Last week I was in Oslo doing an interdisciplinary project with PLAN at the University. We made a workshop for children between 4 and 12 about visioning the future. All the stories about the devastating effects of climate change can be paralyzing, and we wanted to go beyond the fright and reach out to catch the children´s hopes and wishes. We created an environment to inspire new perspectives, with a great selection of books looking at the earth from a micro and macro view, a corner of cushions to think and read and a table of two microscopes and things to look at like leaves and bark and moss. The kids loved it, and one boy said " It is a landscape on Mars!" while gazing at a piece of birch bark. We also had a selection of "fly eye specs" to inspire future vision (Insect eye inspires future vision
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/s/tech/4946452.stm)The children wrote their wishes on multi-coloured strips of cloth and tied it onto an ashtree that finally was planted in a park in Oslo by the mayor and a group of children. The ash was chosen because of its roots in Nordic Mythology where the world is an ashtree named Yggdrasil. From its roots flow three sacred springs, including the Well of Mimir - the waters of wisdom. It is said that Yggdrasil connects all of the worlds of the universe, including the worlds of Men and the worlds of the Gods. A giant eagle roosts at its top and a dragon-serpent gnaws at its roots, while a squirrel called Ratatosk runs up and down the trunk, chattering messages. Lets hope some squirrels can bring the wishes on our tree out in the world and the wind release the messages for the future! This is a norwegian link to the project.
