The Joy of Activism: Finding Flowers in the Sh*t

Climate change, activism and disability are all areas that are rarely thought of as joyful. Yet joy can be a powerful act of resistance, improving resilience of activists, bolstering the effectiveness of change making, and reasserting value and humanity.

Polly Meyrick and Emma Geen will talk about their personal experiences of disability and how this led them to explore alternative creative and joyful forms of activism and change making. Polly will talk about positive tipping points, art as journalism, and local and human stories. Emma will share the craftivism project she ran with Sophie Mellor and fellow Disabled activists to raise awareness about including Disabled people in climate resilience and emergency preparedness.

You can attend this free talk in person or online. Choose an ‘in person’ ticket to come along in person on the night, or an ‘online’ ticket if you would like to watch the talk live online. If you choose the ‘online’ ticket you will be sent a Teams link a few days before the talk.

The talk is aimed at anyone interested exploring alternative forms of activism. All ages are welcome but the event is not designed for children.

Access

The venue (room 1.18 in Queens Building) is wheelchair accessible with an accessible toilet. Full access details can be found in this AccessAble report. The event has an access budget to cover access needs like translators or PA support to attend if needed.

‘The Joy of Activism: Finding Flowers in the Sh*t’ is part of a wider talk programme organised by the Personal to the Planetary fellows - a group of ten activists, academics, artists and scientists who have spent ten months collaboratively researching the climate emergency. Personal to the Planetary is a joint Brigstow Institute and Cabot Institute for the Environment initiative.

Emma Geen a disability climate justice consultant, researcher, author and activist.

Polly Meyrick is an artist, musician and farm worker.

About this event series

The From the Personal to Planetary talk series is co-produced and co-hosted by the Brigstow Institute, Cabot Institute for the Environment, creative associates Close and Remote and our 10 Personal to Planetary Fellows. This series is running during COP30, the biggest annual conference of negotiations for the future health of our planet. Find out more about COP30 and what the University of Bristol will be doing there.

You might also be interested in the other talks in this series:

· 13 November:

· 15 November:

· 16 November:

· 19 November:

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Host or Publisher Brigstow Institute, University of Bristol