Abstract
Sustainability philosophers claim that we are at an impasse of stories, finding ourselves in a blank chapter between the old and the new. The old story, characterized by separation, technological dominance and human superiority over nature, is unfolding in an ecological crisis giving space for a new narrative defined by inter-being, cooperation and balance. It has been put forward that this crisis is climate change, a phenomenon that epitomizes the old, while holding the potential to act as a bridge to the new. Our study shows the benefits of framing climate change as a problem of story and how the dominant story we have told about climate change can be changed. Based on an approach called “Rising strong”, we address the question of how sustainability students relate to the story on climate change, how they conceptualize and situate it within a bigger narrative, and identify barriers and catalysts for authorship. The results show a clear lack of personal authorship, a feeling of disconnection to the climate story and a disbelief in any revolutionary endings, yet still a slight belief in co-authorship. Catalysts that can help to claim back authorship were identified to be positive emotions (e.g., empathy and hope), integral thinking, creation of space for creativity and co-creation. Barriers were scientific rationality and complexity alongside perceived negative emotions, such as shame and self-doubt. One of the most crucial findings was the re-occurring theme of joint engagement for story-transitioning. This point to the urgent need for both increased co-creation as well as the creation of conditions needed to enable people to engage in such processes.
Highlights
This paper addresses the question of how sustainability students relate to the story on climate change, how they conceptualize and situate it within bigger narratives, and identify barriers and catalysts for taking authorship of this story
The patterns identified regarding narratives related to stories of sustainability, was that they are used for communicating and creating purpose, explaining and legitimizing practices
While stories are essential for conveying information and creating compelling narratives about sustainability issues such as climate change, they can explain why we have these problems to begin with
Summary
Our global story is reaching a devastating climax This narrative is deemed unsustainable and has unfolded in an ecological crisis (Sahinidou 2016) with planetary boundaries being breached (Steffen et al 2015) and the concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere increasingly accelerating, leading us to an ever warming and unstable existence (IPCC 2018). There is a growing realization within the sustainability debate that it is increasingly less important to claim and portray data and facts It should be more about owning and conveying “stories and languages of value, culture and ideology” Climate change presents a profound global challenge in which we realize that our story has become “inadequate for meeting the survival demands of a present situation” There is increasing recognition that climate change is no longer so much a scientific issue or a knowledge-deficit problem as it is a social, cultural and ideological dilemma (Grundmann 2016; Hoffman 2012; Björkman 2018)
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