The residents are making their voices heard

This summer, the Périgord-Limousin Regional Natural Park launched the production of audio podcasts, bringing to life the texts from the writing competition launched in 2025 on the theme "Périgord-Limousin in 2050". And who better than the inhabitants to embody these stories?

Bringing the competition entries to life

A year ago, the Park launched the first edition of the "Périgord-Limousin in 2050" competition. It invited everyone to imagine the future of the region in the face of climate change. The initiative was a resounding success, with 113 entries and the production of original texts in a wide variety of styles and on diverse subjects . From evolving cultures and societal transformations to underground shelters and population shifts, the stories, sometimes optimistic and sometimes more somber, addressed climate change in all its complexity and imagined a future where Périgord-Limousin has adapted in many ways.

Following the awards ceremony, held in October 2025, the Park wanted to bring all this literary material to life. This led to the creation of the "2050 Podcasts" project, funded by European funds and ADEME (the French Agency for Ecological Transition). This initiative aims to facilitate the dissemination of the texts while continuing to raise awareness among residents about the challenges of adapting to climate change.

To carry out this project, 25 texts were selected, ensuring a balance between the municipalities represented, the topics addressed, and the tone of the narratives. This selection aims not only to highlight optimistic or realistic texts, but rather to showcase the full range of possibilities imagined by the competition participants.

Giving a voice to the residents

While the recording and editing were handled by an audiovisual professional, the Park wanted to involve local residents to read the texts. The aim was to continue the work of citizen participation by having residents read texts written by other residents. In short, a way to share stories among the community.

Following a call for volunteers on social media, more than 40 people quickly volunteered to try their hand at podcasting and lend their voices to one of the stories. Among them was Béatrix.

Béatrix, a dynamic and versatile retiree, arrived in the Périgord-Limousin region a few years ago, drawn by the area's high quality of life. Her greatest passion is writing. But, as a true artist, she excels in many other fields: photography, drawing, and even theater. It was this last string to her bow that motivated her to respond to the Park's call for volunteers.

For greater flexibility and authenticity, the recording takes place at home. Once the music stand and microphone are set up, the next step is to ensure that no background noise will interfere with the recording. This can prove challenging, far from the soundproofed professional studios! But that's precisely the beauty of recording in someone's home. At Béatrix's, this meant turning off the refrigerator, the boiler, and the ventilation, removing the batteries from the two living room clocks, making sure the neighbor had finished clearing the brush, and, above all, managing to calm the dogs, who were thrilled to have visitors.

Finally, calm and silence return. You could hear a pin drop. You could hear a pin drop! We have to do another take…

25 podcasts to discover soon

Just like Béatrix, François, Martine, Sacha, Clara, and many others have already participated in the project and opened their doors to Nathalie, a sound artist working with the association Les Connexions Oubliées . More meetings will follow, throughout the Park's territory.

Then, for Nathalie, will come a long process of cleaning and mixing, removing hesitations here and stumbles there. Above all, the voices and texts will be enhanced by sound design and ambient sounds, also recorded within the Park's territory.

The first podcasts resulting from this project will be released in mid-October at a special event that will also include the awards ceremony for the second edition of the competition. All audio content will then be available online by the end of the year.

But the Park does not intend to confine these audio stories to digital platforms alone. The long-term objective is to encourage elected officials and partners to adopt them in order to multiply the points of distribution: local events, markets, media libraries, public spaces…

By choosing to have the texts read by local residents and to organize the recordings in their homes, the Park opted for a more personal and extended approach. This allowed time to offer a unique experience that the volunteers will remember for a long time; and above all, it allowed time to foster social connections. And while time is of the essence in the face of climate change, it is nonetheless essential to seize it: to take the time to meet, to share, to understand, so that everyone can become involved in addressing these upheavals and gradually become aware of the need to adapt to this new reality.