The potential of storying and listening for climate action

By Sarah Robertson .

The power of storytelling to make visible the diverse experiences and challenges of climate changed worlds was the focus of the Storytelling for Climate Action panel discussion during Social Science Week. The panel saw CUR members Wendy Steele, PhD researcher Rosie Pham, and Sarah Robertson join Brigid Magner and writer and researcher Deborah Wardle from RMIT’s non/fictionLab to discuss the opportunities of storytelling and listening in climate changed worlds.  

Rosie reflected on her experience as a daughter of Vietnamese parents who migrated to Australia, exploring the power of story to translate and test (de)colonial narratives within a western system of higher education.  

“It is not lost on me that I am part of knowledge production that is connected to intergenerational healing, where we are trying to make life easier for those who come after us.” 

Wendy argued for the importance of listening and story sharing with respect for diverse voices, human and non-human:  

“Stories matter not just the telling, but the listening. We hear too much story-telling. We need more deep listening and we can do much better at that as social scientists or academics, but also just within the Community more deep listening, and actively creating spaces where this can occur.” 

Deborah and Brigid spoke to their work which uses storytelling as method. Deborah discussed her fascinating and rich interdisciplinary work on the invisibility of groundwater and ‘storying with’ to help us better imagine and live with the underground and its subterranean bodies of water. Meanwhile, Brigid spoke about the Reading in the Mallee project she has undertaken with Emily Potter which uses ‘book chats’ as a method for engaging with young adults in regional Victoria on their experience of their environment and the ways climate change is impacting that.  

Brigid noted the work of storytelling and reading to think across time.  

“The book chats enabled these young readers to talk about speculative futures, how their neighbourhoods might change in coming years, but also about how that future was unfolding right now.” 

In Naarm (Melbourne) and across this land we now call Australia, stories have been shared and made in, on and with this place for 10s of thousands of years, stewarded by First Peoples and Country.  

At the heart of the discussion was that the stories we tell and those that remain hidden matter. Story then has both possibility and promise in supporting and redirecting climate changed futures, provided it is navigated with care, respect and a whole lot of listening.  

In addition to the speakers, thanks to Jessica Wilkinson and Ashleigh Stokes for their support in organising the event.  

Link to the recording: RMIT Storytelling for climate action - online event link-20240912_150351-Meeting Recording.mp4