Vivian Price - How can film help give labor a greater voice for a just energy transition?

This month we were delighted to have a conversation with Vivian Price, a visiting researcher at the University of Helsinki. Presently she is working with Janette Kotivirta, Doctoral researcher in World Politics at University of Helsinki, on a video dialogue project on just transitions. Vivian comes to Helsinki from California State University Dominguez Hills, where she is a Professor in Interdisciplinary, Environmental and Women's Studies. Vivian shares insight with us about her blue-collar work history and long-term experience working to strengthen labour and environmental standards. Prior to earning her doctorate as a non-traditional student, Vivian worked in restaurants, offices, and as a union member in factories, refineries, and construction sites, which served to develop and deepen her understanding of working-class struggles. She has also been an apprenticeship instructor and officer in the International Brother (& Sister) -hood of Electrical Workers, and once a professor, became an officer in the California Faculty Association. Vivian looks at climate justice through the lens of the worker, with the hope of connecting unions, scientists, communities, and environmentalists. This is a fresh perspective and allows us to explore new spaces in the discussion on the impacts of extractivism. Vivian wishes to share a message of solidarity with our brothers and sisters in the US resisting ICE. We support this message and also stand in solidarity.If you would like to learn more about Vivian’s work, please check out the links below. Vivian’s University Profile https://www.csudh.edu/labor-studies/faculty/vivian-price Feature-length documentariesHammering It Out (2000, 56 min) Distributor, Women Make Movies Description here Transnational Tradeswomen (2006, 56 min) Distributor, Women Make Movies Description hereHarvest of Loneliness (2010, 56 min) Distributor, Film Media Group. Description hereShorts on Just TransitionTalking Union Talking Climate (2023, 15 mins) Three oil workers (a Nigerian, a Norwegian and a Californian) have a conversation about what it's like to be a unionist, how their companies view unions, how their companies distribute profits, and their views on climate change and the future of the oil industry. Based on research with the WAGE team at the University of Oslo and OsloMet.Voices from the green transition (2025, 14 mins) How are workers and communities experiencing the transition away from coal in South Africa and the extraction of lithium in Chile? This short film highlighting the ideas of marginalized groups is based on research from the Just Transition: action, concepts, debates and strategies research project at the University of Leeds.Trailer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7GOu9hUsF4