VOICES ON THE ENVIRONMENT: INTERGENERATIONAL JUSTICE We Hear You

A Climate Archive on a Global Stage

By Marion Cassidy, C’23 , Justine Bowe, and Alannah Nathan, SFS ‘24

The Earth Commons, Dramaten (The Royal Dramatic Theatre of Sweden), The Embassy of Sweden in Washington, DC, and The Laboratory for Global Performance and Politics launched We Hear You—A Climate Archive, co-conceived by Earth Commons Artist in Residence Caitlin Nasema Cassidy and Jacob Hirdwall.

Inspired by Greta Thunberg’s urgent question “Can you hear me?,” this project sought to amplify—and to record for future generations—the ways that today’s young people are experiencing changes in the fundamental forces of the earth. We Hear

You—A Climate Archive included a two-year series of curated international performance and the launch of a digital platform for global climate storytelling. In addition to these public programs, the project also involved curricular engagement with students at Georgetown University.

The performance series officially launched with an evening of climate storytelling on Friday, March 18 at the COAL + ICE exhibition presented by the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and Asia Society. An ensemble of DC-area youth artists and activists presented an original performance weaving their own experiences with the words of Greta Thunberg.

Following its launch in DC, We Hear You—A Climate Archive is commissioning 77 additional stories from young people around the world. These commissions will inform the launch of a digital platform for global climate storytelling, as well as a multi-year international curated performance series, culminating in a performance at Dramaten directed by Jacob Hirdwall.

We Hear You—A Climate Archive opened the United Nations Stockholm+50 June 1 plenary at Stockholm University. The performance featured Razmus Nyström and Melinda Kinnaman from The Royal Dramatic Theatre of Sweden with text by Greta Thunberg, Lilli Hokama, and Jacob Hirdwall and direction by Jacob Hirdwall.

“We need stories about what we love and stand to lose,” says Cassidy. “In this time of global crises, I know I need stories that deliver joy, that offer me ways to root in wisdom and move forward in hope. We Hear You—A Climate Archive is asking: How can we hear the young folx—the artists and activists doing the work of imagining more liveable futures? What can we learn from them—from one another?”

We Hear You—A Climate Archive grows from the performance We Hear You—Greta Thunbergs Tal, originally presented at Sweden’s Royal Dramatic Theatre in Stockholm on January 31, 2020. Staged by Jacob Hirdwall and Ada Berger, this performance drew on the texts of Greta’s speeches collected in No One Is Too Small To Make a Difference (Penguin, 2019).

Reflections from attendees

I hadn’t realized how much I need to be thinking about climate change. The only time I typically see the word climate change is in a meme or an existential-crisis joke so it was really moving to hear young people talk about 1) that there’s hope 2) that we need to do something about it. My favorite moments were the ones where the performers were talking about their hometowns and what parts of nature were most important to them. It put me back into my childhood and my backyard. They spoke about there being pieces of nature and specific memories that held a place in their heart. They carry them with them amidst all the negative talk about climate change and the demise of the world. I really relate to that.” –– Maddie Gaeta, COL ‘22

“Hearing the five youth voices and their different perspectives was very engaging. They did a good job tying it into Greta Thunberg’s speech. I really enjoyed how each performer incorporated a sense of place and home that they brought to the stage and their roles and really highlighted the universal nature of the climate crisis.” –– Jack Healy, SFS ‘23

“Two themes especially resonated with me: what the activists felt was their “call” to activism (which so varied) and what the role calls of them. Being an activist, I learned, is telling the truth. The activists were fighting for something, rather than against it; this repositioned what I think of activism. They expressed how taxing and scary it is to be in this space, and deal with pain from hundreds of miles away. While it is so inspiring to hear them, they felt at times they never felt like they were doing enough. Our fellow editor at Common Home – Sadie Morris – just wrote about this last issue, so hit home on a few fronts.

The setting drove these sentiments home for me. The performance was in a tent on the lawn/patio of the Kennedy Center. It was so much better than being in a typical theater with no access to windows, fresh air, etc. To be able to hear birds, alongside motor boats on the Potomac emphasized the duality of our natural world as one that is beautiful but also one that we are constantly invading and changing. Listening to the activists speak while hearing planes above and being reminded of the fuel used in travel was certainly self-reflective and something tricky for me to reconcile.”-

Marion Cassidy, Common Home Editor