World image 4.4°C hotter than pre-industrial by the end of this century. That’s one of the predictions in the IPCC’s sixth assessment report of scenarios where emissions increase without reduction or immediate climate action. But unless you’ve studied climate models closely and understand the intricacies of tipping points for teeing points, you won’t be able to visualize this result and really imagine how much the severity of what was to come.
Now imagine Timothy living with his grandchildren on Walande Island, a small dot off the east coast of South Malaita Island, part of the Solomon Islands. Since 2002, Walande’s 1,200 residents have abandoned their homes and left the island. Only one house remains: Timothy’s. When his former neighbors were asked about Timothy’s motives, they nonchalantly shrugged. “He’s stubborn,” said one. “He won’t listen to us,” said another. Every morning, his four young grandchildren canoe inland to school, while Mr. Timothy spends the day adding rocks to the wall around the house, trying to keep the water a little longer. “If I move inland, I can’t see through the trees. I won’t even see water. I want this place where I can look around. Because I’m part of this place,” he said. His is a story that powerfully conveys the loneliness and loss that human-caused 1.1-degree warming has caused.
The environmental crisis is one of overconsumption, carbon emissions and corporate greed. But it’s also a crisis of misinformation. For too long, hard data has buried environmentalists in a room of echoes, but in 2023, storytelling will finally create a unified global response to the environmental crisis. school. As this crisis worsens, we’ll stop informing the climate crisis with facts and statistics—instead, we’ll use stories like Timothy’s.
Unlike numbers or facts, stories can trigger emotional responses, harnessing the power of motivation, imagination and personal values that drive forms of social change. most powerful and long-lasting. For example, in 2019, we all saw the image of Notre Dame on fire. Three minutes after the fire started, images of the incident were broadcast globally, prompting world leaders to react immediately. That same year, the Amazon also burned, spewing smoke that spread over 2,000 miles and consumed a football field and a half of the rainforest every minute of every day—it took the mainstream media three weeks to cover the story. . Why did the Notre Dame fire ensure such a quick global response, while the Amazon wildfire did not? Although it is just a beautiful combination of limestone, lead and wood, we appreciate the personal significance of Notre Dame because it has a story that we know and can relate to. . That’s what prompted people to react to it, while the fact that the Amazon was on fire suggested nothing.
Storytelling allows us to make sense of the world. Research from many fields shows that the story structure is consistent with the human neural map. What do a nursing mother, a hug from a friend and a story have in common? They all release oxytocin, also known as the love potion. And it’s powerful: In a study by neuroscientist Paul Zak, participants given synthetic oxytocin donated 57% more to charity and gave 56% more money than participants were given a placebo. Similarly, hearing information in narrative form leads to a higher likelihood of pro-social behavior.
The power of stories can be harnessed for good. For example, in 2005, the International Rice Research Institute used a radio soap opera called Hometown Story persuade millions of rice farmers in Vietnam to stop spraying their crops with toxic pesticides. Farmers who listened to this series were 31% less likely to spray their crops than those who were just told not to.
In 2017, a viral and gruesome video detailing the story of a sea turtle with a plastic straw stuffed into its nose forced the US city of Seattle, Washington, British prime minister Theresa May, multiple airlines and global companies like Starbucks committed to eliminating plastic straws.
That is why, by 2023, increased global connectivity will facilitate the spread of human and animal stories at the frontiers of an environmental crisis. Through different forms of art and media, it is these stories that will ultimately convince us that the climate emergency is not some invisible crisis affecting generations. future, but an issue on which we all, individually and collectively, must act now.
