Film Evening: Three Words for Forest - Exploring uncertainty in a time of climate crises

Join Architype and researchers from UK Treescapes for a co-hosted contribution to the Architecture Fringe Open Programme: an evening of film and discussion, to cultivate reciprocal connections across sectors, to share research findings on the effects of climate change on forestry through creative outputs, and to discuss designing for changing climate futures.

Three Words for Forest is a new play that draws on interviews with 30 forest practitioners, ecologists and policy-makers from across the UK and Europe to understand the challenges of making decisions in the face of multiple risks and deep uncertainties. In a context of changing climate, increased threats from pests and diseases, timber shortages, shifting governmental priorities, global inequities, and emergent research, what actions do, can or should we take? And what are the options and barriers?

Engaging with a range of urban and rural treescapes, including production, agroforestry, community, and continuous cover, Three Words for Forest shares the complexity and urgency of the challenges faced, and how these are felt and acted on by those committed to nurturing the treescapes of the future.

The screening of the recording of the play will be followed by an informal discussion facilitated by Rachel Clive and Dee Heddon, with drinks and networking afterwards.

Three Words for Forest is one outcome of newLEAF: Learning to adapt to an uncertain future: linking genes, trees, people and processes for more resilient treescapes, a project funded by Natural and Environmental Research Council as part of the Future of UK Treescapes programme. The main objective of the Future of UK Treescapes programme is to better understand the environmental, social, economic and cultural roles of the UK’s trees, woodlands and forests. This knowledge will guide decisions on how to expand and protect these areas for the benefit of the climate, nature and people. NewLEAF's focus is to investigate how quickly trees can adapt to change in the wild and whether human intervention is needed to protect their future.

"It helped me understand a whole unseen world of forestry and the worries that surround these issues."

"A really beautiful and touching piece."

"Having the wide range of voices given equal weight was brilliant – it highlighted the need for folk to get together collectively."

https://www.uktreescapes.org/

Biographies

Professor Dee Heddon holds the James Arnott Chair in Drama at the University of Glasgow. She has published widely on contemporary performance, with a particular interest in spatial practice and environmental theatre and often uses creative practice research as a key methodology.

Dr Rachel Clive is a theatre practitioner and theatre practice-based researcher with particular interest/ expertise in interdisciplinary environmental research and site responsive theatre. She has written, directed and/or curated over 50 performance events across a wide variety of settings, from national to local theatre and arts organisations, from prisons to horticultural organisations.