The Week

We need mass mobilization to solve the climate crisis. The Week sets out to ignite the broad middle of its international audience: the majority of the population who are aware, concerned, and/or alarmed, but are not yet truly engaged, regardless of their political alignment or location. But how do we break through the usual fear, apathy, or numbness? The classic playbook “Give people the facts and they will wake up and act” doesn’t work. 

The Week’s approach is based on recent insights in the psychology of climate change, as well as research on past movements that successfully broke through a grim status quo. The heart of The Week is a 3-session experience over the course of one week (hence the name) in a small group–friends, family, coworkers, schoolmates, or worshippers. During each session, the group watches an episode of a powerful documentary together, carefully scripted to unlock emotional reckoning and spark vulnerable and profound group conversation (for which we provide extensive guides). 

The Week was created by Helene Gerin and Frederic Laloux. In less than a year, with just a prototype and word-of-mouth promotion, 400 people had organized group screenings and conversations in Europe and the United States. This means that more than 3,000 people have already watched the pilot version, whether at work with their colleagues or at home with friends or family.

We are currently in conversation with large existing networks—religious communities, academic organizations, and large corporations—that are looking for ways to engage hundreds of thousands of their members and local chapters around climate change but are missing the tools to do so. By reaching people in the circles they know and trust–work, school, faith, etc–and then encouraging participants to invite their friends to share the experience, we can ensure ongoing reach and thus real impact.