Climate Storytellers’ Summit
Join My Climate Story project, the Yale Program on Climate Communication, the Penn Center for Science, Sustainability, & the Media, and the High Meadows Environmental Institute for a free, live, online, two-hour storytellers’ summit. Conceived by Professor Bethany Wiggin, this event and its companion documentation offer a high-profile platform to present climate storytelling work and to learn and connect with others working in this important space. Dr. Michael Mann will be moderating this event.
A decade ago, the term “climate storytelling” was new. Today, it’s proliferating, used by practitioners and theorists to describe stories that connect global climate change with local people and places. Climate stories can disrupt stories of business as usual. They can grapple with history and inspire hope. They can imagine flourishing futures, even as they also deal in dystopian presents. They can present agentic pathways, sharing examples of individuals and communities working for and realizing the climate they want. Good climate storytellers work with climate science, and they also work across sectors: in the media and the arts and humanities, in Hollywood and elementary school classrooms, in the climate movement and in climate science.
As climate storytelling gains steam—fueled by the urgent need to advance climate solutions that cut carbon and methane pollution and protect communities from extreme weather—we’ll gather climate storytellers across sectors to learn from one another and spark generative, collaborative conversations.
SUBMIT YOUR STORY
You are invited to submit your story for a pecha-kucha-style five-minute presentation. Deadline: 6pm Eastern on March 1st. We welcome climate stories and reflections on the practice of climate storytelling by presenters of all ages and stages. Organizers aim to curate a program of stories featuring a variety of people, human and non-human actors, climate impacts and in/justices, and places. Selected presenters will be notified in mid-March, and invited to share their stories live at our online summit on April 10. Please note that all presentations must be in English. Submit your story proposal in the Call for Submissions page.
JOIN US LIVE
Selected storytellers will present at the live summit on Thursday, April 10, which will be broadcast over zoom, will be free and open to the public, and will be recorded and made available free online.
It is our hope that this convening and its documentation will offer valuable support for climate storytellers of all ages and levels of experience by showcasing the value of climate storytelling and offering a resource hub for present and future climate storytellers and storytelling projects, and for connections across sectors.
