The climate crisis needs better stories
Despite mounting evidence and urgent warnings, one question still remains:
How can we invite people to care deeply, emotionally and consistently about climate change?
"For many, the climate crisis can feel psychologically and temporarily distant. People often struggle to grasp phenomena that aren't directly perceptible to everyday experience, such as the large-scale processes involved in climate change. This lack of engagement is leading to a sense of collective inaction."
"Storytelling, however, is a valuable method: it has the capacity to make the issue feel tangible, to craft the invisible as 'visible', to engage people's empathy, care, interest and understanding. All of which are fundamental in inspiring real and lasting change."
Dr Rosa Rogers, Research Fellow and Lecturer in Creative Writing at University College Cork (UCC)
A recent report on Irish national climate attitudes found frustration as the dominant emotion regarding climate change, reported by 67% of respondents, followed by worry (54%) and powerlessness (51%).
The report also highlighted the potential role of community involvement in addressing climate challenges, with 61% of respondents already actively engaged in at least one local organisation.
Dr Rogers' research focuses on how diverse audiences engage with different kinds of climate stories and seeks to bridge science, narrative and public engagement.
"Our work involves co-creation with communities at every step of our storyline development. When inviting audiences to consider what climate stories we should be telling, there has been an overwhelming desire for narratives rooted in local lives, cultural history and heritage.
There has also been a clear desire to move beyond hard facts and doom-based narratives, instead towards climate storylines that bridge art and science approaches to allow us to imagine alternatives," Dr Rogers states.
Reimagining how we talk about the climate crisis
To date, the TRANSLATE project, funded by Met Éireann, has run a series of workshops to explore innovative approaches to climate communication. Led by Dr Rogers, over 200 climate scientists, artists, academics, stakeholders, policy makers and members of the public have been brought together throughout Cork to reimagine how we talk about the climate crisis, both in Ireland and beyond. These workshops explore how diverse audiences engage with different kinds of climate stories and invite creative responses to scientific case studies, relating to agriculture, health, education and biodiversity.
Climate scientists, artists, academics, stakeholders, policy makers and members of the public attend climate storytelling workshops in Cork.
Climate scientists, artists, academics, stakeholders, policy makers and members of the public attend climate storytelling workshops in Cork.
Participants have evaluated multi-modal story examples (i.e. poetry, visual art, short stories, films and virtual reality) in relation to methodologies, craft, affect, solutions and desire for behavioural change.
Following a series of artistic and scientific presentations, participants are then invited to play an active role in co-designing climate storylines through creative tasks, experimenting with new ways of communicating scientific information, risk, impact, solutions and, inspired by Rebecca Solnit's writings on strategic hope (Hope in the Dark).
The findings of these workshops are used to inform the CLIMB project team's work under the TRANSLATE programme, which is using Virtual Reality (VR) and narrative-based storyline communication strategies to improve environmental resilience, communicate intersectional vulnerabilities, and foster more sustainable practices for multi-sector and public benefits.
Met Éireann, Ireland’s National Meteorological Service, has funded the TRANSLATE programme since 2021. This is a dedicated initiative to standardise future climate projections for Ireland and develop climate services that meet the climate information needs of decision makers.
Insights from the CLIMB project are already making an impact, helping inform how Met Éireann frames its future "climate storylines", data-driven narratives that bring climate projections to life in ways that diverse members of the public can understand and care about.
From workshops to the wild: A new story for Ireland’s endangered curlew
Building on this momentum – and informed by participant interest in a particular TRANSLATE case study about the Eurasian Curlew's threat of extinction, as well as a unanimous call for stories rooted in family, vulnerability, and tangible solutions – Dr Rogers has written a graphic novel in collaboration with visual artist, Rosa Kelly and with an Irish translation by Merlin Pearson.
The graphic novel is entitled Ar Lorg Ghlao an Chrotaigh / Chasing the Curlew's Call.
The curlew is steeped in natural and cultural heritage in Ireland. Their distinctive call has long been associated with the arrival of spring and their distinctive call has been immortalised in writing by W.B. Yeats.
There are currently estimated to be only 103 breeding pairs of Curlew remaining in Ireland, which represents a 98% decline in population in the last 30 years. The situation is not much better in Northern Ireland, with estimates as low as 250 pairs.
According to Dr Paul Holloway, Senior Lecturer in UCC School of the Human Environment, there are various reasons why the Curlew is struggling in Ireland. Agricultural intensification, habitat loss, high levels of predation by meso-predators (i.e., foxes, crows), have all driven declines in the breeding population of this iconic bird. More recently, the compounding impact of climate change is being observed.
"Drier summers will cause invertebrates (i.e., worms) to move deeper into the soil, making them unavailable to chicks who cannot simply fly to new areas to feed. More intense rainfall events during the breeding season can also negatively impact chick survival," Dr Holloway states.
"We are facing the very realistic possibility that this bird could go extinct from our shores in our lifetime. Unfortunately, the Curlew is now entering a new stage of Irish heritage, notably as the poster child for extinction. It is so synonymous with extinction that it is on the front cover of the recent Report of the Citizen’s Assembly on Biodiversity Loss."
Dr Paul Holloway, Senior Lecturer in UCC School of the Human Environment
Ar Lorg Ghlao an Chrotaigh / Chasing the Curlew's Call is told through the eyes of a young girl called Lou, the story follows her search for the disappearing curlew and her journey to understanding this bird's struggle for survival in a changing climate.
Through dialogue with her grandfather, compelling imagery and interactive elements, Lou and the reader are introduced to scientific analysis conducted by Dr Paul Holloway as part of TRANSLATE, as well as climate information into seasonal changes, climate change, and shifting weather patterns, which impact the curlew's lives.
"Chasing the Curlew's Call aims to emotionally engage its readers within a story rooted in family, localised knowledge, cultural heritage and scientific information about the curlew and our relationship with this species. Drawing on storytelling methods, we seek to make the story engaging, relatable and accessible." - Dr Rosa Rogers
"Grounding the story in a specific example, we hope to show what the climate crisis can mean in the reader's own lives, thus inspiring empathy, imagination and desire for action. The novel ends with an animation, linked survey and information on behaviours that can be taken to help support the curlew. It also shares TRANSLATE future climate projections and behaviours that can be taken to mitigate future extreme weather events. Though the graphic novel focuses on the curlew, it also invites the reader to see further ripple effects in a world with a warmer climate." – Dr Rosa Rogers
Ireland’s former ambassador to the United Nations and one of the architects of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), David Donoghue described the work as "Beautifully imagined; very moving; gripping text which is matched by wonderful artwork... As a one-time birdwatcher, I had no idea that curlews are now so endangered. This really brings home to me the challenges posed to biodiversity."
Working with the next generation
The CLIMB team will continue to lead further workshops in primary and secondary schools and with youth charities to evaluate the impact of Ar Lorg Ghlao an Chrotaigh / Chasing the Curlew's Call.
Research has found that stories consistently outperformed factual presentations in encouraging people to take climate action. Fictional stories with protagonists taking pro-environmental actions significantly increased support for climate policy and intentions to act, compared to texts without narrative structure.
"Sharing our graphic novel with the youth charity, Fighting Words, has already demonstrated how storytelling can broaden and inspire the climate change conversation.
In this pilot study, 100% of students reported enjoyment of the graphic novel, increased understanding of the complex issue of climate change, increased understanding of the Eurasian Curlew and its endangered status in Ireland.
Through the resulting teacher report, it was also noted that there was an increased sense of how large issues such as climate change can intersect with localised human and animal lives. We will continue to work with diverse groups to champion the storytelling approach within forward-thinking and impactful climate communication." – Dr Rosa Rogers
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