What is Climate Creations?
Climate Creations is a series of workshops that use zines and collage to open conversations about what climate change means on a personal level. Participants make their own zines (small, handmade magazines) and collages alongside researchers. The workshops were developed by Dr Cormac Cleary (DCU School of Communications) and Dr Ellen Howley (DCU School of English).
The premise is that climate change is an emotional phenomenon as well as a scientific and political one. It causes human tragedies, damages familiar places, erodes habitats, and unsettles people’s ideas about the future. The loss and anxiety this produces are hard to articulate in conversations that prioritise figures and clear facts, but they shape how people relate to the issue. Creative practices give participants a different way in.
As one participant put it:
It was a really lovely opportunity to take a breath and think about climate change in a different way. Arty practices like this help unearth unlikely connections and change perspective.
What is involved?
The workshops have run in several settings. They were trialled at DCU with staff from across the university and with students on the MSc in Climate Change, then with scientists and other stakeholders at the 2025 Symposium of the Co-Centre for Climate + Biodiversity + Water. Research Ireland funding supported three public workshops at Bettystown Library, Co. Meath, during Science Week 2025, and a further public workshop ran in Belfast during NI Science Festival 2026 with Co-Centre support.
Climate Creations has since been developed into an engaged research methodology and forms part of the Rising Issues programme.
