Take part in this outdoor afternoon event, in the setting of Gideon Mendel's Fire / Flood exhibition, with speakers including: environmental journalist and author of Choked, Beth Gardiner; Dilys Williams, Director of the Centre for Sustainable Fashion, London College of Fashion; Charlie Hertzog Young, activist and author of Spinning Out: Climate Change, Mental Health and Fighting for a Better Future; Destiny Boka-Batesa from Choked Up; Environmental Scientist Luca Marazzi; Councillor Ryan Jude, Deputy Cabinet Member for Climate Action and Biodiversity; Niamh Crisp-O'Brien from Teach the Future; Aryo Feldman from Sustain; Amber Hayward from Switch it Green; and exhibiting photographer Gideon Mendel. Our host for the afternoon is Alice Aedy of earthrise studio.
Alongside hearing this range of inspirational speakers, everyone will be invited to make a personal pledge to change one or more habit.
Those who have registered their interest prior to 26 August receive free entry to our exhibitions on the day!
13.00 Welcome & intro – Alice Aedy (host)
13.20 Ryan Jude on Biodiversity
13.40 Charlie Hertzog Young on Mental Health & Climate Change
14.00 Beth Gardiner on Pollution
14.20 Luca Marazzi on Wetlands
14.40 Dilys Williams on Fashion & Sustainability
15.00 Niamh Crisp-O’Brien on Climate Education
15.20 Aryo Feldman on Sustainable Farming
15.40 Amber Hayward on Banks & Fossil Fuels
16.00 Destiny Boka-Batesa on Environmental Justice
16:20 Gideon Mendel on Fire/Flood
16.40 Free film screening: Proof and Portents by Gideon Mendel (The Photographers’ Gallery, 3rd floor studio)
17.00 end
Find out more about some of the speakers lined up so far, talking about topics from education and eco-anxiety to biodiversity, pollution and fashion.
Alice Aedy is a documentary photographer, film-maker and campaigner, whose work focuses on forced migration, environmental issues and women’s stories. Alice is the co-founder of earthrise studio, a creative studio dedicated to communicating the climate crisis, harnessing the optimism and imagination required to build the world we so urgently need.
Destiny Boka-Batesa is co-founder of Choked Up, an environmental justice campaign that aims to raise awareness of the disproportionate impacts of air pollution and ensure that this is enshrined in Clean Air Laws in the UK.
Niamh (she/they) is a 16 year old climate activist focused on climate education and sustainability within schools. She has been involved in the climate movement since she was 11 years old and she started volunteering for Teach the Future in early 2022.
Aryo Feldman is the Peri-Urban Farming Officer and leads the Fringe Farming project at Sustain. The project aims to grow the movement for agroecological food production at city fringes across the UK, at both local and national levels.
Beth Gardiner is an environmental journalist and the author of Choked: The Age of Air Pollution and the Fight for a Cleaner Future, named one of the Guardian’s best books of 2019. Her work has appeared in publications including the New York Times, National Geographic and the Guardian, and she is a former longtime Associated Press reporter. Photo © Suzanne Plunkett
Amber Hayward is a political ecologist, climate campaigner, and Programs Manager for Switch It Green. Switch It Green is harnessing the power of mass bank account switching to pressure banks to green their investment policies; ending funding for planet-harming projects. Amber leads the organisation’s work with universities, mobilising a mass movement of students switching their money out of fossil fuel support.
Charlie Hertzog Young is a researcher, writer and award-winning activist. A proudly mad bipolar double amputee, he has worked for the New Economics Foundation, the Royal Society of Arts, the Good Law Project, the Four Day Week Campaign and the Centre for Progressive Change, as well as the UK Labour Party under three Consecutive Leaders. He has been an activist and organiser since his teens and has co-founded two organisations, amongst many other actions and accomplishments. His most recent book is Spinning Out: Climate Change, Mental Health and Fighting for a Better Future (Footnote, 2023).
Ryan is the Deputy Cabinet Member for Climate Action and Biodiversity in the Labour Westminster City Council administration. Ryan’s focus is on embedding climate action in everything the council does, as set out in the Green New Deal for Westminster policy document, which he co-wrote. Ryan is also a member of the Future of Westminster Commission Energy and Green Transition Review group.
Luca is an environmental scientist and aquatic ecologist. He has worked on topics including citizen science, plastic pollution, wetland biodiversity, and climate change. He is an accredited Climate Reality Leader, co-organised public seminars to raise awareness and inspire action to tackle climate change, and he believes that we can all help create more sustainable human societies.
Working with stills and video, Gideon Mendel’s long-term commitment to projects has earned international recognition. Born in Johannesburg in 1959, he began photographing during the final years of apartheid. Since then he has continued to respond to global social issues. Since 2007, Mendel has been occupied with documenting the impacts of climate change with his Drowning World and Burning World projects. Photo © Jonathan Pierredon
Professor Dilys Williams is founder and Director of Centre for Sustainable Fashion, a University of the Arts London Research Centre, based at London College of Fashion, exploring fashion as sustainability in action with researchers and businesses across the world. Dilys is also chair of UAL’s Social Purpose Advisory Group, re-purposing the university in the context of our times.
This event is part of Inside Out - celebrating arts and culture in Westminster this Summer.
