate change, we wanted to raise participants' awareness of the close connection between mitigating the climate crisis and the vulnerability of marginalized social groups. These groups are often more negatively affected by the consequences of climate change than others, as they usually have fewer economic, political, and informational resources to cope with them. Their living infrastructure is generally less adapted to earthquakes, floods, and fires, and they often have poorer access to healthcare services. Due to weaker economic power, they more often face difficulties participating in adaptation activities that require financial investment.

Museums, as socially responsible institutions, are called upon to raise awareness about the climate crisis and open up space for discussion with diverse social groups about measures to mitigate it. It is important that they connect with other actors who address such topics and who can invite marginalized social groups to the discussions. Because the climate crisis and the problems of social inequality and exclusion are rarely addressed together, we prepared a training in the Come Together! project that connected both issues. In doing so, we looked at both crises in light of theoretical insights as well as practical approaches to communicating and raising awareness about both.

Connecting social inequality and injustice with the environmental crisis

was the fundamental goal of the training.

Foto: Tina Palaić

Dr. Lučka Kajfež Bogataj, a climate change expert, informed us about climate change and the impacts of the environmental crisis on marginalized social groups. Science communicator Dr. Zarja Muršič presented ways of communicating about the environmental crisis with different audiences, and journalist, writer, and Roma activist Sandi Horvat presented the characteristics and needs of the Roma community in the implementation of various activities in Roma settlements. In doing so, he pointed out the numerous stereotypes and prejudices that the majority community has about Roma people. The training was conducted by museum educator and curator Katarina Nahtigal and curator Tina Palaić from the Slovene Ethnographic Museum.

Sandi Horvat during the lecture and discussion about the Roma community with the training participants. 

Foto: Tina Palaić

In her lecture, Dr. Lučka Kajfež Bogataj presented the fundamental facts about the climate crisis
and connected them with the vulnerability of certain social groups. Foto: Tina Palaić

Dr. Zarja Muršič focused on communicating scientific findings to various social groups
according to their specific characteristics and needs. Foto: Katarina Nahtigal

The training took place on March 10 and 24, 2025, and was attended by 18 participants with various backgrounds. It resonated most within museum circles, as it was attended by as many as 12 museum professionals, including both curators and museum educators. Three students also participated in the training, two from ethnology and one from social work, as well as a researcher from a research institute. Among the participants was also a representative of a non-governmental organization working in the field of heritage and tourism. 

The participants exchanged their experiences and perspectives 
         on the discussed topic through a series of interactive activities. Foto: Katarina Nahtigal

Among the strong points of the training, participants mentioned excellent lectures, dynamic and diverse activities with a lot of interactivity, good pace and structure of the training, exchange of practices, experiences, and opinions with other participants, listening to others' ideas and finding common ground, getting to know the specifics of the Roma community, and an in-depth understanding of climate change. However, they wished for the inclusion of even more representatives of marginalized social groups, even greater emphasis on the specifics of the Roma community, and additional training sessions that would delve deeper into selected aspects of climate change due to the complexity of the topic.

Foto: Tina Palaić

🔊“I liked that the training was interactive, that the participants cooperated a lot, exchanged knowledge, our personal experiences … I learned new dimensions, knowledge about members of the Roma community, about organizing activities, adapting to target groups, thinking about alternatives regarding climate change.”

We sincerely thank everyone who contributed to the successful implementation of the training with their experiences and understanding of the topic!