The Story That Moves You Forward

THE PROBLEM: Fight, Flight, Freeze. Analysis Paralysis. How do we as individuals really stand still and look at the long-term changes we must make address climate change? How do we discover not just an aspiration, but a goal with a strategy underneath it? What gets us moving creatively, rather than crawling under a blanket with a bag of cookies?

WHO'S ALREADY ON IT: Believe it or not, the National Science Foundation has seen the light ... of a movie screen. This august institution has chosen to back a complex research project asking what factors motivate people into long-term behavioral modifications around climate change. One facet of the three-year project is a day-long festival of short films about the spiritual connection between humanity and nature.

Let's be specific. The official title of the study is - drum roll -

Integrating Spiritual, Moral and Ethical Considerations into Science Communication for Improved Policymaking and Public Support: Improving Public Action on Climate Science

Pin that word, Communication. It's the key, since people won't change what they don't know about.

(I know, I know, people won't change what they do know about, too. A friend of mine recently remarked that humans seem to think change happens in smooth increments; I replied that we all know real change comes with the distinct energy of "WHOOPS!")

From the NSF abstract:

Despite four decades of climate change communication, we have yet to see adequate public action and policymaker support to substantively address the challenge. Therefore, this project focuses on positive self-efficacy frames (when a person feels empowered to take action and make an impact) that have been shown to ultimately generate engagement and support for climate change yet have been largely absent from mainstream dialogue.

Here's the line that made my eyebrows rise:

Specifically, it focuses on moral, ethical and spiritual concerns, which have also been underrepresented yet have been shown to have powerful sway over individuals’ attitudes and behaviors.

Hold up - spiritual concerns? Since when is NSF money attracted to spiritual concerns?

Aha - this is social science. Surveys. Data, carefully collected, carefully analyzed, carefully interpreted as a story.

Communication. Story. And that's where we get to the fun part that the public can participate in with pleasure and a sense of purpose. Keeping SANE.

Yes, it's a one-day film festival in my hometown, co-directed by the Principal Investigator of the NSF project on Science Communication and Public Action – Dr. Jessica Eise. It has four programs of short films, with hands-on workshops interspersed. All the films will get cash awards at the end of the day. You bet I'll be there.

(Dr. Jessica Eise, from her web site)

I contacted Dr. Eise's assistant and found out that Bloomington, IN was chosen for this one-off event for two reasons: first, it's a small city with a strong environmental consciousness and commitment, its municipality lush with trees and native wildlife ...

(photo by Dave Askins, Blue Heron at Miller-Showers Park, May 24, 2022)

... and also because Dr. Eise now lives here, and will begin teaching at the Indiana University School of Public Health in the fall semester.

A question that tickles me, and might be nibbling at your ear, too, is: Who is this festival for? For the despairing, these nonfiction stories about spiritual connections and solutions might be hope. For those already actively developing responses to climate change, it might be preaching to the choir. That's the risk of "storytelling" as an activism engine. You plow ahead with your Communication, without knowing in advance where your audience will be on the Spectrum of Change Adoption (I made up that term, don't @ me). Many are already charging ahead on bioregional regeneration and finance transformation; many others are just finding a sense of direction; many more are still peeking through their fingers at both the problems and the possibilities.

Anyway, it's plain that Dr. Eise is coming to the right place. For one thing, her dissertation work founding Clima y Cafe, an organization promoting communication and education about the effect of climate change on coffee growers in Colombia, dovetails with a recent documentary made by IU students that posted on YouTube two months ago: Climate Change: The End of Coffee as We Know It covering the same issues affecting growers in Mexico and other coffee regions. All the vibes are here, to inspire grassroots groups and individuals to play spontaneously into new patterns of cooperation.

Inspire play towards an aspiration of change? Sounds SANE, to me!

#film #documentaryfilm #climatechange #coffee