Stories of Energy: Narrative in the Energy Humanities

Abstract

This collection of essays is an output of the UK research project 'Stories of Change: Energy in the Past, Present and Future'. 1 Its principal aim is to explore the insights which narratives, literary and non-fiction, afford into the processes and consequences of energy generation and consumption, and energy system change, and to consider what implications such insights may have for the transition to renewable energy. At the same time, the special number was conceived as a test of the ability of narrative to serve as a focus for interdisciplinary work in the environmental humanities. 2 'Stories of Change' was an interdisciplinary research project focused on humanity's changing relationship with energy in the past, present and future, whose ultimate ambition it was to provide a more plural and imaginative account of our present and future energy choices. 3 The project drew on stories as a central concept because of their importance in responding to the urgent and difficult problems of climate change and the associated challenges of our energy system, the scale of which are not currently reflected in the public and political responses. Telling stories possesses an important consciousness-enhancing function for the subject as well as the reader, and has a part to play in public debates on the environment and energy. 4 Working through areas of current concern with hitherto marginalised actors and exploring elements of a collective vision for the future, 'Stories of Change' sought to encourage individuals and communities to think about the role of energy in their lives and the necessity for change. (See the project's online collection of oral stories at <storiesofchange.ac.uk>.) This issue of Resilience is concerned solely with written narratives; nonetheless it draws on the 'Stories of Change' project's use of 'story' as a device around which different disciplines-literature, history, design, geography, social and policy research-and methodologies-digital storytelling, oral history, creative practice-could be gathered. 5 Narrative in Environmental Humanities Environmental Humanities has emerged in the 21 st century as a vibrant interdisciplinary field of research addressing the social and cultural dimensions of pressing contemporary socio-environmental problems, including resource depletion, environmental injustice,