Abstract

How to navigate the tensions between our individual responsibilities and the need for collective action? How to push for transformative change without losing the necessary support of key systemic actors? How to coordinate grassroots movements without losing the power of bottom-up emergent action? In this lecture Liset Meddens, will explore these and other questions by sharing with us some of her experiences as a climate activist and an organiser.

Speaker

Liset Meddens is mainly known for her work for the new foundation Fossielvrij NL. She previously served as the youth representative for Sustainable Development at the United Nations. She participated in the UN conferences Rio 20, and the climate summits in Durban and Doha. Last year, she actively contributed to the largest climate action ever in the lead-up to the UN climate summit in Paris. In the Netherlands, she mobilized over 7,000 people for a Climate Parade on the eve of the Paris conference. Along with others, she brought three buses full of activists who participated in a three-day siege of a German coal mine last May. Meddens is closely involved in actions such as ABP Fossielvrij, which aims to get the largest pension fund in the Netherlands to withdraw investments in fossil fuels.

Venue

• Common Room

Convenors

• Misha Velthuis