“The problem is that we are all going a bit crazy, because in fact there is no discernable solution to the situation that we are living in.”
– Bruno Latour, Les Echos, December 2019
Climate Narrative Circle was inspired by the French sociologist Bruno Latour, who issued a call to people concerned about the climate emergency to start gathering in small groups to talk about what matters most to us, what we live for, what we want to protect.
The idea behind the CNC is that current narratives – used by mainstream media and civil society – are still looking to power elites to lead and deliver the necessary change, while people everywhere, from business leaders to groups of neighbours, are seeking ways to make sense of what’s happening, and longing to feel like they can be a part of a hopeful future.
Against this backdrop, Denise shared her first ideas with Stina, and together created the first CNC, as a space to generate new climate narratives from the ground up, in small groups coming together. Believing that our most powerful levers for change lie within, the CNC is about taking time to articulate and share our deepest held values as an essential step to create momentum for change. To do that in a space where we hold each other in trust and accountability can shift our own perceptions of agency and empowerment.
The first circle was prototyped at the Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Paris. Led by a group of masters students, the circle met for a series of workshops that combined the practice of a deep sharing circle, reading climate-related texts from a range of sources (with different tones) out loud, and then writing together as a group.
The prototype has generated a series of interesting conversations about the next workshops, and how we can use online formats to optimise the practise.
Read the full experience of the prototype on the Medium publication:
Medium article in English | Medium article in French
What’s next?
After the first round, we’re thinking about how to go further. We realise that in order to produce a tangible output – like a compendium, or booklet – or a structured input to a larger discourse or change process in an organisation, people’s time and commitment to the process is needed. We’re therefore looking for individuals or organizations who can commit to a longer-term practice, over the course of three months, in order to generate the necessary amount of material to produce a publishable output.
If you’d like to host a Climate Narrative Circle as part of your online learning curricula, your event, your company team-building, please get in touch.
The climate narrative circle was a purposeful space to process the narratives around climate and nature, as well as the facts.
Writing is therapeutic and slows down my mind. To be able to write my answers and share them, reminded me of my values and how I seek to live. Sharing with others, who did not intend to judge, made me feel sane and validated.
I joined the climate narrative mainly out of curiosity to learn more about communication, an essential aspect when it comes to creating awareness around common social issues. What followed was an experience that is now something very close to my heart.
We had an opportunity to read and reflect upon a few texts which were taken from many different sources such as research articles & scientific commentaries, fiction & nonfiction books, excerpts from speeches, poems and so on and later also use these reflections and guided by a few cues to write down what we felt about the issue.
Each one of the sessions was an opportunity for us to take a step back and kind of reflect about what is the impact and the cost at which we lead our day to day life in terms of economic, environmental and social implications associated with them.