Today, 5 June is World Environment Day – a United Nation's day to inspire action for the protection of nature.

The world is facing major environmental, economic and social challenges that require a substantial transformation in all aspects of society. A critical step to inspire the transformation that we need, is properly communicating the crisis – and solutions – to those who can make change happen.

Bernice Notenboom is a polar explorer, climate journalist and filmmaker – as well as the keynote speaker in the upcoming Mannheim2020 conference – whose expeditions help make the climate crisis visible. This work has taken her to the North and South Poles, Greenland ice sheet, Everest, Siberia and throughout Africa. Bernice conveys the consequences of climate change for humans, animals and the planet. Her books, articles, television series, documentary films, lectures and the trips that she leads for companies and groups all serve to communicate the realities of the climate crisis.

ICLEI Europe recently spoke to Bernice about her work, how people’s responses to the climate crisis have changed, and the role of local governments in fighting climate change. The following are reflections in Bernice’s own words, based on our conversation.

It is in our extreme environments that the impact of climate change is most visible. Many of us have heard that the amazon has seen 25 percent biodiversity loss, but we may not be able to see the impacts. In polar regions, you can look at images side-by-side from 10, 20 and 30 years ago, and clearly see the decline in ice cover. I have been going on polar expeditions for 20 years, and I can no longer do the things that I used to be able to do, due to changing ice cover. That really puts the timeline and urgency of the crisis in perspective.

Most people cannot go to these extreme environments, and certainly not regularly. They say in that, to achieve change, you need three things: to understand what we’re up against; to be willing to make changes; and to collaborate. I see my role in that first part: to illuminate what we are facing.

Although changes may be most visible at the poles, we all have some examples of the climate crisis in our own lives and environments. Timing of birds nesting, flowers blooming, and migratory patterns are changing in our parks and backyards, and are often out of sync with the biorhythm.

This has meant that, over the decades that I have done this work, I am no longer speaking to groups who tell me that they do not believe in manmade climate change. People understand that the climate is changing. However, what I do hear quite often is, “I didn’t know that it was all so connected.” When I tie in the social and economic aspects and impacts of climate change, such as the impacts on stock markets, people get a new understanding of how global this crisis is.

What has not changed over the years is people expressing feelings of hopelessness. It is in our nature to want to do something on an individual level, which is so difficult when it is not individual change that we necessarily need. There are, of course, examples of individuals who mobilised movements. However, I think we need to focus on changing systems collectively by choosing different governments, leaders, and products. Those individual choices can result in the needed systemic change.

This extends, in my view, to the role of local initiatives. I think that the best thing that local initiatives can do is work together. Too many of us are trying to “reinvent the wheel” for our own communities. Instead, local governments should be sharing knowledge and taking up each other’s successful initiatives.

I spoke once, for example, at a conference by the Hanse Cities – a group that includes cities and towns from 16 European countries – where they were creating a collective plan to deal with flooding in such a way that takes into account up- and downstream towns, situated across national borders. It was amazing to watch cities share knowledge, take the best of what is available, and acknowledge how we are all in it together.

This mentality can be applied to so many facets of the climate crisis. Air pollution and water systems cross borders. I have also been leading trips for CEOs and captains of industry from major corporations, and there too we can find opportunities for collective action. These CEOs are usually competitors, but they also have shared challenges and opportunities. For example, one group that I led has started buying green electricity together, leveraging economies of scale.

This demonstrates that, to mobilise collective action, you have to create opportunities for individual efforts to come together. That is why conferences like Mannheim2020 are so crucial.

This conference is coming at a particularly apt moment. More people will die from climate change than from the coronavirus. This pandemic has shown us that we are able to act quickly. We are willing to sacrifice so much to protect people. We have shown that we can do this! We just need to understand that climate change is a similar challenge, and apply the same passion and drive to facing it. We have momentum now; let’s seize it.

For more information on the conference and to register, click here.