Climate change is a pressing global issue that affects us all. Recently, inspired by a conversation with my brother about ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) expertise, I discovered Climate Fresk (climate fresk website) – an engaging and educational workshop. With various sessions available online and offline in different cities, I opted for an in-person interactive experience in London, which typically occurs monthly.
The 3-hour workshop is divided into two parts:
Creating Your Fresk
Taking Action
Spoiler Alert!🚨
Creating Your Fresk
This group activity involves arranging cards provided by the facilitator in order of cause and effect. There are 5 rounds in total. As you add each set, you draw lines to show correlations and explain your reasoning. The facilitator guides you through any uncertainties and clarifies concepts. All cards feature terms from the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) report, which provides regular scientific updates on climate change.
This exercise is not only fun but also a digestible way to learn complex concepts and scientific terms (coming from an art student's perspective!). Engaging with other participants enriches the experience, allowing you to gain additional knowledge from peers.
Taking Action
At the workshop's conclusion, we discussed potential actions across society, business, and individual levels. Everyone contributed fresh ideas on how to address climate change.
Key Takeaways:
Climate change is a complex cycle of cause and effect. Extreme weather events, like London's unusual summer this year, serve as warnings. Human activities drive global warming, which ultimately affects us all. The fresk helped me better understand how various activities increase carbon emissions and other greenhouse gases, and how energy directly impacts the melting of glaciers, ice sheets, and sea ice. I learned about permafrost, Some greenhouse gases in frozen layers are releasing, which means more greenhouse gases.
As individuals, we can do more than we think. In the last part of the workshop, each of us shared actions we can take. Simple as it is, starting from the individual:
Use public transportation 🚇🛳️🚂
Choose green energy tariffs ⚡️⚡️
(In London, many suppliers offer sustainable energy. Verify if they buy REGO certificates from Ofgem or really offering 100% renewable energy)Reduce meat consumption🥒🥦🍏
Shop responsibly 🧐
(these days, I tend to buy better quality clothing which is more durable than fast fashion. Plus, the quality matters and shows the difference)Continue educating ourselves through workshops 📚📚
(I feel like I was the least knowledgeable one among all participants. There are also other workshops, or I can become a facilitator)
Other workshops:
the 2tonnes workshop
biodiversity fresk
digital fresk
circular economy fresk
This free workshop was an excellent use of an evening. I'm grateful to all participants and volunteer facilitators for this enlightening experience. 🫶🏻
We also placed these actions on a graph comparing their ease of implementation and impact.