Participatory action research is CEDAR’s anchor study. Susan O’Donnell is the lead investigator, working with co-investigators Andrew Secord, Clive Baldwin, and Janice Harvey and collaborators Chief Hugh Akagi, Chief Ron Tremblay, Sophie Lavoie and Gretchen Fitzgerald.
The rationale for this study is a paradox (1). The most politically viable energy future (energy growth and climate capitalism) has the least socio-ecologically just outcomes, and the most just and sustainable future (climate justice) is the least attainable politically. The participatory action research studies ways to help move beyond this paradox by producing stories for publication in different media formats that can influence hearts and minds.
In this study, students and investigators engage with climate justice and Indigenous leaders and educators, to develop narratives about sustainable and socially just futures and the desired energy transitions to support this vision. These stories counter dominant narratives of endless growth and techno-futures.
Storytelling is central to this study. Many of the stories in print, video and other media formats produced by this study are submitted for publication to our collaborator the NB Media Co-op and other independent and commercial media and shared on social media. Social media analytics can help to identify the messages with the broadest public impact.
This study is based in Clive Baldwin’s Centre for Interdisciplinary Research on Narrative (CIRN) Lab at St. Thomas University. Among the activities is training for the students and all study participants, both in-person and virtually to the team members in the other universities. Training includes storytelling and media production techniques, with a focus on effective use of social media.
(1) Helker Nygren, E. & Katz-Rosene, R. (2021). “The Growth-Energy-Climate-Justice Paradox: The Socio-Spatial Implications of Ecomodernist and Degrowth Energy Futures.” Environmental Studies Association of Canada, University of Alberta, June.