ED42A:
Climate Literacy: Engaging the Public and Inspiring Action Through Effective Science/Arts/Sustainability Communication I


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Session ID#: 61893

Session Description:
Research demonstrates that evidence and logic aren't enough to persuade people to live more sustainably. Instead, effective action requires a combination of cognition and affect. Since prehistoric times, the arts have served as access points to understanding complex societal issues and the “hero’s journey” of facing difficult challenges while inspiring deep engagement, reflection, and discussion. In their affective roles as agents of personal and social change, the arts unite with the cognitive power of science to speak to our humanity — allowing global change issues to transcend language, background, education level, age, attention span and time — and move people, emotionally and physically, to act. This session will present examples, images, ideas, and results demonstrating how the arts can bring the objective/empirical and the subjective/emotive together to spark attitudinal and behavioral shifts; reach broader audiences more deeply; enhance long-term retention; and make climate change and sustainability personal, visceral, and actionable.
Primary Convener:  Marda Kirn, EcoArts Connections, Boulder, CO, United States
Conveners:  Patrick Chandler, University of Colorado at Boulder, Environmental Studies, Boulder, United States, Celia Gurney, Climate Nexus, Climate Signals, New York, NY, United States and Samuel Michael Illingworth, Manchester Metropolitan University, School of Science and the Environment, Manchester, United Kingdom
Primary Liaison:  Marda Kirn, EcoArts Connections, Boulder, CO, United States
Chairs:  Marda Kirn, EcoArts Connections, Boulder, CO, United States and Patrick Chandler, University of Colorado at Boulder, Environmental Studies, Boulder, United States
OSPA Liaison:  Celia Gurney, Climate Nexus, Climate Signals, New York, NY, United States

Cross-Listed:
  • GC - Global Environmental Change
  • NH - Natural Hazards
  • PA - Public Affairs
  • SI - Societal Impacts and Policy Sciences
Index Terms:

0805 Elementary and secondary education [EDUCATION]
0815 Informal education [EDUCATION]
0825 Teaching methods [EDUCATION]
0850 Geoscience education research [EDUCATION]

Abstracts Submitted to this Session:

Incorporating Science and Civic Action Through Creative Engagement to Catalyze Communities (418577)
Eve Mosher, Self Employed, Washington, DC, United States
Connecting Climate Change to Extreme Weather: Distilling Multivariable Scientific Ideas into Simple Infographics for the Public (445909)
Mina Lee, Climate Nexus, New York, NY, United States
In the Americas, We Use Satellites to Sow Dreams in the Soil (455743)
Betzy E E. Hernández Sandoval1, Nancy D Searby2, Africa Ixmucane Flores Anderson3 and Emil A. Cherrington1, (1)University of Alabama in Huntsville, Earth System Science Center, Huntsville, AL, United States, (2)NASA Headquarters, Washington, United States, (3)University of Alabama in Huntsville, Huntsville, AL, United States
CALL/City as Living Laboratory – sustainability made tangible through the arts (465723)
Olivia Georgia1, Mary Miss2 and Adrian Cerezo1, (1)City as Living Laboratory, New York, United States, (2)Mary Miss Studio, New York, United States
Next Steps for the Arts in Engaging Audiences With Climate Change Science and Solutions (466359)
Andrew C. Revkin, National Geographic Society, Storytelling, Media Innovation, Washington, DC, United States
How integrating arts and culture strategies can accelerate climate change mitigation and adaptation (468180)
Alexis Frasz, Organization Not Listed, Washington, DC, United States

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