In this workshop, we will explore the potential of engaging new societal actors in communication for climate action, who have not already been linked to the topic but have a large reach. This can be football players, musicians, artists, influencers, etc. We will discuss, what the role of these communicators can be and how we can forge alliances between science and these communicators 

10:00     Welcome and introduction – Christian Klöckner / Magnus Korpås
10:20     Football and climate change – Morten Thorsby & Espen Thorsby - We Play Green
10:40     Art and climate change – Michael Pinsky
11:00     DJs engaging in climate change – Ruben Pariente / Michel D.  
11:20     Engaging employees – Silje Solberg – The ducky app
11:40     Music and climate change – Richard Festinger & Garrett Boudinot - Climate Music
12:00     Group work with the audience about the potential of engaging with new societal actors
13:00     End of workshop

About the presenters

Morten Thorsby is a 25-year-old professional football player & environmentalist, playing for Sampdoria in Serie-A and for the Norwegian national team. In 2020, he established We Play Green a non-profit foundation. We Play Green is an independent collaborative campaign platform for professional footballers that want to help solve the climate crisis. We Play Greens vision is to increase the global climate engagement so future generations can play like we do today. The mission is to create individual behavioural change within the football family.

Michael Pinsky is a British artist whose international projects challenge the status quo on climate change, urban design and societal wellbeing. He explores issues which shape and influence the use of our public realm to create ambitious and provocative installations in galleries and public spaces. Taking the combined roles of artist, urban planner, activist, researcher and resident, he starts residencies and commissions by working with local people and resources, allowing the physical, social and political environment to define his working methodology. His work has been shown at: TATE Britain; Museum of Contemporary Art, Chengdu; Saatchi Gallery; Victoria and Albert Museum; Institute for Contemporary Art, London; La Villette, Paris; BALTIC, Gateshead; Centre for Contemporary Art, Glasgow; Modern Art Oxford, Milton Keynes Gallery, Cornerhouse, Manchester; Liverpool Biennial, Centre de Création Contemporaine, Tours; Armory Center of the Arts, Los Angeles and the Rotterdam International Architectural Biennial. His recent installation Pollution Pods is touring internationally and has been exhibited in Somerset House, London, COP25, IFEMA, Madrid, Spain; UN Climate Change Summit, New York; Science Gallery Melbourne; Media City Plaza, Manchester; TED Annual Conference, Vancouver; Place des Nations, Geneva; Klimahaus, BremerHaven, Germany and STARMUS, Trondheim, Norway. Artnet included Pollution Pods in its list of the 100 Works of Art That Defined the Decade. Stir Magazine, named the installation in its top ten Art works that stired the world in 2019. Connaissance des Arts, included Pollution Pods in the top 10 artworks which engage with climate change and BBC Culture featured the installation for Earth Day as one of the best ways to change the world. Dr Michael Pinsky graduated from the Royal College of Art. He has received awards from the RSA, Arts Council England, British Council, Arts and Business, the Wellcome Trust and his exhibition Pontis was shortlisted for the prestigious Gulbenkian Museums Award.

Ruben Pariente / Michel D. - Producer, DJ, event producer, climate activist and designer in his spare time, but above all founding father of collective and label Friendsome, Michel D. is as multi-hatted in life as he is behind the decks. Michel D. has been spinning records for almost 15 years, from London (where he started his career and created the Cliché parties) to Paris and Europe. Disco and House are his first passions (as well as the environment with DJs For Climate Action, where he is a core member), but you can easily find yourself dancing to oriental music or head-banging on Ghetto-Tech in the middle of his sets ! He recently created a new project with his two Friendsome colleagues: OOO to make you move your feet until the end of the night.

Richard Festinger | Composer ("Icarus in Flight") - Richard has garnered international recognition for his extensive catalogue of vocal and instrumental compositions. Writing for the 2011 Tanglewood Music Festival, Frank J. Oteri describes Festinger’s music as “notable for its combination of propulsive energy with an impeccable sense of poise and balance,” and WQXR Radio in New York has dubbed him “an American master.” Festinger is professor of composition at San Francisco State University where he is also Artistic Director of the Morrison Artists Series. He received M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in composition from the University of California, Berkeley, and in the mid 1980s co-founded the acclaimed San Francisco based modern music ensemble Earplay. Festinger’s music is published by C.F. Peters Corporation and Wildcat Canyon Music Press, and his works have been recorded for the Naxos, Bridge, CRI, Centaur, and CRS labels. The recipient of numerous major awards and commissions, he has been honored with both the Walter Hinrichsen Award and an Academy Recording Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

Dr. F. Garrett Boudinot - Garrett’s career has focused on how climate change will impact us and what we can do about it. Garrett has studied sea-level rise, water quality, and pollution in South Carolina, grassroots climate change adaptations in the UK, Just Transitions and wildlife conservation policies in Colorado, and impacts of climate change on ocean and forest ecosystems throughout Earth history. He currently works at Cornell University on carbon dioxide removal and agricultural responses to climate change, and serves on the ecosystems workgroup for the New York State Climate Impacts Assessment.

Christian A. Klöckner is a professor in social and environmental psychology at NTNU and is interested in studying individual, social and structural drivers of environmental behaviour, as well as environmental communication. Recently, he became more interested also in the emotional component of being confronted with global environmental crises such as the climate crisis. He leads the research group for “citizens, environment and safety” at NTNU and is involved in many national and international research projects. 

Silje Solberg is a passionate sustainability expert within the field of climate psychology and climate communication, and co-founder of the Norwegian based climate tech company Ducky.eco, whose mission is to deliver the world's best tools for reducing consumption-based carbon footprint to help humanity become sustainable. 

Silje started off her education roadmap as a carpenter apprentice, with the goal of becoming a better architect. During her architecture studies she was introduced to design thinking in which she tested and adapted to the architecture sphere. This led her into research, applying user centered processes with clients and research projects in SINTEF Building and infrastructure. In this period she did teaching and was an engine behind developing new teaching material on the subject for architecture students. 

Silje has over the last 8 years through her start up, been a catalyst for helping businesses, municipalities and individuals adapt climate friendly behaviors.