About the Café
About the WeCLISH Climate Café
What the café is about?
The café provides a safe space for casual, inspiring, and evidence-informed climate change conversations, facilitated by a host with a café guest and fellow participants.
What the café is not?
- It is not a space for debates to prove, disprove or win over an issue.
- It is not a webinar/workshop/seminar/classroom with formal presentations and lectures.
What are the languages?
We communicate in English. Unfortunately, we are currently unable to offer sign and multiple language interpreters.
What is discussed in the café?
Each café session focuses on a specific topic related to climate change. However, you can share your thoughts and flag future issues for conversation.
Who decides the topic?
The café host decides the topic in consultation with the WeCLISH director, trainees, potential guests, and audiences. After each session, participants can nominate a topic and guest for a future session.
When and where does it happen?
We meet on Zoom every 4th Friday of the month, 9–10 am Eastern Standard Time.
Who can join?
Climate change enthusiasts, including researchers, practitioners, policymakers, students, and community participants.
How can I join?
You must register to join each Climate Café session.
What is the cost?
It’s free! However, by joining the café, you’re choosing not to do something else. Thus, there is an opportunity cost of your time, which may vary from person to person.
What are the benefits?
- The Climate Café allows you to engage in a climate change conversation, listen to guests and participants, voice your ideas, share resources, and network with other scholars, students, practitioners, and policymakers.
- Regular participation may contribute to your sense of belonging to a collective with shared values of climate change research, policymaking, and action.
- Indirectly, you will contribute to climate change discourse to benefit society.
What are the values?
- Respect and humility
- Openness to listen to other voices and opinions
- Commitment to a safe public discourse
- Commitment to climate justice and intersectional equity
- Zero tolerance for microaggression and abusive behaviours
What are the ground rules?
- Join 10 minutes earlier to ensure that your Zoom connection works.
- Follow the host's guidelines regarding introducing yourselves to the café audience. Generally, we ask that you state your name with pronunciation tips, what you want others to call you (i.e., by name only or with your title), your preferred pronouns, position, organization, and department, if applicable, and your expectations from the café session.
- Raise your virtual hand to get invited to ask a question or make a comment.
- When invited, unmute and preferably turn your video on. Let the audience know who you are before asking a question or commenting.
- While speaking, unmute; otherwise, mute your microphone to manage background noise.
- Since we meet only for an hour, please share your thoughts and encourage others to share.
- The café conversations are private among registered participants. Therefore, without their informed consent, you cannot take, make, or circulate any host, guest, or participant photos and recordings.
Is the conversation recorded?
We record for preparing Café Briefs. We will seek informed consent from you if we want to use any part of it for promoting the event, research, or knowledge mobilization.
Is the recording shared among the participants?
We do not share recordings. However, we post Café Briefs so you can drink, relax, and enjoy the conversation, knowing you will have access to the resources shared during the chat.
