“We cannot create what we can’t imagine”
Worldmaking: From Colonialism to Climate Justice was a pair of free Climate Museum workshops supported by the Center for Science and Society at Columbia University that focused on how climate change and social inequality are bound together and how we can advance towards a just, climate-safe future. The workshops were designed for high school students to explore the history and present-day realities of colonialism in shaping the contemporary world, including the climate crisis and persistent inequality. Students discussed social transformation, the work of repair, and considered the role of the imagination in worldmaking. Activities enabled students to envision what a future centering climate justice looks like to them.
The workshops were led by the Climate Museum Youth Programs Team and Dr. Dilshanie Perera, Climate Humanities Postdoctoral Fellow at the Center for Science and Society at Columbia University. Dilshanie is a cultural anthropologist who researches the politics of the climate crisis and its relationship to pervasive and durable forms of inequality and dispossession.
In these climate justice workshops, part of the Climate Museum’s Climate Action Leadership Program, participants:
Gained an understanding of colonialism, its present-day impacts on climate and society, and its consequences for people, land, and resources.
Explored what climate justice means in concept and practice.
Used their imagination to envision what a future centering climate justice can look like.
Heard from college student mentors about their perspectives on climate justice, climate arts, and action.
Participated in group discussions, a climate justice zine lab, creative writing exercises, peer interviews, and creating a collective climate justice manifesto.
This program was supported by
