COP26

Changing the Story and PRAXIS are delighted to support this year’s Glasgow Climate Conference – the 26th Conference of Parties (COP26) to the Climate Convention.

Arts and Humanities Research and Practice to Highlight the Urgency for Climate Action

Register now for #COP26 Resilience Hub events including three sessions hosted by PRAXIS, University of Leeds, with UK and International partners working on GCRF projects: https://cop-resilience-hub.org/

The central purpose of the Resilience Hub is to advance action on adaptation and resilience at COP26 and beyond, and to help provide a strong collective voice on resilience for all those globally who are working to build a more resilient world.

PRAXIS is co-leading the Arts, Culture and Heritage theme, one of the ten Resilience Hub themes, and will convene two events, as well as co-convene one event in partnership with the British Council. Assuming an innovative format, the events will draw on artistic provocations, arts-based research methods, and the visual arts to highlight how arts, culture, and heritage is integral to addressing the urgent need for developing resilient food systems, the growing impact of climate change on indigenous communities, and the necessity to include gender and diversity in the climate resilience conversation.

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Saturday 6 November 19:00-20:00 GMT – The Critical Role of Arts, Culture, and Heritage in Building Food and Agricultural Resilience

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Language: Spanish and English

Infrastructural, high-tech, and top-down agricultural investments to address immediate food and health security needs often overshadows developing resilient food and agricultural systems, particularly in the context of climate change. This session will draw on real world examples from across the globe to explore ways that Arts, Culture, and Heritage can address issues of food and agricultural sustainability and resilience while also considering the needs of marginalised groups and transforming social inequalities.

Hosted by PRAXIS in partnership with the Americas Regional Partner, Angelica Arias, Climate Heritage Network, Metropolitan Institute of Heritage-Quito, Ecuador. Watch the recording from the session:

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Monday 8 November 07:00-08:00 GMT – Indigenous Knowledge for Climate Resilience

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Representatives of Indigenous communities from across the globe will highlight the growing impact that climate change is having on Indigenous communities and their livelihoods, and the often-overlooked role of Indigenous knowledge and traditional practices to address climate change and increasing climate resilience. The event will intersperse hard-hitting short films with interactive discussions with researchers and practitioners working with Indigenous communities.

Hosted PRAXIS in partnership with the British Council. Watch the recording from the session:

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Tuesday 9 November 19:15-20:15 GMT – Exploring the potential for arts, culture, heritage to tackle gender and diversity in climate resilience and adaptation

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Entrenched social inequalities and injustices such as those related to gender, race, and class remain persistent; sometimes perpetuated in the name of cultural traditions, and overlooked in international conversations about climate change and adaptation. However, these inequalities—exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic—profoundly affect the impact of and response to the climate emergency on marginalised groups. This session will explore the potential for arts, culture and heritage research and practice to be more inclusive of gender and diversity in the climate resilience conversation, including examples of reducing the carbon footprint of arts-based research projects. Watch the session:

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In the capacity of production assistant, Changing the Story Principal Investigator Paul Cooke is supporting 80 youth climate activists from across the city of Leeds and South Africa to create a participatory film about the ways in which climate change is affecting them. The Ripple Effect will premiere at the Glasgow IMAX during COP26 in November 2021.

Emphasising the unique experiences of their age group, the documentary features interviews, vlogs and mini films created by the young people. Cutting across all of the experiences is the deep concern the young people share about their futures, their families, the destruction of the natural environment and climate justice.

The film is a collaborative effort from a team including the University of Leeds, Leeds City Council, the Yorkshire and Humber Youth Work Unit, Regional Youth Climate Assembly, the Place-based Climate Action Network, British Youth Council, and Youth@SAIIA (the South African Institute of International Affairs youth programme).

The Ripple Effect is a product of a youth summit held in April 2021 for Connecting Voices for Climate Action, a week of events organised by the University of Leeds.  The summit provided the impetus for continuing the cultural exchange and the young people have worked together through a series of online workshops, as well as independently, to produce the final documentary and accompanying social media campaign.

Youth Are Leading: The Ripple Effect will take place 16:00 – 17:00 on 8 November 2021 in the Cinema Auditorium.

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Watch the recording from the event, which includes the film followed by a presentation and Q&A with a group of young filmmakers, who share their experience of making the film, of working internationally, and what motivated them to get involved in the project:

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