By Ina Marie Ernø Jacobsen, volunteer journalist
“We need to turn frustration, anxiety, and hopelessness into optimism and a belief that there is something worth fighting for.”
Eleanor Susan Brocks is 16 years old and attends Det Frie Gymnasium in Copenhagen. But she is also an activist in the Green Youth Movement - and it’s in that capacity she is at Roskilde Festival for the first time.
Together with her fellow activists, she has created the Trailtopia, which aims to inspire festival-goers to reflect more utopically about the future.
Art, Creativity, and Activism in Flokkr Lab
At this year’s festival, the Green Youth Movement is part of Flokkr Lab, a community that, besides the Green Youth Movement, consists of DFUNK, FLOR, Youth Red Cross, and the artist duo Baum & Leahy.
Flokkr Lab is driven by art, creativity, and activism, where young change-makers develop programme content designed to inspire active participation in creating a sustainable future.
There is a Trailtopia workshop on Tuesday at 13:00 at Flokkr Container #2.
You can read more about the rest of the activities at Flokkr Lab in the Art & Activism programme.
Flokkr Lab is supported by Erasmus+.
The Trailtopia Path starts at Flokkr, goes through the camping area, and ends in the peaceful surroundings of The Yard. Along the way, you are presented with visions of a wilder and more diverse Danish nature and inspiration to dream of a more sustainable and inclusive world. These visions are excerpts from the Green Youth Movement’s manifesto, Retfærdig Naturbevarelse (“Fair Nature Conservation”).
“We cultivate utopias a lot in the Green Youth Movement. It's natural to get angry and frustrated about climate change, but we get more out of talking about how we feel and what we dream of. And then we need to spend more time with nature, so we become even more eager to save it,” explains Eleanor.
If you follow the Trailtopia path all the way, you will end up in the peaceful surroundings of The Yard, where you can write your utopian reflections on a mirror - so you can see yourself in them.
The Green Youth Movement is a voluntary community driven by young people across the country, fighting for a greener and fairer future through activism and structural changes in society.
This year, Roskilde Festival has donated 250,000 kroner to the Green Youth Movement. Every year, the Roskilde Festival association distributes funds from the festival’s surplus to humanitarian, charitable, non-profit, and cultural work, with a special focus on children and young people.
And according to Eleanor, this makes a crucial difference for an organisation like the Green Youth Movement.
“It makes an enormous difference for a voluntary organisation like ours to get this kind of support. It means we can create bigger productions and reach even more people across the country with our message. Because climate change concerns all of us,” she explains.
You can read more about who received donations from last year’s festival here.
