SPEAKERS FORUM, GREEN FUTURES FIELD 2023 PROGRAMME
Click here for talk descriptions
Wednesday 21st
1pm Ocean Protection – Will McCallum
2pm Living and working like the climate is changing. – Rebecca Gibbs
3pm Adventures in Democracy – Jamie Kelsey Fry
4pm Progressive Alliances and Climate -Frances Foley
5pm Activists Masterclass Jamie Kelsey Fry
6pm Strategies for Change – Cllr Shane Collins
7pm Forest Forces. – Chief Dada, Tim Van Solinge, Lea Hejn
8pm Reel News Film Q & A Everything Must Change
Thursday 22nd
10am Reel News Film Q & A Save St Fitticks Park, Aberdeen
11am The power in your pocket to tackle the fossil fuel industry? – Sophie Cowen
12 Climate, canary in the coalmine – Rupert Read
1pm Carbon Offsetting Pirates – Patrick Greenfield
2pm Climate, Colonialism, Reparations – Tyrone Scott
3pm Lord Deben, Chair Climate Change Committee with Roger Harrabin
4pm Who Will Save Us ? Babies or Boomers – Leila Deen, Kevin Smith, Dominique Palmer, Nadia Shaikh, Jacqui Burke.
5pm Net Zero. Lord Deben, Molly Scott Cato, Kevin Anderson – Roger Harrabin
6pm Tyranny of Agreement – Clare Farrell XR & Jamie Kelsey Fry
7pm Rage Against the Machine – Jolyon Rubinstein
8pm Reel News Q & A. Trade Union MeTU- Fliss Premru, Zelda Perkins.
Friday 23rd
10am People, Energy & Ownership – Molly Scott Cato.
11am Politics and Climate Science – Molly Scott Cato, Kevin Anderson, Clive Lewis MP,
12 Race, Class, Climate and Capitalism – Assad Rehman
1pm The Crisis in Nature – Phoebe Weston
2pm Catastrophic Climate Scenarios – Luke Kemp
3pm Good Law v Goliath – Jolyon Maugham, Good Law Project
4pm Climate & Food – Clive Lewis MP with John Harris
5pm Media and Climate – Roger Harrabin, Patrick Greenfield, Clare Farrell XR, Sarah Lunnon JSO, Dr Alex Lockwood
6pm New Denialism, Net Zero – Kevin Anderson
Saturday 24th
10am Just Transition in Trade Unions – Fliss Premru, Rowan Mataram, Assad Rehman
11am Averting Climate Collapse – Molly Scott Cato, Luke Kemp, Leila Deen
12 Police Bills – Baroness Jenny Jones, Lisa Wintersteiger, Louise Harris JSO
1pm A22 Europe and spreading – JKF, Catalina, Lina Johnsen
2pm Ed Milliband MP Dale Vince, Ecotricity with Roger Harrabin
3pm Stopping New Oil – Jolyon Maugham, Good Law, Eben Lazarus JSO Sophie Cowen Chair Roger Harrabin
4pm Football for Future – Katie Rood, David Wheeler, Elliot Arthur-Worsop
5pm How to Just Stop Oil – Indigo Rumbelow
6pm NAVALNY, Q & A and film – Maria Pevchikh, Odessa Rae, Sydney Lima
Sunday 25th
10am 50 years of Green Action – Chris Church
11am Phones Filming for Change – Zoe Broughton
12 Beavers and Rewilding – Adam Hunt, Lulu Urquhart.
1pm Reform, Protest or Resistance – Cllr Shane Collins, Areeba Hamid, Baroness Jenny Jones, Clare Farrell XR, Indigo Rumbelow JSO.
2pm Culture and Revolutionary Shifts: Jamie Kelsey Fry, Asif Kapadia, Victoria Harwood Kapadia.
3pm 2033 No UK Fossil Fuels – Nic Davies, Kirsty Kenney, Ajai Ahluwalia
4pm Areeba Hamid – Greenpeace co Director
5pm Comics Without Borders – Kate Evans, Tom Daly
6pm Reel News Q & A. Harm to Harmony. Stop Ecocide with Kelly Roberts
Talk descriptions
Wednesday 21st
1.00 pm Ocean Protection – Blue Ventures – Will McCallum
An international movement against one of the most damaging forms of industrial fishing – bottom trawling. We’re called the ‘Transform Bottom Trawling Coalition’ and we’re made up of over 60 orgs from over 30 countries that are united by a commitment to end the harm caused by destructive industrial fishing. Will McCallum is the new co-executive director of Greenpeace UK.
2.00 pm Living and working like the climate is changing. – Rebecca Gibbs
Rebecca has worked on climate change for 15 years, in policy and politics, and now focuses on social adaptation.
3.00 pm Adventures in Democracy – Jamie Kelsey Fry
How the world’s first Global Citizens’ Assembly showed a better way for humanity to decide together.
Jamie Kelsey Fry is a contributing editor to New Internationalist and was the author of the radical GCSE school text book ’Rax Toolkit’. He was one of the key characters in the UK Occupy movement, started Talk Fracking with Vivienne Westwood, was a key support to Extinction Rebellion, ran an award winning community TRA in east London before creating a community group in North Devon resulting in eight candidates who were ’not your usual suspects’ becoming councillors. He was a founder of the world’s first global citizens’ assembly, chosen by sortition, in 2021. He has made over 200 appearances on mainstream media himself, as an activist and as a New Internationalist spokesperson and has trained over 1000 people in media spokes work.
4.00 pm Progressive Alliances and Climate – Frances Foley
What kind of enduring political alliances are needed to enable and accelerate transition? How do we facilitate these relationships – between parties, movements and people? And where can we look to help us weave together a strong, broad based and robust alliance for change? Examples from USA, Germany, Portugal, Brazil, New Zealand, and beyond.
Frances is Deputy Director at Compass where she works on political organising and alliance building. She has a background in participatory democracy and citizens’ assemblies and believes that confronting our current crises demands we revive and renew our democratic practices.
5.00 pm Making real change happen: a masterclass in successful activism.Jamie Kelsey Fry, A22.
How to run a successful campaign: hear from experts on different aspects of how to make change happen. Jamie Kelsey Fry (Occupy, Extinction Rebellion, Global Assembly) on how to make the media work for you.
6.00 pm Strategies for Change – Cllr Shane Collins
A run through of the problems society faces and various ways of making social change. Consumer choice, campaign groups, elections, NVDA, sabotage, warfare, the 3.5% rule and Radical Flank theory
Cllr Shane Collins is a Green cllr for Frome on Somerset Council and a director of the Green Gathering with a long career in green activism at Twyford Down, CoolTan Arts, Reclaim the Streets, Freedom Network against the Criminal Justice Bill, licencee for the 6 years of Legalise Cannabis March and Festivals. Shane is also a Core Participant in the ongoing Undercover Police Public Inquiry and co-ordinator of Frome Hoedown, hoeing the streets to stop the Council spraying Roundup.
7.00 pm Forest Force Short film and Q&A -Chief Dada, Tim Van Solinge. Lea Hejn.
Chief Dada is the leader of the Indigenous Brazilian Borari community and Amazon Forest Defender. Tim van Solinge dedicated himself mainly to the preservation of tropical rainforest by founding the Forest Forces NGO, that focused on expanding the system of local forest monitoring with GPS cameras which he started in 2014. His role will be to lead ‘on the ground’ actions and activities relating to coordinating access to justice strategies with Indigenous leaders and law enforcement. Lea Hejn has worked on a range of projects ranging from Isabella Tree’s ‘Wilding’ book (2023) by Passion Pictures, and National Geographic, Disney + original series ‘Welcome to Earth’.
8.00 pm Reel News- Everything must Change
Joining the dots between the climate crisis, the cost of living crisis, the food crisis and the housing crisis. Film and Q&A.
Thursday 22nd
10.00 am Reel News Film Save St Fitticks Park, Aberdeen
Q&A. Torry in Aberdeen was once a proud, prosperous fishing community – but when the oil industry arrived in 1970, they lost their homes, their jobs, everything. Now their last remaining green space, St Fitticks Park, is under threat – but the community is fighting back.
11.00 am Do I have the power to tackle the fossil fuel industry? The answer is in your pocket. Sophie Cowen
Sophie unravels the shocking truth behind the global banking industry’s role in fuelling climate breakdown, injecting a staggering £3.8 trillion into fossil fuel projects since 2016. As global temperatures soar, the question is: can we truly make a difference? We’ll explore inspiring and impactful campaigns working against the fossil fuel industry, and everyone will leave the tent equipped with actionable steps to ensure banks and governments are forced to transform their policies for good.
Sophie Cowen is a campaigner who puts her energy into developing high impact, collective action campaigns to slow climate breakdown. She spent the first part of her career in advertising, before helping launch Extinction Rebellion, and the XR Media & Messaging team. She is part of the Barclays 7, who were on trial for breaking a window at Barclays HQ in protest at the bank’s oil investments. In 2021, she set up Switch It Green to switch money and support out of fossil-fuel funding banks.
12.00 am Climate, the canary in the coal mine. – Rupert Read
The existential risk that is upon us from climate breakdown is only the most certain of a series of such unfolding catastrophes. As we seek to assemble a majority pressing for serious action on climate, we need to be thinking about how that majority can be aided in thinking about the other existential threats (pandemics, AI, nuclear war, etc) at the same time. All of them are symptoms of a common underlying cause — and we must seek common cause in addressing them.
Rupert Read is an Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of East Anglia in Norwich, UK, former spokesperson for Extinction Rebellion and co-director of the new Climate Majority Project. He is the author of This Civilisation is Finished, Parents for a Future, Why Climate Breakdown Matters and Do you want to know the truth?: The surprising rewards of climate honesty.
1.00 pm Carbon pirates: how offsetting makes the climate crisis worse. – Patrick Greenfield
A look at how major corporations are using worthless carbon credits to claim they are carbon neutral. Patrick Greenfield is a biodiversity and environment reporter for the Guardian and the Observer.
2.00pm Climate & Colonialism: The call for reparations. – Tyrone Scott
A talk exploring the links between climate change, colonialism and the disproportionate effects climate change has on communities of colour both globally and in the UK. This talk will explore the growing calls for climate reparations, and what that means.
Tyrone Scott is the Senior Movement Building & Activism Officer at War on Want, an organisation which aims to fight poverty and defend human rights, as part of the movement for global justice, and is also the chair of the Green Party’s Greens of Colour Group.
3.00 pm Lord Deben, Chair CCC with Roger Harrabin
The UK is legally bound to keep to it’s Paris targets and the Climate Change Committee scrutinies how the plans are going. Lord Debden is the chair in conversation with Roger Harrabin ex BBC Energy editor.
4.00 pm Babies or Boomers- who can solve this climate crisis? Leila Deen, Nadia Shaikh, Dominique Palmer, Jacqui Burke,Kevin Smith,
Young people blame Boomers for the climate crisis and claim “the largest climate movement ever!” but the hair of many of the most dedicated activists is often grey. Older white men still dominate the climate commentariat, but don’t we have to fight the power with the powerful? Should we organize by our age-group? Is generational responsibility helping us fight the climate crisis?
Leila is a British-Arab climate activist who was famous for five minutes when she threw custard at Peter Mandelson live on Sky News in 2009. She’s since been arrested many times whilst trying to elevate concern for the climate crisis. She campaigned with Plane Stupid, Climate Camp and worked as a leader for Greenpeace and SumOfUs. Today she’s writing a humorous book about the early climate movement and working as a funder in the USA. Jacqui Burke has decades of anti-nuclear and peace campaigning experience and works with Greater Manchester & District CND.
5.00 pm Net Zero – Do we have a chance ? Lord Deben, Molly Scott Cato, Prof Kevin Anderson, Roger Harrabin
Molly Scott Cato Professor of Green Economics, Roehampton University. Lord Deben, Chair Climate Change Committee, Kevin Anderson is professor of Energy and Climate Change at the University of Manchester. Roger Harrabin is ex BBC Energy Editor.
6.00 pm The Tyranny of Agreement Clare Farrell XR & Jamie Kelsey Fry
Clare Farrell – co-founder of Extinction Rebellion – and Jamie Kelsey Fry – founder of the Global Assembly – discuss how the evolution in democracy is an evolution in love, where polarisation and the cult of the individual is dismantled by these new governance operating systems that have loving disagreement at their heart.
7.00 pm Rage Against the Machine: Satire in the Post-truth Populist Age. – Jolyon Rubinstein
Exploring the power of humour and satire in challenging authority and exposing hypocrisy in a world where truth is often dismissed as “fake news.” Rubinstein highlights the potential dangers and challenges of satirizing populist movements and leaders in a polarized society. Overall, he encourages using humour and satire as a way to resist the forces that undermine democracy and justice.
Jolyon Rubinstein is a British comedian, actor, writer, and producer. He is best known for co-creating and starring in the satirical comedy series “The Revolution Will Be Televised.” Rubinstein’s work often targets figures of authority and power, using humour and satire to challenge the status quo.
8.00 pm Reel News Q& A. MeTU: Tackling sexual harassment, violence and bullying in the trade union movement. – Fliss Premru and Zelda Perkins.
In May 2022, Claire Laycock , former organiser with GMB and TSSA released a video testimony with Reel News detailing her abuse as union employee which rocked trade union movement and resulted in an independent enquiry into TSSA by Baroness Helena Kennedy. Women from all unions have joined the growing #MeTU to tackle the problem which is rife in the movement and to build strong unions fit to build a better future. Zelda Perkins – founder of ‘Can’t Buy My Silence’ former Harvey Weinstein employee who broke her NDA and Fliss Premru, TSSA and #MeTU. Fliss Premru is climate activist and feminist working with #MeTU.
Friday 23rd
10.00 am Power to the People, Ownership of Energy -Molly Scott Cato
The fuel of our future energy systems is free – wind, waves and sun – so do we want our energy to be free too? How can we use the move from fossil fuels to renewables to be economically empowering for us all?
Molly Scott Cato speaks for the Green Party of England and Wales on Economy and Finance and is also Professor of Green Economics at Roehampton University. She has expertise on climate finance, climate reparations and the carbon tax. Molly studied PPE at Oxford University and took a PhD in Economics from the University of Wales. She is an expert on resilient local economies, cooperatives and social enterprise, sustainable finance, monetary policy and tax policy.
11.00 am Politics and Climate Science – Molly Scott Cato, Kevin Anderson, Clive Lewis MP
It’s tempting to think that what the science tells us about climate change is only a reflection of the physical reality but reports from IPCC, the most authoritative source on the causes and potential consequences of climate change, are endorsed by governments as well as scientists. What do we need to understand about the intersection of climate science and politics in the UK?
Molly Scott Cato is a former Green MEP. Prof Kevin Anderson is one of the UK leading climate scientists. Clive Lewis is a Labour MP.
12.00 am Don’t Look Down: How Race, Class and Capitalism is fuelling the Climate Emergency – Assad Rehman
The roots of the climate crisis are woven in the deep inequalities and injustices baked into our societies from slavery, colonialism to racialised capitalism. This session will discuss how we turn crises to justice with a radical transformation of our economies and societies rooted in a new internationalism. Asad Rehman is the Executive Director of the radical anti-poverty and social justice charity War on Want and a leading climate justice activist whose work has helped to reframe the climate crisis as a crisis of neoliberal capitalism, inequality and racism, and is co-cordinator of the Global Green New Deal Project.
1.00 pm The nature crisis and what we can do about it – Phoebe Weston
Science tells us climate crisis and biodiversity crisis are equally pressing and linked – we can’t solve one without the other. But yet we hear so little about what is happening to nature? I’ll be talking about the UN COP15 summit (the equivalent to the climate talks but no one has heard about it!), what we agreed and where we go from here – particularly focussing on role of businesses, which are now being asked to disclose their impacts on nature, and how much this could change things (or not!). Phoebe Weston is a biodiversity reporter at the Guardian who writes about the destruction of planet Earth, why that matters and what we can do about it. She was raised on a farm in Kent, loves British wildlife and wants to see more people understand why protecting wildlife matters (even if you have no interest in animals).
2.00 pm Climate Endgame: Exploring Catastrophic Climate Change Scenarios – Luke Kemp
Could anthropogenic climate change result in worldwide societal collapse or even eventual human extinction? At present, this is a dangerously under explored topic. This presentation will examine how and why catastrophic climate scenarios are neglected, why they are vital to consider, and how we can study these and integrate them into our collective decisions.
Luke is a Research Associate at the Centre for the Study of Existential Risk (CSER) and Darwin College at the University of Cambridge. His research focuses on the deep history and future of catastrophic risks, particularly climate change. He has advised the Australian Parliament on ratifying the 2015 Paris Agreement. He is a regular contributor to the BBC and his work has been covered by media outlets such as the New York Times and the New Yorker.
3.00 pm Bringing Down Goliath: How Good Law Can Topple the Powerful, – Jolyon Maugham
Jolyon Maugham is a lawyer, writer and the founder of governance watchdog Good Law Project. At the age of 45 he was described by The Times as ‘one of Britain’s leading barristers’ but only a year later started to wind down his practice in order to start a brand new not-for-profit. Since its inception in 2017, Good Law Project has become the biggest legal campaigning group in the country, has won some of the leading constitutional cases of our times and set the political agenda around government’s pandemic sleaze.
4.00 pm When the harvest fails: A progressive response to food insecurity. – Clive Lewis MP and John Harris
Clive Lewis MP in conversation with John Harris of the Guardian.
Clive Lewis is Labour MP for Norwich South. He Co-Sponsors the Green New Deal Bill with Caroline Lucas, Co-Chairs the All-Party Parliamentary Group on the Green New Deal, Chairs the APPG Race and Community, and is a member of the Environmental Audit Committee. Before entering Parliament Clive was Vice President of the National Union of Students, a BBC TV political reporter as well as Army reservist infantry officer, serving a combat tour of Afghanistan in 2009. He has been Shadow Minister for Climate & Energy Change, Shadow Secretary of State for Defence, Shadow Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and, mostly recently, Shadow Minister for the Treasury, with a focus on Environmental Economics and Sustainable Finance.
5.00 pm Media and the Climate – Roger Harrabin, Patrick Greenfield, Clare Farrell – XR, Sarah Lunnon -Just Stop Oil.
The media has a responsibility to tell the truth. Is this happening and how can we make it happen more ? Justin Rowlatt is BBC Climate editor, Roger Harrabin is ex BBC Energy Editor, Patrick Greenfield is a Guardian journalist, Clare Farrell is a XR spokes, Indigo Rumbelow is a JSO spokes.
6.00 pm The New Denialism, Net Zero – Prof Kevin Anderson
The deliberate failure of leaders, whether in politics, business, journalism or indeed much of academia to be honest about the climate emergency has left us facing fundamental questions of every facet of modern society. Central amongst these is the issue of equity. Kevin Anderson will unpick the policy gulf that exists between the temperature and equity commitments enshrined in the Paris Agreement and the emission trajectory of so called “developed” nations. “Nature will not be fooled” by empty rhetoric, net-zero and unsubstantiated optimism – and nor should we. He will close by looking beyond techno-optimistic solutions, concluding there are now no non-radical futures. The choice is between immediate and profound social and technical change or waiting a little longer for chaotic and violent social change. In 2023 the window for this choice is rapidly closing. Kevin is professor of Energy and Climate Change at the University of Manchester and visiting professor at the Universities of Uppsala (Sweden) and Bergen (Norway) and was director of the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research (UK). Kevin engages widely with governments, industry and civil society, and remains research active with publications in Climate policy, Nature and Science. He has a decade’s industrial experience in the petrochemical industry, is a chartered engineer and fellow of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers.
Saturday 24th
10.00 am Just Transitions in Trade Unions – Fliss Premru, Rowan Mataram, Assad Rehman
Just Transition and Trade Unions: a feminist perspective
How do we get a National Climate Service to ensure climate justice and jobs in a low carbon future? Do the demands in the trade unions centre women and front line communities, and how do we knock back the greenwash?
Assad Rehman War on Want and Fliss Premru is climate activist and feminist working with #MeTU sisters to eliminate sexism and harassment in the trade union movement and in the Campaign Against Climate Change Trade Union Group and LESE TUC for a just transition and climate jobs
11.00 am Can we Avert Runaway Climate Change ? Molly Scott Cato, Luke Kemp, Leila Deen,
1.5oC looks inevitable, can we keep below 2oC or are tipping points passed ? Molly Scott Cato ex MEP, Luke Kemp – Centre for the Study of Existential Risk (CSER) and Darwin College at the University of Cambridge., and Leila Deen whocampaigned with Plane Stupid, Climate Camp and worked as a leader for Greenpeace and SumOfUs.
12.00 Is the UK losing its democracy ? – Baroness Jenny Jones, Lisa Wintersteiger, Louise Harris – JSO.
Voter suppression and the Public Order Bill are just part of a package of measures that the corrupt, Conservative Party hopes will enable it to stay in power. The strike ban; the restrictions on noisy and effective protests; giving immunity to undercover cops who spy on campaigners, along with the executive taking over the power of Parliament to delete or change laws, are all destroying parliamentary democracy.
1.00 pm A22 Europe and spreading – Jamie Kelsey Fry, Lina Johnsen, Catalina
The A22 Network of European direct action was set up in 2022 with phenomenal success. It has run the biggest climate campaigns in Austria, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, New Zealand and the UK. Hear from key activists of this International network, learn from their successes, and take the step to come on board and support what is the ground breaking new face of resistance in the 2020s.”
Catalina is a midwife and involved in Dernière Rénovation since April 2022. I have been arrested three times for stating my right to have a liveable future. Lina Johnsen is a Liberal Arts and Sciences (LAS) student at Freiburg University and involved with the “Last Generation” since 2022 as a press spokes.
2.00 pm Ed Milliband MP Dale Vince, Ecotricity with Roger Harrabin
Dale Vince OBE is a green energy industrialist, ex traveller and Chairman of Ecotricity and Forest Green Rovers FC, who has generously donated to the Green Party, Labour Party and Just Stop Oil. In conversation with Roger Harrabin ex BBC Energy Editor.
3.00 pm Strategy for the End of Oil – Jolyon Maugham, Eben Lazarus JSO, Sophie Cowen, Chair Roger Harrabin
Using the law, active resistance, consumer power and other ways of ending oil. Jolyon Maugham from Good Law Project, Sophie Cowen ex XR media and Switchit green, Eben Lazaraus from JSO and Roger Harrabin ex BBC Energy editor.
4.00 pm Football for a Future Katie Rood, David Wheeler, Elliot Arthur-Worsop
Can football become a cultural force in the fight against climate change ? The panel of experts will discuss the current state of climate action in football, best practices, and the potential for players, organisations, and fans to accelerate this conversation and address the defining issue of our generation.
Katie Rood plays for New Zealand and Hearts FC and was one of the first footballers to rasie awareness about climate change.
David Wheeler is professional footballer for Wycombe Wanderers. Alongside football, he is also a passionate environmentalist, becoming a Climate Champion for Football For Future and the PFA’s first-ever sustainability champion.
5.00 pm How to Just Stop new Oil Indigo Rumbelow
Let’s start acting as if life depends upon it. Because it does. Hear from people who have been taking action to demand an end to new oil and has licenses in the UK. From oil takers and motorways to soup and sunflowers, in this engaging and honest talk hear what we’ve been doing, why we’ve been doing it, and how in 2023 we are going to win.
Indigo Rumbelow is a climate activist and co-founder of Just Stop Oil. She has occupied coal mines, blocked oil drilling sites, sat on the M25 and defied high court rulings. She has been arrested for painting banners, digging up lawns and most recently for attending the Coronation. She wont stop acting until they Just Stop Oil!
6.00 pm NAVALNY, Q & A and film – Maria Pevchikh, Odessa Rae
How does one stand against dictatorship and the war ? A conversation about jailed opposition leader Alexey Navalny who is being tortured in Russian prison after surviving the Kremlin’s attempt to assassinate him.
Maria Pevchikh is the head of the investigation department at the Anti-Corruption Foundation, a Russian non-profit organisation founded by opposition politician Alexei Navalny to investigate and expose the cases of corruption among the Russian elites. During her 12 years of work, she authored over 100 investigations, most famously of Vladimir Putin’s private palace on the Black Sea, which has gained over 120 million views on YouTube. Pevchikh is also the editor-in-chief and a presenter of the Navalny team’s YouTube channels, with a monthly audience of 12 million viewers, and the executive producer of the Oscar-winning CNN/HBO documentary Navalny.
Odessa Rae is an Academy Award and BAFTA winning producer of Navalny (CNN Films/Warner Bros.) that premiered at Sundance (2022), winning “Best of Fest” and “Audience Award”. The talk will be moderated by journalist and documentary filmmaker, Sydney Lima.
Sunday 25th
10.00 am 50 years of Green action. what have we achieved? what have we learnt? – Chris Church
Since 1970 the green movement has won many victories but are we losing the struggle? What has worked? What can we learn from what we have achieved – and how can those lessons help us build a more diverse movement? Chris Church is leading a project to build an oral history archive of the UK environmental movement – see www.rhul.ac.uk/ohem
11.00 am Phones 4 Change. -Zoe Broughton
Filming and livestreaming to support your campaign – evidence from the frontline!
This year Zoe Broughton celebrates 30 years of video activism. She has filmed 100s of protests and campaigns using a variety of cutting edge techniques from the Undercurrents News Video Magazine of the 90’s, through to coordinating multi-camera, global livestreams giving a voice to and networking climate activists across the world. She tutors new documentary makers and livestreamers and is currently writing her first book.
12.00 Beavers and Rewilding – Adam Hunt, Lulu Urquhart
Practical examples of beavers as ecosystem engineers. Using photos and images from real life projects in Somerset and Devon the talk will look at: The importance of rewilding as a response to climate change in terms of water flow through the land, and the sequestration of carbon and creating habitat corridors for maintaining biodiversity and easing species migration/movement, and the principles gardeners can take from rewilding to encourage wildlife into their gardens
Urquhart & Hunt won Best in Show at Chelsea Flower show in 2022 for their garden created in partnership with Rewilding Britain.
1.00 pm Reform, Protest or Resistance Cllr Shane Collins, Areeba Hamid (Greenpeace), Baroness Jenny Jones, Clare Farrell XR, Indigo Rumbelow JSO.
1.5oC is inevitable, how do stop a further rise ? A look at the different avenues for change.
Cllr Shane Collins is a Green Somerset cllr and director of the Green Gathering, Arreba Hamid is the joint director of Greenpeace, Jenny Jones is a Green Baroness in the Lords, Clare Farrell is a XR spokes.
2.00 pm Culture and Revolutionary Shifts: Asif Kapadia, Jamie Kelsey Fry, Victoria Harwood Kapadia – The cultural wave – what place can culture take in the systemic changes needed to address climate collapse ?
Asif Kapadia is the multi award winning director of Senna, Amy Winehouse and Diego Maradona. Jamie Kelsey Fry is a contributing editor New Internationalist and works on Global Assemblie, Victoria Harwodd is an art and film director.
3.00 pm Ending UK Fossil Fuels in 10 years – Nic Davies, Kirsty Kenney, Ajai Ahluwalia
How can we solve the energy and climate crisis and keep the goal of 1.5c alive? Three leaders in sustainability set out a manifesto for energising Britain without oil and gas. Sustainability policy specialist at the UK Parliament. He has twenty years’ experience working on law-changing environmental campaigns. In Parliament he has managed high profile parliamentary inquiries into green finance, sustainable fashion and river pollution that have influenced governments, regulators and corporations.
4.00 pm Areeba Hamid, Greenpeace.
What lies ahead for the next generation of Greenpeace ? Areeba Hamid is the new co-executive director of Greenpeace UK.
5.00 pm Comics Without Borders – Kate Evans, Tom Daly
Cartoonist Kate Evans and Tom Daly from Bristol Refugee Rights discuss their “Choose your Misadventure” comic about the UK asylum system, Escape to Safelandia. Copies of the comic will be available free of charge.
6.00 pm Reel News Q & A. Harm to Harmony. Stop Ecocide with Kelly Roberts
Reel News Film and Q & A. Harm to Harmony. Stop Ecocide with Kelly Roberts.
7.00 pm Close
‘Speakers Forum is one of the jewels of Glastonbury. People go to Glasto for all sorts of reasons, and getting an injection of green tonic is one of them. The forum consistently attracts really good speakers from different strands of society And the best of them really prompt people to think.’ I’m delighted to be a part of it.”
Roger Harrabin, Environment and Analyst. Ex BBC Environment and Energy Editor.
“The Speaker’s Forum is part of the Glastonbury Festival’s soul. It’s a true melting pot where politicians of all stripes, activists, scientists, artists, economists, and of course the Glastonbury crowds meet to discuss climate change, inequality, justice, freedom and anything else that’s on their mind. There’s tea, shelter from the rain, shared cider and always high quality discussion. It upholds the festival’s long-standing commitment to free speech making the Speaker’s Forum an essential part of Glastonbury’s unique community.
Justin Rowlatt, BBC Climate Editor
“The Speakers Forum is the beating political heart of Glastonbury Festival. 53 talks over 5 days covering all aspects of the climate crisis. As well as informing the public this is where academics, journalists, organisers and activists get together, network and make plans.”
Cllr Shane Collins, Green Party, Somerset Council, Speakers Forum.