November 2021

Introduction

The prompt that I chose for my final Tiny Ecology post explores the limits of fear narratives when framed through apocalypse and how these types of narratives relate to decolonial practices within climate change.

Apocalyptic Fear Narratives

Inducing fear in a narrative is meant to move people to action and has been studied for many years in relation to a wide variety of topics. Fear narratives that are framed through an apocalyptic narrative have become fairly standard within climate change communication. I regularly hear friends make comments such as, “we will be extinct soon anyways”, often in a joking tone. I personally see this attitude as a result of these apocalyptic fear narratives. This is harmful in many ways and as shown in this example with my friends, typically instils feelings of dread and ultimately inaction. More importantly, apocalyptic narratives are framed in a way that makes it sound new, or like it would be happening for the first time. Climate change is already disproportionately impacting marginalized communities and groups in so-called Canada. This is glazed over in a large portion of climate change communication when warnings of what the future could look like is already a reality for certain marginalized communities.

“We desperately need narratives that move past apocalypse as an endpoint, not only because there are people and societies already living in the Western world’s vision of climate apocalypse on a daily basis, but because looking at the climate crisis as an apocalypse can only inspire a helpless waiting for the post-apocalypse to arrive, suddenly, to cleave the past from the future” (Hull, 2019).

Sit Spot Connections

At the sit spot I have been visiting throughout the Tiny Ecology project, apocalypses have already occurred for Indigenous communities on this exact creek. “The Lil’wat Nation chose to live in this area because the land was rich in hunting, fishing, gathering, spiritual training sites and important trade and travel routes. This area was known as the Wolf Clan Territory, where the Wolf Clan (now known as the Wallace Family) resided and had their trap line along Fitzsimmons Creek” (SLCC, 2020).

There are no longer fish in this section of the creek, which shows a small glance into the apocalypse that occurred and is still occurring in this area for the Lil’wat Nation.

An apocalyptic fear narrative suggests that as settlers, we are taking a colonial stance on climate change. “Instead of dread of an impending crisis, Indigenous approaches to climate change are motivated through dialogic narratives with descendants and ancestors. In some cases, these narratives are like science fiction in which Indigenous peoples work to empower their own protagonists to address contemporary challenges. Yet within literature on climate change and the Anthropocene, Indigenous peoples often get placed in historical categories designed by non-Indigenous persons, such as the Holocene. In some cases, these categories serve as the backdrop for allies’ narratives that privilege themselves as the protagonists who will save Indigenous peoples from colonial violence and the climate crisis” (Quote, year).

In order to work towards decolonial practices in climate change, narrative and wording considerations need to be at the forefront of communication practices.

References

Ettinger, J., Walton, P., Painter, J., & DiBlasi, T. (2021, January 25). Climate of hope or doom and gloom? testing the climate change hope vs. Fear Communications debate through online videos. Climatic Change. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10584-021-02975-8.

 Hull, A. (2019, December 9). Hopepunk and Solarpunk: On Climate Narratives That Go Beyond the Apocalypse. Literary Hub. https://lithub.com/hopepunk-and-solarpunk-on-climate-narratives-that-go-beyond-the-apocalypse/.

Noisecat, J. B. (2020, June 2). How To Survive an Apocalypse and Keep Dreaming. The Nation. https://www.thenation.com/article/society/native-american-postapocalypse/.

The significance of the Squamish Lil’Wat Cultural Centre’s location. SLCC Squamish Lil’wat Cultural Centre. (2020, December 27). https://slcc.ca/the-significance-of-the-squamish-lilwat-cultural-centres-location/.

Whyte, K. P. (2018, May 30). Indigenous Science (fiction) for the Anthropocene: Ancestral dystopias and fantasies of climate change crises. SAGE Journals. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/2514848618777621.

Introduction

The prompt that I chose for my second Tiny Ecology is based on Elizabeth Wright’s piece on Climate Change, Disability, and Eco-Ableism. This prompt asks us to explore how disability affects people in our community and why it is important to understand disability in our own community in general and in relation to climate change.

Disability in Whistler

The first thing that came to mind when thinking about how disability affects people in my community was the access to my sit spot. The main access point to my sit spot or anywhere along the Fitzsimmons Creek is the valley trail. The valley trail is a 46 kilometer paved, two way trail that runs from one end of town to the other and can take you to most places in between. As far as accessibility goes, the valley trail is fairly accessible with the exception of a few steeper hills and the occasional pothole in the spring. Moving off of the valley trail towards the creek quickly becomes less accessible. In order to get to my sit spot, you have to climb over multiple larger rocks and then down onto some sand. Thankfully, slightly further down the creek, there are multiple accessible access point with benches offering similar and some even better view points.

Whistler is a town of roughly 10,000 permanent residents, often with up to 40,000 people in town during peak seasons. From an accessibility standpoint, quadrupling the town’s population can pose some challenges. Whistler’s accessibility improved in 2010 when they hosted events for the Paralymic and Olympic Winter Games. In order to be approved to host the winter games, each facility that hosts an event must meet the standard set by Accessible Design for the Built Environment. Not only did Whistler’s sport event facilities see accessibility improvements, but a new accessible playground was built, more accessible accommodation was built and renovated, and the Whistler Adaptive Sports Program was expanded.

Whistler Adaptive Sports Program is a non-profit that provides recreational programs for people of all ages with physical, sensory, or cognitive disabilities, aiming to break down barriers to entry for sport, recreation, and therapeutic programming. As mentioned, their facilities were expanded with the Paralymic Games in 2010 and they continue to grow.

Of course, Whistler has areas of strength and also areas of improvement in terms of accessibility. So where does climate communication fit in? “With 37.5% of the global population living with a disability alongside the increasingly alarming problem of climate change, it is our prerogative to ensure that disabled people are included in the solutions” (Wright, 2020).

One thing that comes to mind is access out of Whistler. The main road out of Whistler to Vancouver is the BC-99 South, a single lane highway that mainly weaves between rock faces and cliffs and the ocean. Alternatively, you can take the BC-99 North towards Pemberton; however, this is only included as an evacuation route in the summer months due to road conditions.  

“As a result of climate change, Whistler is expected to experience longer wildfire seasons in the future. The RMOW’s Community Energy and Climate Change Action Plan (CECAP) suggest that over the next 25 to 55 years Whistler will experience longer, hotter and drier summers” (Sea to Sky Multimodal Evacuation Plan, 2019).

The report suggests that on a peak winter day, approximately 267 people would require assistance evacuating and on a peak summer day, approximately 244 people would require assistance evacuating. Of course, many people with disabilities would be able to evacuate independently; however, 37% of 40,000 is 14, 800. Assuming that there would be approximately 40,000 people in Whistler during peak summer or peak winter season and approximately 37% of those people would have varying disabilities, that would mean 14, 800 people with disabilities would need to evacuate. As mentioned, not everyone with a disability would require assistance evacuating. What this does mean is that disability needs to be a main consideration in all aspects of climate action. Furthermore, are adaptation and mitigation measures in Whistler accessible? What barriers do people with disabilities face in taking climate action? Is climate change messaging accessible in our community?

References

McColl, M. A. (2021, November 1). Should I say ‘disabled person’ or ‘person with a disability’?⁠. The Conversation. Retrieved November 22, 2021, from https://theconversation.com/should-i-say-disabled-person-or-person-with-a-disability-113618.

Resort Municipality of Whistler and District of Squamish. (2019). Sea to Sky Multimodal Evacuation Plan. https://dev.whistler.ca/sites/default/files/2019/Jul/related/25957/sea_to_sky_multimodal_evacuation_plan_final_26_june_2019.pdf.

Sowailem, A. &. (2014). Whistler Adaptive Sports Program2014. Whistler Adaptive Sports Program. https://whistleradaptive.com/.

Standardizing accessibility, part of the 2010 Paralympics legacy. Standards Council of Canada – Conseil canadien des normes. (2012, March 27). https://www.scc.ca/en/news-events/features/features-standardizing-accessibility-part-of-the-2010-paralympics-legacy.

Valley Trail updates and projects. Resort Municipality of Whistler. (2021, November 3). https://www.whistler.ca/culture-recreation/trails/valley-trail.

Wright, E. (2020, February 20). Climate change, disability, and eco-ableism: Why we need to be inclusive to save the planet. Medium. https://uxdesign.cc/climate-change-disability-and-eco-ableism-why-we-need-to-be-inclusive-when-trying-to-save-the-88bb61e82e4e.

Introduction

The prompt that I chose for my first Tiny Ecology is based on Krauß and Bremer’s work where they outline a number of lessons for climate risk governance learned from place-based narratives. This prompt asks us to to tell a story about our sit spot and connect it to one of the features of narrative they describe, and explain that connection.

Story

The Fitzsimmons Creek weaves through Whistler at all elevations and reminds you that the peaks of the mountains and the village are connected. If you’re skiing or traveling on the glacier at 2,603-metre elevation, the hard ice and snow crunches underneath your feet. That same glacial ice is the water flowing underneath the Peak 2 Peak Gondola that connects Whistler and Blackcomb mountains. You look through the glass floor at the creek far below, that looks tiny from the confines of the gondola, but is much larger when you find yourself hiking beside the creek each summer, far from town. That same creek flows through the village, as you walk over bridges, the creek moves beneath your feet and people are stopping to take pictures with the creek in the background. This is the same creek that they took pictures of earlier today on the Peak 2 Peak gondola through the glass floor. That same water that flows through a built up village, under human built cement and stone bridges, is the water that you find yourself sitting quietly beside and reflecting. The creek goes further than this though. Maybe there is someone sitting at Green Lake, thinking about all of the places and people that this water has passed by before getting to them. Perhaps they are fishing, swimming, or kayaking in this ice cold water on big, beautiful Green Lake. At the creek where you sit, kids skip rocks slightly upstream and their laughs almost echo down the banks. You can see high up the mountain from where you sit. Not quite to the top where this water started on the glacier but pretty far. You can visualize the path that this water took to get here, flowing right in front of you in this peaceful place.

This is the place I have chosen for my sit spot, a mere two minute walk from my house, for which I feel extremely fortunate. A multi-use trail is only 15 meters or so from where I have chosen to sit, but you would never know as the sound of the creek is loud enough to distract anyone sitting beside it from the noise of the outside world. The bank provides shelter so that I also feel hidden away in all senses. This is my sit spot for the remainder of this course, although even though I’ve only been here a couple times I can already tell I will returning beyond the duration of the project.

Addendum

The feature of narratives that this story is connected to is that narratives situate events in a certain place and a certain time. A creek like this is a great example of the power of storytelling. Bayer & Hettinger state that local community members often have place-based stories to share. This could be someone who has lived in town for 30 years and observes the rising levels of the creek or someone who visits a couple times a year for a big ski trip and notices the glacier receding year after year. O’Sullivan has a similar message stating that stories need to be locally anchored. Storytelling in regard to nature might has the ability to get specific and reach a wide range of people. The person who enjoys sitting by the creek or the lake might not be the same person who enjoys skiing on the glacier, but a story like this has the ability to reach both of those people and everyone in between.

References

Bayer, S., & Hettinger, A. (2019). Storytelling: A natural tool to weave the threads of science and community together. The Bulletin of the Ecological Society of America, 100(2). https://doi.org/10.1002/bes2.1542

Krauß, W., & Bremer, S. (2020). The role of place-based narratives of change in climate risk governance. Climate Risk Management, 28, 100221. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.crm.2020.100221

O’Sullivan, F. (2019, November 11). To Survive Climate Change, We’ll Need a Better Story. Bloomberg CityLab. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-11-11/meet-sweden-s-chief-storyteller-for-climate-change.

Audience

My original piece for Assignment 3: Climate Content Creation was a blog post with the intended audience being the LGBTQIA2S+ community and anyone interested in spending time in nature/ in the outdoor community. This audience was broad; however, it was a good starting point as the piece was meant to be an overview of the topic. The audience I have chosen to focus on for the double content remix is LGBTQIA2S+ youth specifically.

First Iteration Considerations

The first iteration of this content remix are two pieces for Instagram, one post and one reel. The post is meant to be informative while the reel is meant to be inspiring. The reel also adds a storytelling element by giving youth the opportunity to share their story by reposting their own reel. I chose to create an Instagram account from the perspective of a hypothetical queer person who grew up in a city and then started to spend more time connecting with nature. I decided not to use my own personal story or Instagram account; however, I did use all of my own photos.

In terms of accessibility, the post uses minimal font on each slide and users have the ability to scroll through each slide of the post at their own pace. The reel includes all of the text visible, with minimal text displayed in each section of the video with a song in the background. Users have the option to pause the video as it plays to read the text at their own pace.

It is also important to note that viewing the post and reel on Instagram would be higher quality than as you see here on my blog.

First Iteration- Instagram Post and Reel:

Second Iteration Considerations

The second iteration is a slideshow designed to be used at an LGBTQIA2S+ youth group with a facilitator present who is leading the discussion portion. The facilitator could also choose to read the slides, rather than playing the audio recording depending on the preference and needs of the group. The portion of the activity that is meant to be spent outside in nature could be the lawn of the youth facility or a nearby park. This would of course be dependent on the location and protocols of the youth facility. This activity is designed to have a storytelling element as well with the discussion portion. Youth who do not have access to or do not use social media would be able to benefit from this.

Second Iteration- Presentation and Interactive Storytelling for LGBTQIA2S+ Youth Group:

Find the presentation here: https://1drv.ms/p/s!ArpJoboCYXrjh04UOlKX8IIcTzq9?e=55vaat

References

Bell, K., & Foster, E. (2021). Environmentalism and LGBTQIA+ Politics and Activism. In Diversity and Inclusion in Environmentalism (pp. 82–97). essay, Routledge.

Blumberg, A. (Host). (2021, October 14). Environmentalist Drag Queen Pattie Gonia Says The Outdoors Is for Everyone. [Audio podcast episode]. In How To Save A Planet. Gimlet. https://gimletmedia.com/shows/howtosaveaplanet/gmhogdm/environmentalist-drag-queen- pattie-gonia

Brady, A., Torres, A., & Brown, P. (2019, June 13). What the Queer Community brings to the fight for climate justice. Grist. https://grist.org/article/what-the-queer-community-brings-to-the-fight-for-climate-justice/.

Gordon, W. (2020, November 2). Why do so many Queer Folks Love Urbanism? Greater Greater Washington. https://ggwash.org/view/79495/why-so-many-people-in-the-queer-community-love-urbanism

Rallo, A., Forest, E., Kuo, J., Boutilier, R., and Li, E. (2019). Access Ability 2: A practical handbook on accessible graphic design. Revised + Supersized Second Edition. The Association of Registered Graphic Designers.

Robbins, J. (2020, January 9). Ecopsychology: How immersion in nature benefits your health. Yale 360. https://e360.yale.edu/features/ecopsychology-how- immersion-in-nature-benefits-your-health.

Simmons, D. (2020, October 23). What is ‘Climate justice’? Yale Climate Connections. https://yaleclimateconnections.org/2020/07/what-is-climate-justice/

CALS501 Assignment 4: Unit 2 Blog Post

This piece is a reflection for CALS501, Leading Climate Action in Society Part 1 after completing CALS500, Climate Science, Impacts, and Services and having had the chance to work with my team for the design thinking challenge as part of CALS501. Transdisciplinary thinking is a focus of the Master of Arts in Climate Action Leadership program and the further we get into the program, the more deeply I understand the importance of a transdisciplinary approach to climate action.  In CALS500, Climate Science, Impacts, and Services, it became even more apparent how challenging and complex climate science can be. Some of the resources shared in class were extremely interactive and digestible for folks who don’t necessarily have a science background, such as the MIT Climate Science Interactive Module. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Sixth Assessment Report (IPCC AR6) was released this past summer while we were in CALS500, Climate Science, Impacts, and Services. The IPCC Summary For Policymakers was another important resource in this course; however, it is challenging to absorb information from this resource as a non-scientist.  

This is where a transdisciplinary approach becomes important. The IPCC report is a great example of a resource that should be widely used and understood due to the importance of its content, but is often not widely understood because of the technical nature of climate science. The IPCC acknowledges this by taking part in outreach in various capacities.

Our cohort’s current course, CALS502, Communication for Climate Action, gives us the tools to communicate effectively , focusing on story, place, and diversity. Accessibility is a major focus of this course, which has made me realize just how inaccessible most of the climate science resources are.

The experience of taking these two courses back-to-back has been inspiring, as there are so many tools that can be used to bridge the gap between important information and people (the public, politicians, decision makers).

My team’s thinking in the design thinking challenge for CALS501, Leading Climate Action in Society Part 1 is informed by these courses and the focus of a transdisciplinary approach. We have decided on creating an open-access resource for youth in Canadian public high schools to learn about climate action in a hands on way. The resource will include information from Indigenous perspectives, Western climate science, and as many diverse perspectives as possible.

Now we continue to learn about communication in relation to climate action before regrouping in CALS501, Leading Climate Action in Society Part 1. As each course builds on the next, the transdisciplinary approach will continue to be a key component of both the design thinking challenge and the program itself. I look forward to seeing how CALS502, Communication for Climate Action will inform our thinking as we come back together to go through another iteration of our design thinking challenge as a team. How can we create an idea that is as accessible as possible from a communications standpoint? How will our upcoming course, CALS503, Climate Risk Management inform our thinking?

References

Emanuel, Kerry A. Climate Science, Risk & Solutions. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 15 May 2020: https://climateprimer.mit.edu/climate-science-risk-solutions.pdf

Summary for Policymakers IPCC, 2021: Summary for Policymakers. In: Climate Change 2021: The Physical Science Basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [MassonDelmotte, V., P. Zhai, A. Pirani, S.L. Connors, C. Péan, S. Berger, N. Caud, Y. Chen, L. Goldfarb, M.I. Gomis, M. Huang, K. Leitzell, E. Lonnoy, J.B.R. Matthews, T.K. Maycock, T. Waterfield, O. Yelekçi, R. Yu, and B. Zhou (eds.)]. Cambridge University Press. In Press.