Shared stories through nature, dialogue and community

Dear friends,

In this newsletter, UN Live celebrates the connections that bring people together and deepen our relationship with each other and the planet. We explore some of the things that have happened since last time, including music that reconnects us to the Earth, youth leading the climate conversation, and gatherings where culture, imagination, and joy come together.

Moving beneath the surface

Climate change can oftentimes feel distant, and therefore difficult to act on, and as UN Live’s Lead Curator puts it in Anchorage Museum’s podcast “Chatter Matters”: “While climate change can feel abstract, its effects are increasingly tangible in our daily lives — from extreme weather to shifting seasons. Yet we still respond more powerfully to relatable, emotional stories than to facts alone, which is why storytelling is crucial for motivating action.” 

In its work with popular culture and dialogue, UN Live is exploring ways to translate abstract numbers into stories, moments and opportunities that touch people and move them to act.

Starting today and in the months ahead, UN Live will through a conversation series dive deeper into how environmentalists, artists, storytellers, and cultural leaders are using their platforms to inspire connection, shift mindsets, and spark the collective energy required to drive the change we need. The first conversation is with Christiana Figueres, global climate leader and co-host of the podcast “Outrage and Optimism”, and it can be found below. More will come shortly and be flagged on our SoMe platforms, so stay tuned.

Next week, UN Live will take part in New York Climate Week and the UN General Assembly, joining cultural, biodiversity, climate, health and other SDG-focused gatherings. Our team will be networking, listening, speaking on how popular culture can drive change — from conversations with artists and music leaders at Spotify’s New York offices to events on planetary boundaries, nature, health, and AI, we will contribute where we can and continue to explore how culture bridges urgency, action, and imagination.

The Shift – Christiana Figueres x Katja Iversen on culture and inner work as catalysts for hope and change

What we watch, listen to, and experience every day shapes more than our taste—it shapes our world. In The Shift, UN Live’s thought leaders explore how music, art, media, and even everyday spaces—from stadiums to dinner tables—become stages for stories that connect us, inspire empathy, and spark collective action. In today’s Q&A, Katja Iversen, UN Live CEO speaks with Christiana Figueres, global climate leader, former Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), and Chief Negotiator of the landmark Paris Agreement of 2015.

A conversation with Christiana Figueres.

Q: You’ve guided the world through some of its most complex climate negotiations, yet it has often been described as both strategic and deeply human. How has your own inner life—values, spirituality, or personal reflection—shaped the way you approach climate action and leadership?

A: My approach to climate leadership has long been grounded in inner work. As a child in Costa Rica, I fell in love with the golden toads of Monteverde—bright flashes of life that later vanished as the forest floor warmed. Their extinction became both wound and compass in my life. Over time, I learned that the outer work of transformation cannot be sustained without inner grounding. In other words, systems change is ironically deeply personal.  In negotiations, I often found that progress depends somewhat on technical detail, but more importantly it is affected by the capacity to listen, to respect, and to invite others to imagine a shared future.

Q: Climate change can feel overwhelming and distant to many people. How do you see the role of storytelling, culture, and creative expression in helping individuals feel both the urgency and their own agency to act?

A: Facts alone rarely, if ever, move people. Climate change is not just a scientific curve; it is the story of who we are and above all, who we choose to be. Storytelling, culture, and creative expression bridge the gap between abstract numbers and lived experience. A song, a film, or a painting can carry urgency more powerfully than a chart ever could. But beyond urgency, culture carries agency. When people see their values and daily lives reflected in climate narratives, it ceases to be distant—it becomes theirs. 

Q: Many of your public reflections touch on hope as a radical practice. How do you personally sustain hope while facing global crises, and how can that practice of hope be shared through culture, art, or storytelling to inspire others?

A: Hope, for me, is not naïve optimism. It is a deliberate commitment to face challenges and transform them into agency.  Every morning I recommit to it, because without hope we cannot act. Hope is not the guarantee of success, but the commitment to try our outmost. It is radical because it defies the cynicism that paralyzes. Personally, I sustain hope through three practices: gratitude, connection, and perspective. Gratitude roots me in the miracle of life. Connection reminds me we do not carry this burden alone—we are upheld by countless others. And history shows that change often feels impossible until suddenly it becomes inevitable. Through culture, art, and storytelling, this radical hope can be contagious. A song that lifts our spirits, a mural that depicts resilience, a film that imagines justice—all remind us despair is not the only lens. When hope is practiced collectively, it becomes unstoppable. That is the alchemy we need now: turning pain into purpose, and despair into determination.

Click here to read the full conversation on UN Live’s website.

Dance away under the same sun

Often times, it’s easy to spend effort on treating the symptoms of global challenges—poverty, climate change, inequality. But to tackle the causes, there is a need to begin with one simple recognition: we are one human race, living under the same sun, with so many of the same hopes and dreams.

That’s the idea behind Same Sun, a new UN Live dialogue initiative created with Democracy X and supported by the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. This summer, at one of Denmark’s largest music festivals, Smukfest, festival-goers stepped into a portal for conversation linking with people in other portals in Ethiopia, Nigeria, Rwanda, and South Africa.

Conversations flowed—about music, food, fashion and love. Music was created, laughs were shared, dances were danced . And in the many different  exchanges engaging thousands of people, one truth kept coming back: we’re more alike than different.

As one of the participants said: 
“What we all share across continents is love—the need to be loved”

By creating space for people to meet as equals, the Same Sun initiative opens the door to a different story—one built on recognition, curiosity, and shared humanity.

How Nature Moves Us

The patter of rain on a window. The wind moving through the trees. The soft trickle of sand between your toes.

Nature’s sounds are never just sounds — they carry emotion, memory, and story. They can transport us across time and place, returning us to childhood mornings or endless seaside summers.

These sensory moments remind us that nature is not separate from us but stitched into how we feel, remember, and move through the world. In a time that often pulls us out of connection, nature calls us to be present and to act from a place of groundedness.

As written by Jay Griffiths, award winning author, in his essay “Life thrums with music”; “Nature’s sounds are healing. The sound of a rainforest; the flowing of a stream; a cascade of a waterfall; frogsong, insect rhythms and birdsong: these heal and salve. We humans as a species were born into our existence hearing the mother-voice of nature and the primal song of the animal musicians who were there before us, drumming, carolling, whistling and hooting.”

Through Sounds Right’s recent activities, we’ve invited people on the street to pause and share their favourite sound from nature, and to reflect on what makes it meaningful to them. Can you think of your favourite nature sound, and what story it belongs to?

Follow @nature_theartist on Instagram and TikTok for more content.

Experience a sensual concert where music, technology and nature come together in a unique collaboration.

Sounds Right and Danish artists turn nature into music and art. On September 25, NEBULAH and Uberørt perform at Basement CPH, blending sound, tech, and visuals inspired by rivers, birds, and the rhythms of the wild.

The event is open to anyone, so bring your friends and family. Tickets for the concert can be found here. There will also be a nature excursion Tuesday, September 23. For the full experience of diving deeper into connecting with nature as an artist, find the tickets here.

NATURE AIN’T A LUXURY at the Barbican, London

UK rapper, zoologist and Sounds Right ambassador Louis VI has recorded hours of high-fidelity 3D audio from environments in Sarayaku, (Amazon) Raja Ampat (West Papua, Indonesia) and Waitukubuli (aka Dominica), transporting listeners to those locations, and resetting expectations of what healthy ecosystems should sound like, and could in future urban environments.

Some of the recordings  feature in his new release with NATURE: “How we next evolve (Feat. NATURE, Yelfris Valdés)” - Listen here.

Between Saturday 25th — Sunday 26th October 2025, the recordings will be featured in an exhibition at The Barbican (London) titled NATURE AIN’T A LUXURY. It has been designed to reset our connection to the natural world through sound, showing us that these sounds are our legacy & future.There will also be two special live performances from Louis VI and his band together with NATURE the artist.

Read more about the exhibition and performance here. 

What we are reading

Human connection to nature has declined 60% in 200 years – The Guardian
This article reports on a new study showing that our relationship with nature has deteriorated significantly since 1800 — with urbanisation, technology, and modern lifestyles distancing people from the natural world. The findings reinforce how vital cultural and emotional reconnection with nature is to tackling today’s planetary crises.

Modelling Nature Connectedness Within Environmental Systems – MDPI Journal
This open-access academic paper maps the historical and projected trends in human-nature relationships from 1800 to 2020 and beyond. It offers both data and insight into how societal shifts — from industrialisation to climate awareness — have shaped how people feel about and behave toward nature. A powerful resource for understanding long-term patterns and pathways for restoration.

Why we should tune into the orchestra of the animal world This poetic essay explores the rich sonic lives of animals — from humpback whales to cicadas — and why listening deeply to non-human voices can shift how we relate to the natural world. It’s a compelling invitation to hear nature not just as background noise, but as a chorus of intelligence, connection, and meaning.

What we are listening to

AI x Human, Together for a Just World – Power, People, Planet Podcast (with Kumi Naidoo)
In this thought-provoking episode, activist and former Amnesty International Secretary-General Kumi Naidoo explores how artificial intelligence and human creativity can — and must — work together to create a more just and inclusive future. With urgency and optimism, he calls on listeners to imagine a world where tech serves people and the planet, not profits.