Nicolas Marques is a professional magician with a background in agronomy engineering. He decided with his friend Guillaume Labeyrie to undertake a Tour de France by cycling to the cities of Nice and Rouen. Through “Le Climat Chez Vous”, their aim is to meet committed project leaders and raise awareness of the risks linked to climate change and, above all, to study the solutions that can be found, all of which is punctuated by magic shows. We had the pleasure of welcoming them to Nantes on Wednesday 15 March, halfway through their trip.

Interview transcript

Hugo:  We meet today to understand what a Gaia entrepreneur is. Today we are accompanied by Nicolas Marques, co-founder of the project « Le climat chez vous ». Together with his partner Guillaume Labeyrie, Nicolas has been touring France by bike since January in order to meet committed project leaders and raise awareness of the risks linked to climate change and, above all, to study the solutions that can be found, all of which is punctuated by magic shows.

Hugo: Can you introduce yourself and your project?

Nicolas: My name is Nicolas Marques. In my studies, I did an IUT in biological engineering and then an engineering school focused on agri-food. I then changed my path and I am now a professional magician.

At school I met Guillaume Labeyrie, with whom we have been friends for 10 years. Last year, while discussing the world with friends, we asked ourselves what we could do on our humble scale. Since I was in Nice and he was in Rouen, the idea quickly emerged: to do a tour of France from Nice to Rouen. Along the way we will perform a magic show on the theme of climate change. The idea is to discuss and raise awareness on these issues but in a more playful way, as well as to use the climate fresco hosted by Guillaume Labeyrie. With these two weapons, we can talk about these issues and have a less confrontational and more exchange-oriented approach. We are now halfway there.

Hugo: You are now halfway through the Tour de France. Compared to the experience you have had so far, have you changed your definition/your way of seeing an entrepreneur who can be described as having an impact on the ecological and social transition? And if so, what do you think defines this actor?

Nicolas: In my opinion, it’s someone who tries to make things happen, in the right direction. It’s like what we do with Guillaume, we try to make things happen with the tools we have at our humble scale. And we’re trying to raise the bar in a positive way. And we hope to have a positive impact. However, measuring this impact is tricky, we talk to people and some will be directly convinced, others will be in the process of being convinced and for others it will come later. For me, someone who locks himself into his objectives and goes his own way is the behavior that should not be adopted. We are convinced that it is the collective that must be advocated.

Hugo: It’s been two months now since you had the opportunity to meet a multitude of actors. Can you give us an overview of the people you have met and what has marked you, as well as 2/3 anecdotes that you would like to share?

Nicolas: We started a month and a half ago. We wanted to meet actors from all fields because we are convinced that the fight against climate change affects everyone: companies, associations and public actors. We have discussed this in high schools, we go to engineering schools and business schools. We also went to see the managers of the Alpilles park, for example, to discuss the dangers they had to deal with: the risk of fire, the lack of water.

We then met with companies, and by the end of our tour we will have met about twenty. “NoGasp” is a kind of company that I really like. It’s a special supermarket because they sell non-conforming products, such as « ugly » vegetables, which would not be sold in a normal supermarket.  I did a school of engineering in the food industry and my aim was to limit material losses, and I noticed that there was a lot of unnecessary waste. And NoGasp responds to that.

We also saw in Grasse a structure called « L’autre Boutique » which will promote local products. And we do interviews that you can listen to on our Instagram or Facebook page « Le Climat Chez Vous ». Thanks to these interviews, we can reach a larger number of people. If we add up all our views on the first interview in Grasse, we reach 20,000 views. It makes us very proud to reach so many people and to impact them positively by making this shop known.

Hugo: How do you manage to convince people and raise their awareness so that this leads to concrete actions?

Nicolas: I think influencers will have a role to play. They set the trends, but they also follow them, it goes both ways. We can get stuck and say that we can’t change anything on our own. But as I said before, it has to be collective. And if everyone says « I want to change things », people who watch the trends will follow it. I’m thinking of celebrities, but also of political actors, of big companies that are watching the trends. And if the trend is to change, it can be interesting. If a star like Killian MBappé decides to stop taking the plane, the consequences will be monumental. There are also positive things starting to happen, such as the film « Guardians of the Ocean ». It’s a documentary about whales and the voice-over of the documentary is Jean Dujardin. Thanks to his fame, people will go and see the film and become aware of the problems present in the documentary.

Hugo: Thinking that you want to take the right steps in this transition can sometimes do even more damage. How do the people in the companies you met face this dilemma?

Nicolas: It’s not easy to make these choices, but we have to value them because these people want to do better, and the most important point is to try to find a better, less polluting way. Personally, I find it hard, I try to be careful about what I eat, on the question of meat or eating locally, which also has its limits.

The question of « how to dress » is also a problem. To make one pair of jeans, for example, you need between 7 and 10,000 litres of water. But there are solutions such as trying to repair them or buying less. There is also the issue of transport, which is why we post a lot of content on our bikes. And that makes people want to use the bike. And travelling by bike allows us to discover beautiful landscapes, which make us see France from a new angle. To

conclude, I find it hard to make these choices, but it’s worth a try.

Hugo: In the introduction, you mentioned your profession as a professional magician and that you wanted to use it for your project. What is the link between your project and magic? And how do you concretely implement it in your journey?

Nicolas: We want the fight against climate change to be something pleasant and positive. We take care of our planet, our environment and our bodies. This should not be linked to suffering, as this would not be sustainable. We want to re-enchant the world. And thanks to magic, we will reach a public that would not necessarily have been touched by this cause, since they were more attracted by the magic show. Once the show is over, people tell us and that’s what’s rewarding. We realize that they don’t feel attacked. We felt that during our trip, there were people who were angry at the « ecologists ». And to arrive and discuss with them without being haughty, that is questioning.

Hugo: How did you defend your project? What sources of funding did you receive? How did you manage to convince partners to help you in this project? What advice would you give?

Nicolas: We built a strong project, we knew it was something that would have a positive impact. We then presented it to possible funding sources. We have three: the local branches of the « Crédit Nicolas : Agricole » in small towns near Rouen. These people believed in our project and have a real desire to help us. We also have the « Lions Club Rouen Drakkar ». And finally, we won the « Cré’actif » competition organized by the Rouen metropolitan area. This is a competition that helps young entrepreneurs to launch their projects.

In terms of advice, I would say that you have to be convinced of your project and go and pitch it and prove to the world that you have a good project, that it is useful.

Hugo: Once you have completed your tour of France, how do you see the future?

Nicolas: We want to make a participatory finish to our project. We will invite as many people as possible to join us for the last 10 kilometers. We want to keep this collective spirit of happiness. Once there, there will be a speech and a magic show as well as a concert by a local singer.

After the project, I will go back to my job as a magician. But I think I will be changed by these three months of experience. I realize now that we are always in the same social circle. And by staying in different people’s houses, by meeting new people through our interviews and our trip, we meet different types of French people and it’s very interesting and I think we’ll come out of it changed.

END.

Podcast recorded by : Yohan BILLY, Hugo CRIFO, Hugo FISCHER, Jeanne DROUIN, Cassandre LEBEL, Gabriel RABOUILLE