MyRiver symposium: developing community-led adaption for the climate crisis

MyRiver symposium: developing community-led adaption for the climate crisis in the Witham river catchment, Lincolnshire, UK (Free to attend)

Human-induced environmental change is occurring at an unprecedented scale and pace and the window of opportunity to avoid catastrophic outcomes in societies around the world is rapidly closing. People will experience the impacts of climate change primarily by increases in the frequency of extreme weather and hydrological events such as floods, droughts, heatwaves and ‘snowmageddons’. In the UK, and within Lincolnshire and Lincoln in particular, rivers and floodplains are where much of climatic weirding will play out, and are the places where individuals and local communities will come face-to-face to with environmental breakdown.

We propose to use the Witham river catchment as a community, educational and interdisciplinary social laboratory that we term “MyRiver” in which to engage and explore with the public how anthropogenic climate change will impact on their lifeways and local environment. Most importantly the MyRiver project will seek to establish grass roots, community-informed management and adaptation strategies at the nexus between the arts, humanities and science. Our expectation is that this will significantly enhance public understanding and appreciation of the unique archaeological, cultural, ecological, geomorphological, geological, historical, industrial heritages of the Witham river catchment and its floodplains, as well as the evidence base these provide for developing holistic adaption strategies.

MyRiver is co-led by Professor Lucie Armitt (School of English and Journalism, University of Lincoln), Dr Martin Lang (School of Fine and Performing Arts, University of Lincoln), Judy Macklin (Lincoln Centre of Water and Planetary Health, University of Lincoln, and Centre for the Inland, La Trobe University, Australia) and Professor Mark Macklin (School of Geography and the Lincoln Centre of Water and Planetary Health, University of Lincoln). It is a ground-breaking initiative that brings together for the first time a diverse but inclusive group of community stakeholders. One of MyRiver’s principal long term aims will be to help shape personal and community climate crisis ‘roadmaps’ to counter the growing climate anxiety by drawing on practical measures that focus on creativity, doing and kindness.

MyRiver will be launched at a one-day symposium hosted at Mansions of the Future, Lincoln, on a Saturday January 18th, 2020. This event will comprise short presentations by speakers from the arts, humanities and sciences, who are currently researching and exploring societal issues arising from the impacts of the climate crisis and environmental breakdown in the Witham river catchment, and more widely. It will also include sessions exploring the use of the visual arts for enhancing ‘river literacy’ in the context of the climate emergency and how community-informed adaptation strategies can be fostered.

Tickets for this event can be obtained from Eventbrite using the following link: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/myriver-project-launch-myriver-developing-community-led-adaption-for-the-climate-crisis-tickets-87118534883

Please contact Professor Mark G. Macklin (email: mmacklin@lincoln.ac.uk) or Mrs Fiona Burstow (email: fburstow@lincoln.ac.uk) if require any further information regarding the MyRiver project.