Perhaps we used to think of climate change as something that happens in far-flung places, and in the distant future. We might also have a tendency to think of 'the environment' or its challenges as somehow separate to ourselves and our social or cultural lives. Rapid environmental change can be very disorientating for our own sense of who- or even where- we are. It affects our feelings about the future, and the places that we are attached to. How do we navigate between unrealistic hope and crippling fear? Please join us for a screening of TIMELINE (30 minutes) and a talk by Environmental Humanities Professors Kate Rigby and Owain Jones. They will share emerging ideas from their cutting-edge research in the UK, Micronesia and beyond, about how people cope with change in distinctly local ways. There will be some light refreshment provided.

TIMELINE (30mins) by award-winning filmmaker Sara Penrhyn Jones explores some of these ideas in a personal voice. Travelling through Greenland's melting landscapes, Yorkshire, Wales, and the low-lying island nation Kiribati, it is clear that, in the words of scientist Arwyn Edwards: 'Bad things are coming'. Aberystwyth promenade is trashed by giant waves and a local man comments that 'everything is topsy-turvy'. Can this journey through the darkest themes be poetic too, offering hope, beauty, and a renewed appreciation of community? Sara will be happy to answer any questions about the film. 

This creative work was made possible by funding through two different Arts and Humanities Research Council  (AHRC) projects: 'Troubled Waters', and 'Towards Hydrocitizenship'. This event is part of the Being Human festival, the UK’s only national festival of the humanities, taking place 17–25 November. Led by the School of Advanced Study, University of London, in partnership with the Arts & Humanities Research Council and the British Academy. For further information please see www.beinghumanfestival.org/ @BeingHumanFest.