12000
Kilometers
The Climate Walk is a combined research, education and media-art project by the Wanderers of Changing Worlds. It is about walking across Europe to understand regional experiences of Climate Change. It is about listening to local perspectives, learning from them and connecting these stories together to construct a holistic, people-centric understanding of these complex phenomena.
Below you can learn more about our planned walk, the different projects that will be conducted while and after walking and have a look at our timeline.
Walking is a grounding way to perceive temporality and spatiality in today’s superfast world. Being physically and mentally present allows for a unique perspective on people’s experiences with Climate Change and changing Climates while deviating from the current hegemonic way of travelling ever further and faster.
As we make our way across Europe, we will experience changes of landscapes, climates, practices, and ways of life. From the North Cape in Norway to European mainland’s westernmost point Cabo da Roca, through sites of change and struggle, through civilization and wilderness we will walk, listen and talk to people we encounter. The overall aim will be to experience these people’s life realities, to better inform us of their perspectives and to enable us to act as carriers of this information, locally, inter-nationally and globally.
Starting on June 5, 2021 at the North Cape in Northern Norway, we are going to make our way down south, through a variety of environments. We welcome everyone to walk with us. Everyday the route will be updated and YOU can WALK with us!
(Ingold/Vergunst 2008: 1)
The following question best summarizes our research interest:
How do people experience Climate Change and Changing Climates throughout Europe?
We aim to understand how people experience Climate Change and all its biophysical and sociocultural repercussions. It is these locally-specific manifestations of Climate Change which we refer to as “Changing Climates”. Through a unique and interdisciplinary approach of walking, listening and (re-)telling we aim to understand, explain and connect the experiences and practices of local actors from across Europe. This research process will be circular, challenge-led and integrative of both quantitative and qualitative data collection, analysis and theory building. The combination enables a deeper understanding of the complex realities of the biophysical processes of Climate Change and to fully comprehend the strategies of individuals, local communities and national and international organizations to overcome them.
The research project aims to generate impact by collecting novel data testifying to the urgency of Climate Change and Changing Climates. It will utilise a distinct combination of research styles to generate academic impact by collecting a large body of qualitative and quantitative data, open for use by any subsequent research project. Not only will this data provide us with the answers critical to our thinking, but by making it public access we hope to encourage other researchers to do the same.
While we see ourselves as researchers, we are also activists and mediators. That is why we aim to conduct participatory action workshops in each region to help fully engage local actors with the global challenges posed by Climate Change. These actors will include local climate action groups, institutions such as schools or universities, pre-existing research projects in the field, local political action groups and interested citizens. Many of these actors will already be involved in climate action but from varying perspectives and so, these workshops will provide a creative space for knowledge exchange.
The education project’s main pathway to impact is to instill a sense of agency in local action. The intention of this is to drive momentum for individual and collective action on a local level which will support and be supported by the SDG framework. It will create agency by providing training in collective action, action planning and sustainable development, utilising researchers’ previous experience, including e.g. through grassroots community labour organising linked to national union structures. Using these tools for and experience in collective action, solutions best suited to location and community will then be created, using researchers’ previous project “Zukunftskaravane” as a model for community action and sustainable further development.
The media and art project aims to extend the academic knowledge generated in the research project and the local to global collaboration facilitated in the education project. The core purpose of the project in its entirety is to listen and collect the stories and experience of the people we meet along the way. It is important to the overall aim of this project that these stories are told. That is why the third pillar is devoted to creating podcasts, films, blogs, and works of art which will communicate these local stories to a global audience.
This media and art project will facilitate the impact of the previous two projects in raising public awareness of Climate Change and Changing Climates through the episodic series, as well as the potential for further projects such as podcasts, exhibitions and screenings to educate wider audiences on the potential for collaborative solutions. This will also enable follow-on impact by representing regional perspectives to European audiences and European community perspectives to international community audiences, with the aim of forging connections and inspiring future collaboration.