“It is a set of 42 cards divided into five sets, which you will have to link to each other on a fresco, in order to highlight the causes and consequences of climate change”, unfolds Sylvie, animator of the Climate Fresco , before embarking on the distribution of the first batch.
Seven cards are thus in the hands of Marion, Charlotte, Elise and Charles, the participants of the day: melting ice, CO2 emissions, human activities, additional greenhouse effects, temperature rise, fossil fuels, rising water levels . All of them, like the 35 others, are illustrated with graphics taken from the latest report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
“An ice cube that melts in a glass does not make it overflow”
Very quickly, a consensus emerges to begin the fresco with “human activities” and to link the other six cards. From the outset with an error that Sylvie describes as a “great classic”. That of having positioned the melting sea ice just before the rise of the water, thinking that the first led to the second. “Turn the card over,” Sylvie breathes. “An ice cube which melts in a glass of pastis does not make it overflow”, it is written there.
First “ah, yes …” of astonishment around the table. There will be others in the next three hours, as Sylvie distributes the rest of the lots, gradually making the fresco more complex. Other “ah” also to the ten workshops taking place at the same time, this Friday afternoon at the fertile city of Pantin. The Climate Fresco took up residence there until Sunday for three days of climate change awareness. A burst of debates, but also and above all of its fun workshops which have made the trademark of the association.
The story of the Climate Fresco begins in April 2015 with Cédric Ringenbach, during an informal course on climate change that this teacher and director (at the time) of the Shift Project, a think-tank specializing in energy issues, gave to five friends. “Just a small workshop based on some graphics from the IPCC,” he says. But ultimately very effective in getting this complex subject into mind. ”Cédric Ringenbach then reuses the tool, gradually improving it, and one fine day in March 2018 finds himself faced with the challenge of having to play 900 students from a Parisian business school in one morning. “In fifteen days, I had to train thirty animators so that they are each capable of playing thirty students,” he continues. It went really well. “
200,000 participants in three years and 5,000 animators
Since then, the Climate Fresco has continued its momentum. In three years, 200,000 people have passed through its workshops and 5,000 have subsequently taken the step of becoming animators. [ou fresqueurs comme ils s’appellent]. They are then free to set up workshops and promote the game. With their relatives, but not only. “Almost all large French companies have hosted workshops for the Climate Fresco. We played about fifty deputies and 70,000 students, ”says one in the Climate Fresco.
The stake is not insignificant. “To act in the face of climate change, we have to understand it,” repeats the association. The forums are also multiplying to demand better consideration of climate and biodiversity issues in education. Including that of a group of students from the senior civil service, in
The world, no later than Monday. “It was also the main principle of the Citizen’s Climate Convention,” recalls Sylvie. Randomly draw 150 people, train them in climate issues with experts so that they become enlightened citizens able to propose solutions to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions. “
“For many, it’s a slap”
Admittedly, in three hours of play, the Climate Fresco does not make you unbeatable on climate change. But it’s a great introduction, says Thomas, Briochin, 17, and host since October. “It’s already easier to learn while playing,” he begins. And then we all have some notions about climate change, but often muddled. The Fresco pour le climat puts all of this in perspective and, above all, helps to understand the links between the different phenomena. “
The three hours of workshops are not limited to putting the 42 cards in the right order. “The game continues with a” creativity “phase, which allows participants to reappropriate the knowledge seen just before by drawing and giving a name to their fresco, explains Chrystelle Bontemps, HR manager at the Climate Fresco. And ends with a discussion, during which we share our feelings and we collectively reflect on concrete avenues. “
It is not always easy to conduct these workshops. Sylvie knows something about it, she who has fifty events on the clock garnered in recent months. The vast majority within EDF, where she works, and where the stated ambition is to have the 165,000 employees pass through the Fresco for the climate. “It’s very interesting with an audience that has not always asked to come,” she continues. Of course, some come backwards, declaring straight away that there has always been climate change in history. But for many, it’s a slap in the face. At the last workshops, I was even applauded. “
Target one million participants by the end of 2022
“Now you know and you have a moral duty to act,” the fresco always concludes. And it works ? “There’s no real tracking of what the participants are doing,” Thomas replies. But the best reward is to meet a facilitator who has gone through one of the workshops. The figures also give a smile to Cédric Ringenbach. “We do x 5 every year,” he says, talking about the number of people sensitized. We are aiming for the million mark before the end of 2022. ”To achieve this, the association, which has already developed several versions of its game, especially for children, is preparing to launch a label to encourage companies to deploy the Fresco internally. “That is to say autonomously, after we have trained facilitators among their employees,” explains Cédric Ringenbach.
But to reach this milestone of one million, it will be necessary to export outside France, continues the founder. The game is currently translated into 25 languages. The idea is to invite oneself to the COP26 in Glasgow and to get in touch with the representatives of the major CO2 emitting countries, so that they can deploy their tool at home. A crowdfunding campaign has just been launched to move to this international scale.