Storying climate knowledge: Notes on experimental political ecology

Abstract

Political ecology emphasizes critique, and, through critique, its ability to better understand nature-society relations. Recently, calls have been made from within the sub-discipline to move beyond critique, and towards engaging nature-society relations more experimentally. This paper asks: is it possible for political ecology to be less reactive and more proactive? Rather than studying events that have already happened, is it possible to study events currently happening or that have not yet happened? This paper is an attempt to do political ecology more experimentally by staging an intervention and studying its outcomes. Given the abstract nature of climate change, and given storytelling’s capacity for helping people make sense of the world around them, this project combined political ecology analysis and storytelling, resulting in an experimental process of collaborative climate knowledge production in regions, and with people, central to the changing climate. Research for this paper took place over fourteen months in Appalachia and Alaska, climate-vulnerable regions with economies tied to fossil fuel industries and with culturally rich storytelling traditions. The aim of this paper is threefold. First, I will examine political ecology scholarship that already engages with experimentation as a way of making the case for a more experimental political ecology. Second, I will discuss the process and outcomes from my experimental research, namely that storytelling is a meaningful way of building climate knowledge. Finally, by outlining the challenges of doing this research, this paper ends with lessons for future iterations of more experimental research.