I am now almost one year into the MACAL program at Royal Roads University and I find it amazing how much my thinking has shifted. It has moved outside of myself, my community, and my own restricted worldview, and expanded into something broad and (almost) all-encompassing. Moving through this program has opened my eyes to how limited, and limiting, my concept of climate action was prior to enrollment. Each class brings me more understanding – not of what I don’t know (which are still many, many things), but more of who I don’t know. Just how many people I wasn’t accommodating when I considered climate action – who wasn’t seated at my table. 

In our CALS502 course, Communication for Climate Action, we were asked to consider how storytelling might empower connection with different groups to best engage climate action. We spent time exploring the language we use, and dove deep into the meaning of our words and the way they may be interpreted by others. We discussed place-based narratives, and the ways in which heavily science-based narratives around climate change fail to account for the cultural specificity of places and the myriad of ways people accommodate to and live with a changing climate (Krauß & Bremer, 2020).  

The idea of place-based narratives resonates deeply with me, as I feel it allows room for a more cultural mindset around climate action. It creates space for the concept of two-eyed seeing as we discussed often in our CALS501 course: Leading Climate Action in Society. As Krauß & Bremer posit in their article titled The role of place-based narratives of change in climate risk governance, the use of place-based narrative in climate communication “means acknowledging the cultural basis of all information about climate change, and the way scientific information is taken on and used in different cultural practices.” This can include recognizing the need for ‘indigenizing’ and decolonizing adaptation strategies, or simply recognizing that policy enacted in one community may be harmful to another due to a history of troubling political engagement in that area. Place-based narrative, similarly to two-eyed seeing, is a way to come together and view the solution from multiple perspectives, allowing science and culture to coexist and work together towards a solution. 

Place-based narratives also create space for communities of different abilities, including those with neurodiversities or people with disabilities who may require additional considerations when planning for climate adaptation. In CALS503, Climate Risk Management, we discussed in depth the need to recognize the many barriers to adaptation faced by vulnerable communities, including Indigenous communities who are oftentimes especially burdened by extreme weather events due to poor infrastructure and a lack of financial resources. As noted by Kyle Whyte in his article Indigenous Climate Change Studies: Indigenizing Futures, Decolonizing the Anthropocene, there is clear evidence that “anthropogenic climate change affects Indigenous peoples earlier and more severely than other populations.”  Poverty, mental and emotional risks tied to the loss of property or land, and a lack of equal rights and protection of interest from policymakers cause many communities to face acute issues when attempting to prepare ahead for climate emergencies (Paolisso et al., 2012). 

Throughout our Design Thinking Challenge project for CALS501, place-based narrative has also been a consideration. Our attempts to build cultural sensitivity into our prototype have, time and time again, been met by the sheer immensity of the task at hand and the realization that effectively and respectfully engaging all of the communities we would hope to engage for the sake of our prototype would take decades. Integrating Indigenous teachings into our prototype is key, and embodying ‘right-relations’ and working to decolonize our research and our project, conceptual though it is, is extremely important. Our hope with our prototype, were it to be created, would be that place-based and cultural-based knowledge and experience would be shared alongside scientific research to determine innovative solutions to climate change as it is uniquely experienced in each community. 

Of course, climate change is a global problem, and it is extremely important to consider the worldwide implications of our actions. However, considering climate action strategies using a place-based narrative allows us to, as Krauß and Bremer explain, ‘curate’ climate information and apply it more deliberately, gaining more understanding of the community we are serving, and creating climate governance that is both effective and legitimate. 

References:

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

Mora, M. (2016). Crosswalk in long exposure. Unsplash. Retrieved from. https://unsplash.com/photos/31-pOduwZGE

Paolisso, M., Douglas, E., Enrici, A., Kirshen, P., Watson, C., & Ruth, M. (2012). Climate change, justice, and adaptation among African American communities in the Chesapeake Bay region. Weather, Climate, and Society, 4(1), 34-47.  https://doi.org/10.1175/WCAS-D-11-00039.1

Whyte, K.P. (2017). Indigenous Climate Change Studies: Indigenizing Futures, Decolonizing the Anthropocene (February 28, 2017).  Retrieved from https://d1wqtxts1xzle7.cloudfront.net/53860979/17_ELN_55.1-2_Whyte-with-cover-page-v2.pdf?Expires=1652587228&Signature=BrmPUp3xVBhQ67SPYw~OkCp6cdt2F3JTo5aKyk1Jm41701LugqhnabKPRGyGDVeV0l3JgMJTM4QlQRpKX0IJ60b0C5ljlFCk-6C1A68IqVQtf23fc-q8j5AtHKb~pi0dO~5doQRv9tV3~nV6d~RAgRNZyubrCFBy5bxIIVoX7RpvHJUmrGVcUog8Xq8s7iNjRym1oWSgjcFYF3CjiHdeY237b6jSTawWtd4aEa6aqi0kILGFQt3dp2I42C2ubCV2oo~eDlBnUTOVWXH1GzplVP0XrBg-bnXjCvxwrbYT1COlHpKwynqv0frYznQT-KElTcYqgXKLC0py070Vd08m1Q__&Key-Pair-Id=APKAJLOHF5GGSLRBV4ZA