Be part of solving climate and environmental issues

Preparation:

Print out:

• Role cards: Half of the participants get role cards as representatives of civil society and political stakeholders
• Problem cards: The other half get problem cards listing specific and existing challenges.
• Forms for preparing questions.

The facilitator must prepare to present the cases/problems after the participants have finished.

Instructions

Preparation in groups (10 min)

• The participants are divided into pairs or small groups. Half of the pairs/groups are given problem cards and the other half receive role cards. Adapt roles and problems to the number of participants. The facilitator must check that the problem cards have some roles that can help with the issue. There is a broad selection; it is not necessary to use all the cards.
• The participants with problem cards get together and read about their “case”. They must try to understand the issue and consider how it affects them. They can take on a persona - pretend to be someone else. They will then prepare questions for the various societal stakeholders they will soon be meeting.
• The participants with role cards prepare their roles. They are given a “station” (a desk) where they can put up a sign with names and titles if they want. What are they called? What is the name of the newspaper, organisation or law firm they work for? They can look up relevant information on the net, such as the World Declaration of Human Rights (lawyer), graphs showing global warming over time (researcher), news items about climate and the environment (journalist) and so on.
• We have experienced that participants find the task exciting and fun, often demonstrating great creativity in creating their roles.

Find solutions (30 minutes)

• The pairs/groups with problem cards move around to the various stations to talk with the various stakeholders (lawyer, researcher, journalist etc.). How can the stakeholders help them with the problem? To obtain help they should describe the problem as clearly as possible.
• The pairs/groups have five minutes at each desk. The facilitator takes the time and informs them when it is time to move on.
• After all the pairs/groups have visited all the stakeholders everyone sits down in a plenary session to carry out the activity below.

Tying the threads – a reflection exercise about societal roles and collaboration (10-15 minutes)

1. Start with a ball of yarn:

The facilitator starts by lobbing a ball of yarn to one of the pairs/groups that had a problem. They briefly describe their problem and hold on to the end of the thread. Alternatively the facilitator can read out the problem and ask the pair/group to elaborate on their situation.

1. Tying solutions together:

After the pair/group has explained their situation, they hold on to the end of the thread and throw the ball of yarn to one of the societal roles that have contributed to solving the problem. Now it is this role’s turn to tell how they helped the pair/group. Then the societal role lobs the ball of yarn back to the pair/group, and they then throw it to another societal role which talks about how they helped.

The process is repeated so that all the pairs/groups with problems have been able to show how the societal roles helped them.

1. A network is formed:

After some rounds the yarn has created a visual network between the participants.

In conclusion the facilitator can use the network to explain how collaboration, various societal roles and strong societal structures are decisive for solving challenges.

Reflection questions:

• Which human rights did you use when trying to get help and find solutions?
• Which other societal roles can we collaborate with to solve a problem?
• What does it tell us about the society that the many threads made the net so tight?
• How do you think this net would appear in a dictatorship?

The facilitator sums up:

In a democracy with a well developed civil society and where human rights are respected, it will be easy for the people with problems to seek and obtain help. There are many societal roles and stakeholders that can help. The network will be strong and many people will collaborate on finding solutions. In a society where the civil society and human rights are weak, the net will be thinner and less robust.

In a democracy it is easier to collaborate and build strong networks to find solutions to societal challenges.

Also, when taking action for a better environment and climate, fundamental human rights, such as freedom of speech, freedom of assembly and equality before the law are important underpinnings.

Presentation:

Use real, existing examples to illustrate how individuals, organisations and the civil society can bring about change. Connect this to human rights and democracy.

Debriefing

Collaboration between individuals and stakeholders in society, for example researchers, lawyers, activists and journalists, contributes to solving serious climatechallenges.

The state is responsible for respecting and complying with human rights, including the right to a sustainable environment. The UN has recognised the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment as a fundamental human right.

Even if the authorities have power and the most important responsibility, we, as individual citizens, can also contribute, including young people who do not yet have the right to vote. We can engage in environmental issues, and support organisations working to protect the climate and human rights. And we can demand that our political leaders take action.