Session

In order to act, we must change attitudes—and to do that, we must challenge the stories we tell.

At Bergen Public Library, that story starts with children. In this session, you’ll learn how the library created Norway’s largest Climate Festival for Children—an annual event built to support climate awareness, emotional resilience, and civic participation for the youngest members of society.

Explore how literature, science, crafts, and cultural programming can be combined to inspire agency and action. The team will share their method, so you can create similar festivals or events in your own community—big or small.

Because children aren’t just the future. They’re already here, ready to act.

Hosts

Hans Eirik Systad Tyssen
Library manager and project supervisor “Klimafestivalen junior”
Teacher turned library manager. Interested in youth culture, the creation of third spaces, and library, communal and international development. Wants to see libraries become facilitators of change as well as purveyors of knowledge.

Siri Raknes
Children’s Librarian and project manager “Klimafestivalen junior”
Children’s librarian with a teaching background, passionate about public libraries, litterature, cultural outreach, and empowering youth through knowledge, creativity, and climate engagement.

Benjamin Mekki Widerøe
Digital education + Team member Klimafestivalen junior”
Literature, programming and science communicator. Well versed in internet culture, and the development of anti-science attitudes and general disinformation online. Formally educated in mathematics and informally educated as a musician.