The research of Beth Osnes focuses on the use of applied performance and creative climate communication to co-author an equitable, survivable, and thrive-able future for life and the ecosystems upon which life depends. Recent work includes using performance as a tool for young female-identifying and gender diverse youth to engage in art-science activities to support their feeling of belonging within STEM and as a part of the natural world. and 2) performance-based methods for supporting youth in climate engagement. As co-founder of Inside the Greenhouse on the CU campus for creative climate communication, this year she continued an art/science project, Side by Side, with EBIO professor Rebecca Safran and Environmental Design professor Shawhin Roudbari for which they were awarded a nearly $2,000,000 grant through the National Science Foundation Advancing Informal STEM Learning (terminated by UAS current administration April 2025). In past summers they worked with area high school aged youth to create an art/science procession at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science and award-winning films that have been shown in film festivals around the world. She continues to tour an experiential performance The Butterfly Affect, that invites audience members to costume themselves as various butterfly species to undergo metamorphosis. This performance has toured locally and internationally and was featured in 2024 on Colorado Matters of Colorado Public Radio and the Jesse Waters Show on Fox News for over 2.5 million viewers. She also continues to advance climate comedy with ENSV professor Max Boykoff with major support from the Argosy Foundation with a yearly Earth Day performance at the Boulder Theater.
keywords
use of performance-based methods to support youth in authoring climate solutions at the local level, vocal empowerment for women in all aspects of sustainable development, theatre for development, creative climate communication, community engagement in resilience planning at the city level, young women's vocal empowerment, good natured climate comedy, environmental education, student engagement for sustainability education
