Climate Change for All
The Climate Change for All project comprises of two public programmes: Sewing Hope and the Agency for World Change Agreements.
This project has helped us to engage people with our collections, to give them a place to engage with the climate emergency and encourage everyone to take action creatively.
Climate Change for All is supported by the Scottish Government Climate Engagement Fund.
Last updated: 12 March 2025
Sewing Hope: Quilts for Climate Change
In free creative workshops run by artist Laura Johnson, visitors were given the chance to make their own quilt square. Each square represents what climate change looks like to them, or their hopes for the future.
The quilts are made with donated thread, buttons, and metres of reclaimed fabrics, including recycled uniforms from staff at National Museums Scotland. The quilts were stitched together by volunteers led by Textile Tutor, Dianne Spottiswood Miller, at the Edinburgh Remakery (an award-winning environment social enterprise, based in Leith).
"The great thing about quilting is it gets the community together, to sit down, to slow down, and to talk and create and think about things like climate change and the environment as a community and the changes we want to make happen, and our hopes for the future."
Laura Johnson, artist.
Quilt squares were also made in creative workshops by:
- Edinburgh Children’s Hospital
- Granton Youth
- Rainbow Families
- South Queensferry School
- Communities Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle from the Edinburgh & Lothians Regional Equality Council.
Squares were also made in schools using our digital schools session with Dr Sian Henley and Curator, Dr Ali Clark.
"There are so many reasons for hope, we know what we need to do, we know how to rebalance the climate, and to restore nature, but children in particular have such an important role to play because they have the ideas, the imagination and the creativity to make it happen a lot faster."
Dr Sian Henley, Climate and Ocean Scientist.
"It opened up really great conversations about my generation’s hopes and fears for the future, and how we all think climate change will affect our lives. Despite a sometimes-grim picture being painted in the media it did make me believe in the power of collective action and how small changes can make a big impact."
Nadia, Granton Youth participant
Quilt messages from the workshops
Over 1500 people took part in the workshops.
Families were equipped with information from Climate and Ocean Scientist Dr Sian Henley, Reader in Marine Science at the University of Edinburgh, alongside our curators and learning team. Families engaged with our collection through films, object handling and trails.
Their messages were on display for six months at the National Museum of Scotland, and have been sent to the Scottish Government.
Workshops at other museums
As well as the quilts made in the National Museum of Scotland, seven regional museums across Scotland were supported to work with their own collections and made quilts sharing stories of their communities with over 1,000 participants. The quilts were made and exhibited at:
- The Great Tapestry of Scotland
- Paxton House
- The Devil’s Porridge Museum
- Kilmartin Museum
- West Highland Museum
- Arctic Convoy Museum
- Strathnaver Museum.
"Taking part in the Sewing Hope: Quilts for Climate Change workshop was an inspiring experience for our participants. One of the most powerful actions we can take is to educate and inspire others - projects like this show how creativity can be a tool for change."
The Great Tapestry Museum
Sewing Hope was produced in partnership with artist Laura Johnson, The University of Edinburgh and its Data for Children Collaborative, The Scottish Alliance for Geoscience, Environment and Society (SAGES) and the Edinburgh Remakery.
Workshop toolkit
We held sector training and developed a toolkit, to inspire other museums to make space for creative climate action and run Sewing Hopeworkshops with their own communities.
The Agency for World Change Agreements
Developed by the Museum of Communication in Bern, Switzerland, the concept of The Agency for World Change Agreements is simple - to provide a space for discussion, resulting in attendees making small changes to live more ecologically.
We hosted the first Agency in Scotland in February 2025, supported by expert artists Alice Mary Cooper and Geraldine Heaney. Hundreds of visitors made their own pledges, inspired by material from our collection and our vision for sustainable development. To find out how to host your own Agency visit Planetopia.
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