Climate, Death and Art: Creating Shared Spaces for Understanding and Action

The Anthropocene is intertwined with questions of death, loss, grief and destruction. A lot of the death and loss that we discuss in the context of climate change is caused by humans and experienced by humans in different ways. Perhaps part of future loss and death can also be prevented or alleviated by us. For this to be possible, we need to better understand our relation to death in the context of our environment. This is not only a philosophical or theoretical issue but also something that is useful to discuss in the context of transdisciplinary methodologies and art to improve the social impact of scientific research.

Art plays a crucial role in making sense of complex emotions and roles that we have in relation to climate and death as academics - and as humans. This presentation looks into the importance of creating open, non-hierarchical spaces for exchanging research results from different fields and artistic expressions help to deepen understanding and spark collaboration. They also help to create a cognitive environment where emotions and challenges are met with care, which creates a base for transdisciplinary trust. As part of the presentation, I provide practical examples of how previous climate & death-themed discussions have sparked interest and discussion across fields and evolved into transdisciplinary events, including the transdisciplinary seminar Climate & Death 2024 [1]. The event provided a common, welcoming space for scientists, artists and practitioners to share information and discuss, showcase artistic work and hold workshops. 

Climate change, sustainability and death overlap in many areas, such as extreme weather, air quality, health & well-being, security, ethics and culture. Whether or not we succeed in mitigating climate change, environmental destruction, biodiversity loss or other related problems, humans face inevitable death, loss and grief. These aren't only part of crises, but life in general. Furthermore, talking about death and other 'fundamental' issues is important to transform ourselves and our systems to be more sustainable. Talking about hope should include discussions on death, loss and grief, as well. The seemingly dark topics are simultaneously fundamental for discussing what we find meaningful and joyful in life. Discussing such issues helps us to connect beyond labels as humans when faced with existential questions related to climate change. It can also help us to develop useful methods for science communication and for taking climate action together.

The presentation is based on work done in the Safer Climate network, based at the Institute for Atmospheric and Earth System Research (INAR) at the University of Helsinki as part of the Atmosphere and Climate Competence Center (ACCC) Flagship Program funded by the Research Council of Finland.

[1] https://www.saferclimate.org/about-climate-and-death, https://www.helsinki.fi/en/conferences/sustainability-science-days-2023/biographical-information-climate-death