Imagining Futures Lecture: “Facing Climate Change with Facts, Feelings, and Action”

What will it take to inspire and empower a critical mass to act in time to safeguard our climate, civilization, and the living world? In her new book, UNDER THE SKY WE MAKE: How to Be Human in a Warming World (Penguin Random House), Lund University sustainability scientist Kimberly Nicholas argues that it’s a combination of facts, feelings, and action. Three guiding principles to make this shift from exploitation to regeneration are to simultaneously promote human and planetary health and well-being; reduce harmful practices at their source; and strengthen the resilience of both human and natural communities. For each of us, figuring out how to contribute to, sustain, and find meaning and joy in this work is a primary duty of being alive at this moment.

Kimberly Nicholas is a sustainability scientist at Lund University. She is the author of UNDER THE SKY WE MAKE: How to be Human in a Warming World, and the monthly climate newsletter We Can Fix It.  

In her research, she studies the connections between people, land, and climate. Her goal is to understand how to steward ecosystems to support a good life for everyone alive today, and leave a thriving planet for future generations.

Her current research projects include a collaboration with the Municipality of Lund to radically reduce climate pollution; The Takeoff of Staying on the Ground, studying the flight-free movement in Sweden; and using digital communication to improve traveler satisfaction with public transport. She recently concluded a five-year investigation of sustainable food systems in Europe, including the first comprehensive mapping of €61 billion of annual public spending under the Common Agricultural