Innovation

Here are the rules of this game: a team (from 5 to 1000 people) will be placed around a table (virtual or face-to-face) and will try to identify the links between causes and effects, thanks to the flashcards from the IPCC report, in order to understand the global warming phenomenon. Each session is supervised by a moderator, who guides the team throughout the game.

The teams receive cards little by little, and must link them together starting from the most primary causes, to the most distant effects. Once cards are put down, the moderator takes the time to discuss with the participants to clarify their doubts, to sum up the knowledge they have gained and to guide them in their thinking. The second step is a moment of exchange between the participants. The teams express their feelings through illustrations on a mural. Finally, during the last part, there is a debriefing between the moderators and the teams to have a clearer vision of the problems we are facing today and to find solutions to reverse the trend.

After the game, each participant can take a training course to become a moderator and teach The Climate Collage when he wants, where he wants and with who he wants.

Inspiration

The leader is Cedric Ringenbach, a former activist in a prominent Think Tank on energy and climate issues: Shit Project. He was also a professor and in his early years of teaching, he created this game for students. To him, it was a new way of teaching, a new way of leading classes and a new way of engaging students in these issues. He quickly realized the power of a collaborative session and the impact it has on students. It was a prodigiously powerful way to make people learn. In addition, the game helped to anchor knowledge in time and memories.

At the same time, Cedric made a bitter observation: climate and environment are subjects that should concern most of the population and yet this is not the case at all. The reason why? According to Cedric, "there is a great lack of education on the subject. Between science and the people, there is a gap, no intermediary." The level of knowledge that people have on these subjects is very low, even at the highest level of the social scale (CEO, executive...) . The Climate Collage is now a intermediary available.

In 2018, when Cedric and Frederic (treasurer, author of the interview) met, Frederic had been working for a consulting firm for 17 years. He stopped to get involved for climate because he could no longer watch the world go dark without acting.

Overall impact

The association made a choice: to use as a measure only a counter of the number of people who made The Climate Collage. On March 18, 2021, the counter showed 140 608 people trained, all over the world. Thanks to this game, knowledge become more accessible. In addition, there are more than 6000 persons who decided to become moderator of the game. They choose to do a training to do the game. All these people are now educated about climate issues. But this innovation has still more impacts divided in several target.

First in term of education. The association make the « Back to school time for climate ». In other words, during the back-to-school time, teams of The Climate Collage go in schools, universities, or high-school to do this game. There is even a junior version for children. Many students and pupils are educated on climate issues thanks to this game.

Moreover, during election campaigns, elected people and citizens can do this game to learn more about global warming and solutions. Thanks to this game elected officials can include these solutions in their program. Moreover, it also enables a discussion between politicians and citizens about climate.

There is also another impact: at the private level. Many companies do this game to educate their employees to this issue. In addition, when the game is over, if executives want the association puts the company in touch with professionals who can help them to reduce their greenhouse gases emissions.

Furthermore, the association want to be present all around the world. The game is traduced in 15 languages si it enables to touch a large part of the population. There are many moderators who come from abroad and it is a big benefit to develop the association and the game. Moreover, the association was present at the COP in Madrid and will be present at the COP in Scotland. It is gaining momentum.

Finally, the short time effect is the education of a large part of the population and the long-time effect is the reduction of carbon emissions.

Business benefit

The association was created with this project as a basis. We are not in the case of a company that invents a major innovation that will totally shake up the company.

When the contours of the association began to be defined, they realized that the profiles of the people present and volunteering were very different: teachers, executives, farmers, artists, journalists, employees, etc.... This is something very rare in this kind of association. But all these people have at some point felt a deep sense of unease when they realized the magnitude of what is unfolding before us. Before, we lived in the illusion that our children would live in the best of the worlds, but with global warming this is no longer the case.

According to Frederic, "The association was therefore founded on two fundamental principles: care and duocracy." Care is the idea of taking into account the fragility of all the people who have been affected by this problem and taking care of the others by helping each other in any way possible (giving advice to the youngest, helping them to acquire knowledge, ...). Duocracy is leaving a maximum of freedom to the volunteers. For example: they do not have to ask for permission to do a workshop, they can do it whenever they want, wherever they want, if they want. But if they need help, there is always someone to help them.

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Social and environmental benefit

The main goal of The Climate Collage is "to reduce CO2 emissions by educating people on climate subjects". The direct impact is to incite more and more people to measure the emissions and to reduce it. When they said more and more people, it means people but also communities, cities, or companies.

As they said, many companies organize this game for their employees. Once the game is over, the team puts the company in touch with professionals and outside organizations that can help them reduce emissions. This helps to move from information to action. Together, they set greenhouse gas reduction goals and find ways to achieve those. However, the role of the association ends here, it is not their job to make sure that this reduction happens. They are only here as informers and advisors.

Moreover, the association wants to allow everyone to have access to a good education concerning sustainable development. The game was not created for one type of person only. That is why it can be realized in universities, schools, companies, or even in independent structures. It was created so that anyone can lead a game wherever they want after a training. The game is also translated into 15 different languages so it could be performed across the globe.

Interview

Frederic Giuli, Treasurer