Climate Café opens in Grófin
Marina Ermina and Marissa Sigrún Pinal open a temporary Climate Café in Grófin on the 2nd of November 2023. This place is their version of Stofan | A Public Living Room where we can gather knowledge on current or new paths for environmental and community activism. Stofan is an experimental project where the library works with different partners on placemaking at the library. Each month a collaborator creates a new temporary place that reflects specific social needs. This is a process where we temporarily transform a space into a place for meaningful interactions to share the care. We asked them a few questions about their placemaking.
Where will you place your public living room?
We would like to use the space on the first floor by the entrance across from the information table. We chose the most visible and inclusive part of the library and is a bright and nice space, this space feels light with the big windows.
When you think of community care – what is the first thing that comes to mind? Who needs care?
Everybody needs care. We want an inclusive space where various groups can interact and support each other regardless of age, occupation, social status, etc. One of the overarching goals of the Climate Cafe is to engage people in community building through the sharing of knowledge, personal expression, ideas, and possibilities of action. These practices can help in resisting difficult emotional states relating to the environmental challenges we face which can cause inaction and isolation. The Climate Café can be a space that empowers citizens to create resilient and sustainable communities able to combat climate change
What would you like people to share with others in your place?
We would like people to share their personal experiences and learn from other people's experiences. We aim to provide them with tools to cope and increase their personal wellbeing. The Climate Café encourages people to build partnerships with others and the ability to learn from others and facilitate collaborative problem-solving. The project itself is a grass root project that is done by people and for people. Good collaboration builds the foundation for any community initiatives. Open discussions, interactive dialogues and participatory problem-solving tasks as part of the Climate Café.
Is there a specific book that is not in our collection, and you would like to have in your Stofan?
Active Hope (revised): How to Face the Mess We’re in with Unexpected Resilience and Creative Power by Joanna Macy and Chris Johnstone as well as books by Jem Bendell like Breaking Together: A freedom-loving response to collapse and Deep Adaptation: Navigating the Realities of Climate Chaos. Helena Norberg-Hodge has written an interesting book Local Is Our Future: Steps to an Economics of Happiness and last but not least The Precipice: Existential Risk and the Future of Humanity by Toby Ord is also a good read.
We thank Marina and Marissa for their contribution to the project Stofan | A Public Living Room and recommend having a look at the book selection they made on regenerative cultures where humans, natura and society all can flourish accessible on the webpage of the library as well as on site.
Further information
Dögg Sigmarsdóttir
Project manager | Civic Participation
dogg.sigmarsdottir@reykjavik.is