New stories for a more conscious, sustainable society: claiming authorship of the climate story

Abstract

Sustainability philosophers claim that we are at an impasse of stories, finding ourselves in a blank chapter between the old and the new. The old story, characterized by separation, technological dominance and human superiority over nature, is unfolding in an ecological crisis giving space for a new narrative defined by inter-being, cooperation and balance. It has been put forward that this crisis is climate change, a phenomenon that epitomizes the old, while holding the potential to act as a bridge to the new. Our study shows the benefits of framing climate change as a problem of story and how the dominant story we have told about climate change can be changed. Based on an approach called "Rising strong", we address the question of how sustainability students relate to the story on climate change, how they conceptualize and situate it within a bigger narrative, and identify barriers and catalysts for authorship. The results show a clear lack of personal authorship, a feeling of disconnection to the climate story and a disbelief in any revolutionary endings, yet still a slight belief in co-authorship. Catalysts that can help to claim back authorship were identified to be positive emotions (e.g., empathy and hope), integral thinking, creation of space for creativity and co-creation. Barriers were scientific rationality and complexity alongside perceived negative emotions, such as shame and self-doubt. One of the most crucial findings was the re-occurring theme of joint engagement for story-transitioning. This point to the urgent need for both increased co-creation as well as the creation of conditions needed to enable people to engage in such processes.

Inner transformation to sustainability as a deep leverage point: fostering new avenues for change through dialogue and reflection

“…It is crucial to support individuals and groups in a process of connecting to the 'whole', including issues of personal values, beliefs, worldviews, religion, spirituality, or to talk about emotions, including joy and happiness or fear and anger. Talking about these aspects is not common ground in sustainability research, practice and education Hendersson and Wamsler 2020). However, they are part of people's everyday lives and influence sustainability at all levels.…”

Fostering ocean empathy through future scenarios

“…Büscher (2016) identifies negative consequences, which he calls the 'politics of hysteria', arising from emotive messaging on conservation issues. We recognize these critiques; however, we align with scholarship that identifies empathy as an important prerequisite for fostering sustainable relationships with the planet (Brown et al, 2019;Hendersson & Wamsler, 2020).…”

Advocacy for Sustainability Communication: Unseen Potential of Queer Communicators in Environmental, Climate Change and Sustainability Science

“…At the same time, they are shaped by the advent of scientific and technological solutions to these problems (e.g., artificial intelligence, genetic modification, geo-engineering). As mentioned in the introduction, climate change is the underlying narrative of destruction and imbalance between humans and nature [10]. Although droughts, floods, and bushfires are omnipresent in the media, there is lack of public discourse about sustainability.…”

“…In a sustainability context queering is to advocate for a certain story about the future, develop a solution in relation to the extant problems of an environmental or social crisis, to create possibly revolutionary endings to this story (sustainability communication), and to embark on a new, more sustainable conversation, which includes problematization and the capability to "change our own constructions of the world and thereby to create new possibilities for our own action" [52] (p. 22). Advocacy for sustainability communication means evolving agency and consciousness and taking an active role in shaping the conversation about scientific facts regarding the changing climate, inclusive of the revolutionary ending just mentioned, thus developing more reflective awareness and pro-environmental behavior [10,53].…”

“…Here, the unseen potential of science communicators to control not only of the old story about climate change, but also of the new story of sustainability and social change [10]; this unseen potential is to initiate and drive discourses around a changing climate and solutions for a sustainable development and transformation. Particularly by speaking to and learning from queer science and environmental communicators within a larger sample of internationally comparative interviews (in Central Europe, Australia, Asia), we learn that advocacy is the key to move communicators from the margins to the center of public discourses.…”