To Whom It May Concern is a transdisciplinary research and engagement initiative that explores how people imagine and articulate their relationship with the planet through the practice of writing letters to the Earth. Rooted in the new, immersive Op Aarde exhibition at the Sonnenborgh Museum and Observatory, the project collects, studies, and curates a growing archive of these letters—authored by visitors of all ages—as both a cultural record and a source of insight into climate imagination, emotional literacy, and everyday sustainability narratives.

This seed project investigates how different disciplines—including environmental humanities, education, communication, and climate science—can collaboratively interpret this unique collection. What does a letter to the Earth reveal about how people relate to climate, place, and future? How can we read, analyse, and activate these letters—both as research data and as seeds for public dialogue and engagement?

Recent studies have shown that writing letters, e.g. to future loved ones, can be a powerful tool for addressing climate inaction and overcoming ideological divides (see here for example). This project aims to apply and extend that insight into a public-scientific context, deepening research on affective methods in climate communication.

Expected Outcomes:

• A method for interdisciplinary analysis of the letter archive (e.g. thematic, narrative, affective, ecological).
• A format for public engagement (e.g. workshops, open podia, additions to the exhibition, ILFU collaborations).
• A collaborative framework that connects researchers, educators, artists, and members of the public in the co-creation of climate knowledge.

The letter archive will also serve as the foundation for a second phase of Op Aarde and for a public-facing repository in collaboration with Utrecht Public Library, ILFU, and the Centraal Museum.

Data collection: Letters are written by visitors (school groups, families, individuals) after engaging with the exhibition’s narrative prompts. Consent is obtained for use in research and publication. Additional letters will be generated through workshops and public writing events. These letters are digitized, categorized, and shared through curated platforms.

This project “plants a seed” by developing new tools for engaging with climate change as a matter of emotional, cultural, and imaginative concern. By treating artistic, narrative, and affective expressions as valid forms of sustainability knowledge, the project creates space for types of engagement often missing from policy or scientific discourse.

As a deliberately small-scale and exploratory initiative, To Whom It May Concern enables the testing of new methods, partnerships, and infrastructures—laying the groundwork for a larger participatory archive, an interdisciplinary research programme, and innovative educational formats in the future, while building on existing research into letter-writing as an affective (and effective) method in climate communication.

• dr. Josephine Chambers
• dr. Mia You
• dr. Kári Driscoll

• Rinke Vreeke
• Tanja Koning