social sciences to help tackle climate change
A team of researchers, led by Lancaster University, has been developing accessible and creative means of communicating sustainability research from the social sciences for policymakers and the wider public

Date:
May 31, 2023
Source:
Lancaster University
Summary:
A team of researchers has been developing accessible and creative
means of communicating sustainability research from the social
sciences for policymakers and the wider public. Using fairy tale
characters - - mermaids, vampires, and witches -- as metaphors,
the team has sought to communicate typically complicated arguments
in evocative and engaging terms.


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FULL STORY ==========================================================================
A team of researchers, led by Lancaster University, has been developing accessible and creative means of communicating sustainability research
from the social sciences for policymakers and the wider public.

Using fairy tale characters -- mermaids, vampires, and witches --
as metaphors, the team, including researchers from the Universities
of Strathclyde and Manchester, have sought to communicate typically
complicated arguments in evocative and engaging terms.

Their paper, 'Telling Tales': Communicating UK energy research through
fairy tale characters, has been published in the journal, Energy Research
& Social Science.

Responding to some of the challenges of climate change (electricity
generation, low-carbon transport, plastic pollution), the research team
present three 'telling tales'. These 'translate' existing academic
research, taking inspiration from well-known fairy tale characters,
to cast this research in an accessible and powerful light:
* Renewables are mermaids -- alluring and attractive solutions for
policymakers to increasing energy demands, but a distraction from
other important routes to Net Zero, like demand reduction. Like
mermaid figureheads on sailors' ships, renewables should accompany
our transition to Net Zero but they should not be the only
destination.

* Cars are vampires -- dangerous entities that are deadly and
sucking the
wellbeing from communities by dividing divide workplaces
and retailing outlets from homes, creating lengthy
commutes. Policymakers have, until now, waved garlic at them,
to control how fast and where they travel, rather than reaching
for the stake and re-imagining everyday life without cars.

* Plastics are witches -- a complex category that is, say the research
team, misunderstood by the current witch-hunt against
plastics. Though they can be harmers (e.g., single-use plastics),
they also have 'healing' properties (i.e., durable and useful
materials that can substitute more damaging materials). Policymakers
should work towards systems of re-use to maximise their benefits,
rather than simply 'demonising' plastics in general.

Having developed these tales, the team worked with illustrator Ve'ronique Heijnsbroek to create a range of inspiring images.

This work responds to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
(IPCC) call for 'transformational adaptation'. This paper offers serious messages and alternative policy approaches with the aim to accessibly communicate the types of shifts that this will involve:
* Renewables, though important, are not the only measure required by a
future of fossil-free electricity generation. Demand reduction,
though a less attractive solution, must be considered to ensure
this future is possible.

* Cars are known to be deadly and dangerous, yet we have designed
daily
life and society around their use. More stringent measures are
required when thinking of what role they should play in future
societies.

* Plastics are currently demonised. Plastics are not to blame,
as much as
the systems of production, consumption, and disposal they are tied
up with. Policies should encourage systems of re-use to maximise
their benefits, rather than simply demonising plastics in general.

"It would be easy to interpret this work as a trivialisation of research
or, even, a patronisation of potential readers," says lead author Dr
Carolynne Lord, from Lancaster University.

"This is not our intention. The point is that communicating through
specialist language is not adequately conveying the message to the
communities that it needs to reach. We need to start communicating our
work in more accessible ways." Dr Torik Holmes, from the University of Manchester, adds: "Storytelling has been gaining traction in the field
of energy research in the social sciences.

We've built on this through the use of fairy tale characters to argue how
UK policy reflects a fixation with renewables, over cautionary responses
to car ownership and use, and too narrow understandings of, and reactions
to, plastics." And Dr Katherine Ellsworth-Krebs, from the University
of Strathclyde, comments: "Communicating in new and intelligible
ways that combine the complexity of research with inspiring stories is important. There is now a real urgency in which transformative responses
to climate change are required. Though much social science work offers potential solutions, it can do so in a way that is hard to understand by
those who have the power to make change a reality." The authors hope
their concept will inspire the scientific community to recommunicate energy-based social science research in more digestible forms.

They plan to hold an online workshop starting the 28th of August with
other researchers and illustrators to develop and extend this cast
of characters.

More information can be found here: https://tellingtalesofenergyresearch.wordpress.com/.

Their hope is that by moving research findings beyond academic circles,
and to policymakers and popular audiences, this type of work can help
bring about the changes required.

* RELATED_TOPICS
o Mind_&_Brain
# Social_Psychology # Relationships # Creativity
o Earth_&_Climate
# Environmental_Issues # Environmental_Awareness #
Energy_and_the_Environment
o Science_&_Society
# Environmental_Policies # STEM_Education # Energy_Issues
* RELATED_TERMS
o Social_science o Public_services o The_arts o Double_blind o
Public_health o Funding_policies_for_science o Social_psychology
o Social_movement

========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by Lancaster_University. Note: Content
may be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Carolynne Lord, Katherine Ellsworth-Krebs, Torik Holmes. `Telling
tales':
Communicating UK energy research through fairy tale
characters. Energy Research & Social Science, 2023; 101: 103100 DOI:
10.1016/ j.erss.2023.103100 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/05/230531101550.htm

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