Centering Wonder and Water: Climate Mixer, Author-Led Workshop, & Film Screening
Calling all creatives! To celebrate World Oceans Day, the Climate Imaginarium is hosting a full day of dynamic cultural programming! Join us for a creative climate mixer, workshop on joy and wonder, and film screening in Building 406A on Governors Island! We hope to see you there! ✨
🎨 1:00 - 2:30 PM: Climate Creatives Mixer
Starting at 1PM, people will mingle and break into small groups by creative discipline and vibe and share ideas for new projects and collabs. This creative climate mixer is a joint collaboration between Climate Imaginarium, Climate Cafe NYC, and Sixth Fest.
This mixer will connect artists of all types to create climate stories to be shared at a big open mic at the Climate Imaginarium in July.
The mixer will be paired with a climate cafe, creating a space for participants to process the emotional dimensions of the content—such as grief, anxiety, and hope—through open, supportive conversation. Together, the event offers both insight and connection and find renewed purpose in the climate movement.
🧘 2:30 - 4:00 PM: Centering Joy and Wonder in the Climate Movement
At 2:30PM we will have a 90-minute workshop led by author Jeff Golden, blending experiential activities, video, short readings, and open discussion to explore the deeper emotional and psychological roots of our climate crisis. Participants will examine why happiness has been steadily declining in the U.S. since the 1940s despite material and financial gains, and why money accounts for only a small fraction of our overall well-being. The session investigates how modern levels of consumption reflect a deeper poverty, particularly in the ways we rely on work and money to fill emotional voids. Drawing from the wisdom of thinkers like Brené Brown, Thich Nhat Hanh, and Rumi, the workshop invites a reimagining of climate work as a pathway to richer, more meaningful lives rooted in vulnerability, presence, and joy.
The workshop will be facilitated by Jeff Golden, M.Ed. Jeff is the author of Reclaiming the Sacred, winner of the Nautilus Grand Prize and named Best Environmental Book of 2023 by IndieReader. He has written and taught about these topics for over thirty years, most recently as a scholar-in-residence at Vassar College. He is a former Fulbright Scholar in sustainable development, he was awarded the US State Department’s Millennium International Volunteer Award, and he has headed several nonprofits dedicated to the environment and social justice. He has worked with Nobel Peace Prize laureates, he was the lead on the creation of one of the greenest certified buildings in the US, and he has penned a monthly column on sustainability.
🌊 4:30 - 6:30 PM: Everything Is Water
In honor of World Oceans Day, join Here on Earth for an evening of youth films on water and ecological art! Young filmmakers freshly graduated from the Here On Earth Spring 2025 Climate! Film! Action! internship program will present their short films on water.
Ecological artists Laura Chipley and Samara Smith will give an artists’ talk on their in-progress work on the NY Harbor, and show a few aquatic short films as well. This will be followed by a panel discussion and Q&A with all artists.
There will also be a mini-installation of Memory Portal, a yearlong participatory art project, and student project posters created for the Billion Oyster Project Annual Student Symposium.
⛵ Getting to the Climate Imaginarium
For the weekend ferry schedule to Governors Island, please check here. Ferries run every 30 minutes. Take the ferry that’s most convenient for you from either Lower Manhattan (10 South Street), Brooklyn Bridge Park (Pier 6), or Red Hook/Atlantic Basin. Please arrive 15 minutes prior to your ferry departure time with your ticket ready to display.
Ferry tickets must be purchased at the ferry terminal or online. Fares from Lower Manhattan are $5 for a round trip and free for adults over 65, children 12 and under, Climate Imaginarium summer volunteers, and others. All passengers ride free before 11am on weekends. Cars are not permitted.
Governors Island is also accessible by the South Brooklyn NYC Ferry route. Brooklyn ferry tickets must be purchased in advance of boarding and are $4.50 each way. You can find the NYC Ferry Schedule for the South Brooklyn route here.
Once you get to Governors Island, you will either get out at Soissons Landing (from 10 South Street) or Yankee Pier (from Brooklyn). You can use this map of Governors Island to locate Colonels Row. The Climate Imaginarium is in Building 406A, in the middle of Colonels Row, and will have a visible sign outside the doorway. Our address is 406A Comfort Road, New York, NY 10004.