People For Earth

- Kimberly Nicholas, Lund University, Sweden

On March 30, the 5th Climate Change Colloquium was held in Yujae, Jongno-gu, Seoul. The Climate Change Colloquium was designed to understand climate change and seek practical alternatives, and was co-hosted by People for Earth, Gyeonggi Research Institute and Energy Transition Forum Korea.

Kimberly Nicholas (Lund University, Sweden) who attended as a speaker, emphasized the emotions and actions of citizens in responding to climate change. She is also the author of Under the Sky We Make: How to Be Human in a Warming World and her book became a hot topic in Europe and America by writing about her life and worries along with the scientific basis for climate change.

Kimberley emphasized facts, emotions, and actions as key factors for overcoming the climate crisis. She suggested the importance of understanding the emotions in response to climate change, suggesting that climate action can begin from looking at reality as it is and facing precisely what can and cannot change.

Jaekyung Ko, a senior researcher at Gyeonggi Research Institute who participated as a panelist on this day, is in charge of research on energy transition policy in the Gyeonggi region. She pointed out that although the level of people's awareness of problems has increased through the provision of climate change information, it is not connected to actual actions. She said, it is necessary to find a solution to how scientific information can be connected to people's actions. She also said that in order not to recognize the climate change issue as an ambiguous future problem, it is necessary to segment the characteristics of the climate change issue and to take a cultural and psychological approach.

Reporter Hansol Kim of the Kyunghyang Shinmun wrote a story about climate change in Korea in 〈Witnesses of Climate Change〉. She emphasized the interpretation of fact-to-fact context in climate change communication, and continued the discussion on how people can accept climate change in their life.

Eun-byeol Jo, Committee member of BigWave for Climate Change, emphasized the need to participate in climate action with the mission of responding to the climate crisis for everyone. She suggested that climate action can be sustainable only if it starts with the social concerns that individuals have, and suggested that each of them seek out areas such as vegetarianism, travel, and policy that they are interested in first.

Finally, Professor Kimberly suggested the collective influence that individuals can change, that is, the influence that individuals as consumers, investors, role models, organizational participants, and citizens can give and receive within the community. She introduced the successes and failures of communities in responding to climate change through the examples of Climate-Neutral cities in Europe, and emphasized that the most effective message from climate change, whether positive or negative, is “a genuine message.”

〈Climate Change Colloquium 2022 - 5th〉