RE.TREAT CORNWALL: HOW TO LIVE WHEN SEA LEVELS RISE

An Eclipse.
A Neolithic Cairn.
An Unexpected Storm.
In July 2018, seven families took part in an experimental 4
day ‘Retreat’ in Cornwall, UK. It was a creative residency
to imagine and design how to live when lives are radically
affected by climate change. They came together as
climate refugees fleeing their flooded homes to gather in a
holding camp, where they had to imaginatively and
emotionally explore the implications of their new reality.
The project began on the night of a lunar eclipse in a
camp just next to Pip’s field, site of a neolithic ceremonial
cairn. Some local pagans were gathered there to
celebrate. Despite an unseasonable warm and dry
summer, as soon as the refugees arrived, a storm hit! In
reality, Cornwall faced flooding and storm warning and
the spectacle of unpredictable and extreme weather.

Re.TR.EAT
CORNWALL
HOW TO LIVE WHEN SEA
LEVELS RISE?
Overview and Preliminary Research
Reflections by Kelli R. Pearson and
Anke de Vrieze

Participants
Participants were invited via word of mouth and
through local networks within Cornwall. In total, 38
people attended, which included 7 families (22
adults and 16 children: with children of all ages
between 5 and 12 years and two toddlers). The
people who came were by and large experienced
campers with an interest in global warming issues
and a motivation to communicate about the topic
with their children. Professionally, they came from a
wide range of backgrounds - from local council
people, to IT, to artists, to scientists…

The “invitation” to joinA few weeks before the Re.Tre.Eat, participants were sent a video, which was created by a local
videographer. It was intended to set the tone and urgency about the potential impacts of global
warming on local communities. Showing images of flooding and extreme weather, the video
urged people to leave their homes and report to the nearest ‘holding camp’.

RESEARCH FOCUS: IMAGINATIVE DISRUPTION
The research focus of Re.Tr.Eat was to explore the transgressive potential of art and
making to engage a group of citizens and experts in an imaginative conceptualization
of alternative environmental narratives.
Some guiding questions for participant observation:
- Where is the energy? Where is the concern? What is exciting people and holding
their attention?
- What is not being said? Are there any “elephants in the room”? Arenas of
conspicuous silence?
- Elements of metaphorical thinking? Theory U? (Observe, Presencing/ Reflection,
Act) What are implied “mindsets for sustainability” that participants and
organizers find important?

Day 1: Foundations
- Setting up camp: People arrived and attended an orientation by the organizers, including
safety information and schedule for participating in cooking and clean-up
- Ceramics Activity with Jake Boex: making what you love (and leave).
- Junk modeling: In small groups, participants designed and created a maquette of a climate-
resilient home.

Fieldnotes excerpts:
- Within minutes of arriving, the children initiated creative placemaking activities and began
making friends/community.
- The participants were highly self-selected and were experienced campers as well as
experienced community builders. This made the transition to life in the “refugee camp”
relatively seamless.

Day 2: Security, safety, relationships
- Theater of the Oppressed: Climate refugees: The facilitator led participants in an experiential
performance-based exploration of being a climate refugee
- Copper Talisman: Linking to the theater of the oppressed exercise, everyone created copper
medallions or talismans representing something that gave them hope and courage.
- Building mobile gallery: turning house maquets into design concept for a mobile art gallery, to
display artworks created during the retreat.
- Cards for Humanity: Humor-based game developed to evoke local context of climate change.

Fieldnotes excerpts: The theater/performance-based exercise was extremely powerful and
provoked tears amongst several of the participants. In particular, participants noted that the
moment when others offered to their compassionate support when they were acting out their
experience as “refugees”, they were overcome with emotion.

Day 3: Connections
- Art activity: Creating plaster stick figures representing connections between people
- Finishing projects & mobile gallery: Art projects were finalized and organized to include in
final gallery show.
- Music & songwriting: Several participants helped to co-write and record a song about
climate change.
- More “Cards for Humanity”

Fieldnotes excerpts:
- Safety concerns became very real as the storm grew stronger in the evening. Some people left
the camp for the evening, but all were torn about their decision, as the community in the camp
felt quite strong.
- Making the stick figures was a surprisingly joyous activity. People assembled them into family
groups that represented “strength together “in the face of adversity.

Day 4: Celebration & Goodbye
- Celebration Crowns: Everyone (include the participant observers) picked a name out of a
hat and then made a special celebration crown for that particular person.
- Naming and Finishing Mobile Gallery: Everyone came up with name options and had a
final vote for the name. The Mobile Gallery was christened “Boat Barrow.”
- Village Fete & Gallery Walk: With music and crowns and snacks, we all paraded to the
creative workspace to observe final products and vote on which ones should be placed
in the boat barrow for the post-retreat exhibition at University of Exeter.

Fieldnotes excerpts: While people were packing up camp, we conducted a final round of short
interviews with several of the participants. Their response was overwhelmingly positive and they
were also quite appreciative of the opportunity to take a few minutes to reflect on the experience.
Overall, they expressed a sense of relief that they had the opportunity to explore emotional aspects
of global warming with their children and in such a joyful, energizing context.

Re.TR.EAT: RESEARCH THEMES
The structures and mind-sets of our modern society have made
unsustainable living the default and sustainable living the
exception. We are interested in the role of art, creativity,
imagination and making in generating socio-environmental change
towards more 'sustainable' ways of living together. How do these
element help us to think through issues beyond that what we are
accustomed to? How do they allow us to navigate the often
painful disruptions that accompany processes of change? How
might they generate the mental space needed to conceive of
radically positive alternatives? And how do they allow a range of
knowledges to be expressed - narratives that are subjugated
because they are e.g. regarded as 'under-age' or not scientific?
(from: https://neernstman.wixsite.com/imaginedisrupt)
Some specific themes and point for observation:
- The power of routines (what can help and what can hinder
changes towards sustainability? What happens when
routines are radically disrupted?)
- exploring emotions
- finding strengths
- ways of reflecting
- intergenerational learning
- learning by making
- Maslow’s hierarchy of needs
- “mindsets” for sustainability

DOORS OF PERCEPTION
Near the camp bathrooms, we placed three doors that invited graffiti. Each door asked a different question
each day: #1: What are you happy to leave behind? What is (a) home? Global warming: what’s the first
thing that pops to your mind? #2: What’s most annoying about being climate refugee? Global warming? #3:
What are you happy to leave behind? After 4 days in the climate refugee camp, what do you think of global
warming? What would you most like to contribute?
Some examples: People wanted to leave school, bills, social media, street lights. People were afraid of
floods, droughts, ice melt, food insecurity. Interestingly, on day four people emphasized the importance of
community and connections....

Creative Caravan
The Caravan equipped with arts supplies and a variety of thought provoking prompts such as: Create a diary
entries (describing experience in narrative form), make a collage of an important moment or event, write a
postcard describing your experience of the retreat

PARTICIPANT OBSERVATION: WITNESSES & THE TECH
SHED!Based out of a food storage closet in the back of the camp kitchen, we established our “tech shed”
Each day we asked for volunteers from participants to act as a “witness” - using sound equipment and
cameras. A few times a day, we would gather together and reflect on what we observed.

“Highly memorable and intuitively informative, this
is something that sits alongside the finest books on
climate change narrative and shines a light on the
priority of community engagement as we look
strategically to a changing world”
- Anonymous participant -

Some observations, in their own words...

Resilience
Vulnerability
Connections Resources
(Inner)
Vulnerability includes
recognition of fragility, also
emotional openness and trust.
E.g. fragile clay figures of what
is being lost.
Resources include inner
and outer resources.
Inner-resources can be
seen as those which
cannot be take from you.
E.g. copper talisman.
Metaphorically riches,
fine jewels, or gold.
People’s resources
ranged from “love” to
“together” to “football”
Connections include
mutual support,
community, could also
include connection with
more-than human
elements. E.g. family
units made strong in
plaster exercise or help
offered in theater
exercise.

Some additional observations
- There was a lot of joy and laugher during the activities - people felt energized by the process of
making things with their hands.
- There was some tension between not wanting to scare the children, but also to be real with them.
Also, the expression by some of the children that they wanted to take back the experience of worry
as it felt motivating.
- Routines were not particularly disrupted (because families were such experienced campers)
- There were many unprompted side-conversations conversations about the importance of deep time
- People expressed appreciation for taking time for reflection in general and about specific issues -
reflection was actually re-energizing for both researchers and participants.
- Many recognized the value (and pleasure) of intergenerational learning. At the same time: kids would
also like a kids retreat, to not depend on parents coming up with ideas
- The storyline of being climate refugees was in the background - we didn’t “act it out” or become
overly dramatic about it. This allowed people to engage with the topic in a playful way, while
keeping a serious undertone
- More to come as data is analyzed in a more systematic way in the coming months...

The Boat Barrow
Sets Sail...
...Now showing at the
Environment and Sustainability
Institute at Exeter University

Boatbarrow
“A beautiful construction that accommodated
our needs. Collectively designed by all
participants. Aged 2 to 48. Made in 4 days. A
vessel that would ride the tides of time and
see us through environmental challenges.
Meeting our needs. Protecting the fragility of
our clay expressions of all that we are
attached to. What we will have to leave
behind. Keeping safe. Transporting our riches,
our talismans. Our attributes, the skills we
could take to the world and share a helping
hand. Making connections. Preserving our
humanity. Celebrating our individuality,
acknowledging community. Our stick people
needed each other for support.” (from Retreat
Cornwall @retreatcornwall facebook post)
https://www.facebook.com/retreatcornwall/vi
deos/357785394969837/

Questions for the reader
We invite everyone interested in this presentation to think about the following
questions for themselves. Even better, find a friend or family member and
discuss. The question are related to the three proposed components of
resilience that came out of the retreat: vulnerability, connection, and resources:
1. What do you fear most about global warming?
2. Do you talk about it with family and friends? (if so what about, if not, why
not)
3. What gives you strength of hope?
Photo: chasing ice

Funding from: The SEEDBOX
“An environmental humanities collaboratory aimed at addressing and understanding the
environmental problems of tomorrow, today, and yesterday”
This experiment was part of an international research
project funded by The Seedbox, an international
environmental humanities collaboratory
headquartered at Linköping University in Sweden and
supported with funding from Mistra and Formas.
The project consists of 3 creative residencies in
Sweden, United Kingdom and The Netherlands. They
are designed to bring together an intergenerational
group of people who will play, eat, (re)imagine, learn
and create together, to design alternative futures
around a selected ‘glocal’ issue, and explore what
needs to be disrupted to realise these imagined
realities; what is working with us and what is working
against us?

Research Team
- Initiated by Natalia Eernstman - Researcher &
Artist (Plymouth College of Art, UK)
- Sian and Drew Pilley (Artists, makers, UK)
- Prof. Arjen Wals (Wageningen University, NL)
- Åse Bjurström (Gothenburg University,SE)
- Blair van Pelt (Wageningen University, NL)
- Kelli Pearson (Wageningen University, NL)
- Anke de Vrieze(Wageningen University, NL)

For more Information
- Website for Re.Tre.at: https://neernstman.wixsite.com/imaginedisrupt
- Seedbox website: https://theseedbox.se/discover/
- Article about Boat Barrow exhibit: https://www.artsandcultureexeter.co.uk/whats-
on/boatbarrow-exhibition-opening-and-creative-workshop/
- Look out for upcoming residencies: Wageningen (April 13-14, 2019), Gothenburg
Residency: May 25-26, 2019
- Data analysis for articles & research summary will be forthcoming

SOME KEY REFERENCES
Boeckel, J. (2013) At the Heart of Art and Earth: An Exploration of Practices in Arts-Based Environmental Education. Aalto University
publication series DOCTORAL DISSERTATIONS, 73/2013
Hampton, S. (2018.) Children Need Sensitive Proactive Climate Change Education. The Ecologist Magazine: Last Accessed Sept 2018:
https://theecologist.org/2018/sep/25/children-need-sensitive-proactive-climate-change-education-argues-sue-hampton
Gray, T., & Birrell, C. (2015). ‘Touched by the Earth’: a place-based outdoor learning programme incorporating the Arts. Journal of
Adventure Education and Outdoor Learning, 15(4), 330-349.
Eernstman, N.; Wals, A.E. (2013) Locative Meaning-making: An Arts-based Approach to Learning for Sustainable Development.
Sustainability, 5, 1645-1660.
Eernstman, N., van Boeckel, J., Sacks, S. and Myers, M. (2012) ‘Inviting the unforeseen: a dialogue about art, learning and
sustainability’, In: Learning for sustainability in times of accelerating change. Wals, A.E.J. and Blaze Corcoran, P. (Eds), Wageningen
Publishers
Lertzman, R. (2015). Environmental melancholia: Psychoanalytic dimensions of engagement. Routledge.
Sol, A.J. ; Wals, A.E.J. (2015) Strengthening ecological mindfulness through hybrid learning in vital coalitions. CSSE : Cultural Studies of
Science Education 10 (1) p. 203 - 214.
Wals, A.E.J., van der Hoeven, N. & Blanken, H. (2009). The Acoustics of Social Learning: Designing learning processes that contribute to
a more sustainable world. Wageningen/Utrecht: Wageningen Academic Publishers/SenterNovem
Wals, A.E.J. ; Tassone, V.C. ; Hampson, Gary P. ; Reams, Jonathan (2016) Learning for Walking the Change: Eco-Social Innovation
through Sustainability-oriented Higher Education. In: Routledge Handbook of Higher Education for Sustainable Development / Barth,
Matthias, Michelsen, Gerd, Rieckmann, Marco, Thomas, Ian, London : Routledge - ISBN 9780415727303 - p. 25 - 39.
Wals, A.E.J. (2016) Sustainability and Education. In: M.A. Peters (ed.), Encyclopedia of Educational Philosophy and Theory, New York:
Springer. DOI 10.1007/978-981-287-532- 7_445-1.
Wals, A.E.J., Brody, M., Dillon, J. and Stevenson, R.B. (2014) Convergence Between Science and Environmental Education, Science,
344, p. 583-584.
Wals, A.E.J. (2007). Social Learning Towards a Sustainable World. Wageningen, Wageningen Academic Publishers, 540p

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