Using Socio-drama to explore the climate emergency

Registration and more details about the event available here

An interactive Zoom workshop led by Dr. Ron Wiener

In order to create what Climate Outreach calls “a social mandate for climate action”, we need many different types of conversation to take place across society. This workshop will use a creative approach called Sociodrama. It will suit anybody interested in exploring different perspectives on the climate emergency in an imaginative way. No prior experience of Sociodrama is needed. However, booking is essential.

What is Sociodrama?

Sociodrama is a way of “exploring the relationships within and between groups in societies, on local, national, global or universal levels.” (https://sociodrama.co.uk/) Ordinary citizens may not be privy to the conversations taking place at the level of governments or international negotiations, but we can imagine them and in so doing, we can enrich our understanding of the climate crisis.

Sociodrama helps us to practise systemic thinking. First, the group maps out the ‘roles’ that we see being played out in the social, political or environmental arenas (these might be people with a particular take on global heating, politicians or representatives of organisations, or even animals, such as a polar bear, or manifestations of Nature, such as an Amazon forest tree…) Then, through dialogue, the group explores these different perspectives and the relationships between them.

Historically, Sociodrama has been carried out in a physical space, with people moving around as they imagine these different roles. Now it has gone online and Zoom has proven to be a fertile and accessible format for the method.

In this introductory workshop, open to all, one of the leading exponents of Sociodrama in the UK, Ron Wiener (www.ronwiener.co.uk), will guide the group in mapping and exploring the different roles being acted out around the climate emergency.

Please note: although the method is called ‘drama’, you don’t actually need any acting skills. The process is more about imagining what different people might say in different situations.

The workshop is free but the organiser would appreciate it if you would only sign up if you really intend to come as numbers are limited. (If you do need to pull out later, please cancel your booking to allow somebody on the waiting list to attend.)