Conference 2024 - At Home?

Klimaatverandering raakt ons allemaal, en een van de meest verborgen, maar cruciale aspecten daarvan is ons grondwater. Hoe kunnen we dit beter begrijpen en beheren? Kom naar de demonstratie van de Veenmobiel en zie met eigen ogen hoe het verborgen grondwater onder de provincie Friesland stroomt.

De Veenmobiel maakt de onzichtbare waterstromen zichtbaar en laat zien hoe dit essentiële onderdeel van het Friese watersysteem functioneert. Van reliëf tot grondsoorten, je ontdekt hoe het grondwater ons landschap bepaalt en hoe klimaatverandering — met intense regenbuien en lange droogtes — invloed heeft op het grondwaterpeil.

Jan van Rijen van Wetterskip Fryslân geeft live demonstraties waarin hij uitlegt hoe de grondwaterstromen onder Friesland werken en waarom ze zo belangrijk zijn voor de toekomst van ons landgebruik. Met een regensimulator en pompen zie je de directe effecten van veranderende weersomstandigheden op ons waterbeheer.

Deze demonstratie laat zien hoe transdisciplinaire en visuele oplossingen, zoals de Veenmobiel, helpen om klimaatverandering aan te pakken door wetenschap, techniek en lokale kennis samen te brengen.

Games are increasingly stepping up to address the global climate emergency, not just by adopting more sustainable production and distribution methods but also by weaving sustainability themes into their narratives and game worlds. These  'ecogames' hold significant potential, offering ways to imagine sustainable futures or navigate complex climate emotions. However, as the number of such games grows, not all are created equal - some may unintentionally misrepresent or downplay the full scope of sustainability.

To help make sense of this evolving landscape, we present an overview of ecogame research conducted at Utrecht University, including work within the Horizon Europe project STRATEGIES, an educational initiative focused on climate resilience, and the innovative projects of the Utrecht Gamelab. With tools like the Green Mediography, educators can compare how various games and media engage users on cognitive, emotional, and social levels.

Board games, driven by crowdfunding and social media communities, are also becoming powerful vehicles for ecological awareness at home. At our booth, you can try out several unique examples for yourself. Finally, we’ll demonstrate prototypes developed by the Utrecht Gamelab, inspired by popular franchises like Magic: The Gathering, Monopoly and Fortnite. These prototypes leverage the wide appeal of mainstream games to serve as effective tools for teaching and sparking conversations about sustainability, both in and outside the classroom.

De Klimaatdichters (the Climate Poets) are a collective of more than 250 poets and spoken word artists from the Netherlands and Flanders, who want to dedicate their poetry to a climate-friendly world. They do this through reading and writing poems during festivals and activist gatherings, creating their own multi-disciplinary performances, and developing poetic interventions in the landscape, as well as through the Klimaatdichters podcast and their own educational program. In 2020, they published the popular poetry collection Zwemlessen voor later (Swimming Lessons for Later). For the Pathways to Sustainability Conference, klimaatdichters Margot Delaet and Saskia Stehouwer will write a new poem together, and will provide a lunch program in which participants of the festival can listen to poems and assist in writing the last verse of the conference poem.

The Utrecht University strategic theme Dynamics of Youth invite you to discover and discuss how children think about their future, with a particular focus on climate questions. Discover how children imagine their homes of the future and we challenge you to envision and build your own future home! In addition, we will present our research on children’s vision on climate change and ask you to leave your message for the next generation.

Prior to the 1960s, badgers, grass snakes and lapwings were abundant in the agricultural landscape that is now Utrecht Science Park. But as roads and buildings encroached upon the area, these populations began to retreat. Now, a dedicated team at Utrecht University is inviting them back. What does it take to restore biodiversity in a landscape like USP?

The Climate Simulator VR shows the future impact of climate change on local environments. Our daily lives exist out of choices and actions, and they have an impact on our natural environment. Answer 3 lifestyle questions and the time starts ticking towards 2050. How does the environment change for you? This VR experience is developed and presented by EVRgreenStudio, games for a green and sustainable future.

Do you ever think about what the world must look like for microscopic organisms? Giant insects roaming about, towering mushrooms and blades of grass the size of buildings. Well, wonder no longer and join us for Zombie Ants VR! In this game, you will explore the homes of carpenter ants and learn about their way of life, all through the lens of the parasitic fungi that turn their insect hosts into real-life zombies! See how these bizarre organisms interact with one another and learn how studying their biology may one day lead to the discovery of more sustainable biocontrol agents!

Join us for this session, collaboratively organized by members of our Signature projects Whose Ocean? and Conceptualizing Ecocide. At the heart of both initiatives lies the concept of the More-than-Human – but what exactly does this mean? How do definitions vary across individuals and academic disciplines? What implications arise when humans attempt to represent the More-than-Human? In this session, participants will employ various creative methods to delve into the More-than-Human, in a collective effort to develop a shared understanding of our interconnectedness with the world around us. 

After a first collective immersive art-induced experience, participants will split into three groups. Each group will focus on one of three methods aimed at interacting with the more-than human: through interactive media, through creative writing, and through theater.

In the interactive media session, run by Joost Raessens, Laura op de Beke and Stefan Werning, participants will, in groups, experience one of three categories of eco-media objects: eco-VR applications, analogue games and digital games. Afterwards, participants will compare the respective advantages and shortcomings of these categories and consider how we may ‘think through’ interactive media about human-non/human relations. 

The creative writing subgroup, under the guidance of Magdalena Górska, will provide a space for participants to explore and imagine different perspectives or entities that go beyond the human experience. Through writing, participants will engage with ideas and themes that challenge the human-centered worldview, such as nature, animals, ecosystems, or even non-living elements like technology or objects.

The third subgroup will center its activities on improvisational theater, using this dynamic and spontaneous art form as a way for participants to physically and emotionally engage with the concept of the more-than-human. Through unscripted, on-the-spot performances, participants will explore how they can embody or represent non-human elements. This approach emphasizes the physicality of theater to help participants connect more deeply with the idea of being other-than-human.

This session promises to be an enriching experience, encouraging innovative thinking and transdisciplinary collaboration.

What will our future home look like? What technologies and materials are currently being researched that will be part of our daily lives in the future? What scientific advancements and technical innovations are necessary to fully embrace circular building and renovation practices? As we envision our future homes, we're looking at a blend of advanced technologies and innovative materials designed to enhance sustainability, efficiency, and comfort across several areas, such as building materials, energy systems, water management, food production, and adaptation to climate change. The principles of circular building and circular renovation are fundamental to developing environmentally friendly and economically viable homes.

We have an exciting lineup of guests who will showcase groundbreaking technologies shaping the homes of tomorrow. Prof. dr. Han Wösten (UU) will explore sustainable materials made from fungal threads, which offer eco-friendly alternatives to plastics, wood, and rubber. Dr. Alessandra Luna Navarro from the architecture department of the TU Delft will discuss advancements in architectural engineering and technology. Dr. Peter Ngene (UU) will present newly developed technologies on where future home batteries could be based. Jan Buining, founder of Tasty Basics, will share insights into the future of food, which may be closer to home than we think. Dr. Sara Mirbagheri Golroodbari will present insights on solar panels and our future home. The session will be led by dr. Suzanne Hangx.

Transitions towards an inclusive and sustainable society can only succeed through the active involvement of citizens. However, getting support and commitment from citizens for public issues like reducing their carbon footprint or shifting to a planetary diet appears extremely challenging. In this session, we want to share and discuss examples of successful approaches to encourage individuals to make sustainable choices and to engage (groups of) people towards joint action:

• Social norms in the supermarket to support sustainable shopping
  Reinoud Moojen (Utrecht University) and Frédérique Rongen (Wageningen University)
  Other people’s behavior may give significant guidance for our own behavior but often we are not aware of how others think or act. In this session, participants can experience the power of knowing that others find sustainable supermarket shopping the normal thing to do.
• Financial incentives for sustainable behavior change
  Inge van den Bijgaart and Joyce Delnoij (Utrecht University School of Economics) 
  Sustainable choices are often more expensive choices, and as household budgets are limited, going for the cheaper option is tempting. Through a 'live game', we will explore the role of such financial considerations in preventing or enabling behavioral change. 
• How does an astronaut’s view on Earth influence sustainable behavioral change?
  Félice van Nunspeet (Utrecht University) and Milo Grootjen (Artis Planetarium)
  Emotions are powerful incentives for behavioral change. In this session, we will expose participants to an astronaut’s (global) view on Earth to let them experience how it may influence their emotions and motivation for (local) sustainable behavioral change.
• Collaboration to foster group initiatives for a sustainable neighborhood
  Robert Weijers & Tannet Duine (Utrecht University)
  Working together is usually a positive experience, which we can use to build commitment to initiatives for a sustainable neighborhood. In this session, the audience participates in a small collaborative exercise to experience how a ‘we’ feeling may grow into collective sustainable motivation.

The terms "social impact" and "social change" have recently become buzzwords in academic and professional circles, in response to the urgency of tackling pressing societal challenges. However, different people approach these ideas in different ways, depending on underlying assumptions about who should drive change, how to make change happen, and the ultimate aim of creating social impact. 

So how can we (co)create social impact? 

With students, teachers, researchers, and practitioners, we will explore what we mean by "social impact", and discuss the role of academia in engaging with society. Speakers from Utrecht University and societal stakeholders will share examples. In small groups, we will delve into the opportunities and challenges of collaborating with societal partners based on specific themes. By the end of the session, we should have a clearer picture of the diverse ways in which academia and societal partners can co-create social impact.

With Ozan Alakavuklar, Jonas Torrens, Arjan van Dorsselaer, Shirley Qian Jin

“I’d love to live in this village until I’m old, like, until I’ve gone. So I don’t want to go anywhere else. My family and friends, everyone is here” – Inhabitant of Fairbourne, Wales, in the documentary “De klimaatverkenner”. Fairbourne has been ‘given up’. Within 30 years, the seabarriers will no longer be maintained, and remaining inhabitants will have to move, or they will be on their own. 

All living creatures need a safe place where they can grow and flourish. However, communities around the globe are impacted by global warming and biodiversity loss. In low-lying areas like deltas, people often quite literally see their homes sinking into the sea and communities are affected by transition policies designed to mitigate climate change. Despite these threats, communities and their people tend to stay in place as long as possible. This sense of belonging is fundamental, and often overlooked by scholars and policymakers.

Together with participants we will explore this sense of place and belonging: why do people feel at home in certain places? Bishawjit Mallick will offer an academic perspective on the role of place attachment. In smaller groups we will then discuss the influence of place attachment on individuals' and communities' willingness to adapt to climate change. We will look at the role of responsibility: of individuals, the community, institutions and politicians. A better understanding of the importance of place attachment will help us in developing scenarios for dealing with climate change.

Our home is not only about a physical environment but also about the institutional rules that shape our lives. Rules for democracy that ensure that voices are heard, legal rules that protect citizens against abuse and economic rules that guide the markets are all directly relevant the world we live in. But do these rules contribute to the transition to a sustainable society? Or do they ensure the current status quo and therefore protect unsustainable ways of living? Current rules for democracy focus on short term rather than long term interests. Legal rules protect human beings but provide limited protection for natural actors. And economic rules emphasize the short-term value for shareholders rather than long term interests for all people. In this session, we will explore what a new ‘ institutional home’ could look like. We provide insights from different disciplines but also invite participants to tap into their imagination. This session, organized by scholars from the faculty of Law, Economics and Goverance, will result in rich insights on institutional pathways to a sustainable society.

In the workshop, we will be exploring three themes:

1. Putting restriction on ownership?
2. Rights for nature
3. Democratic position of the future generation

For all these themes, we will explore the institutional rules that inhibit transformation and new rules that are conducive to the transformation. Each theme will be introduced and then we will use different types of games to explore and learn about institutional pathways.