Climate Sense Stories: Changing the Narrative

This is the second instalment in a series of blog posts by Climate Sense Intern Alexis Bulman, who is sharing monthly insights into her research, creative process and artistic explorations as she works with us to develop community-engaged artworks and programming around climate change adaptation.

When I began this ClimateSense Internship, I started my research process by watching the PEI Climate Stories, in particular the video with Eric Gilbert struck a chord with me. 

In the video, Eric Gilbert discusses the environmental challenges and adaptation approaches to climate change in the small, rural municipality of Victoria by the Sea, and in doing so mentions Lilian’s House.

[Image description: two pages of a sketchbook separated by a coiled spine in the center. The left sketchbook page is a thought-map of words in bubble shapes connected by dark lines. The right sketchbook page has a black ink drawing of Lilian’s actual house, coming from the house is a speech bubble with large black letters that spell “Mrs. Lillian’s Place.”]

Gilbert describes Lilian as an elderly World War II veteran who lived in the community in a house next to the sea, with only a broken sea-wall to protect her home from the water. Twice, during storm surges, the fire department assisted Lilian out of her house which was knee-deep with water. Despite the flooding, she insisted on living there for many years.

Lilian’s story struck a chord; she reminded me of my own grandmothers who both, until recently, lived in homes in beautiful rural PEI settings. I could see how this attachment to place connected to another theme I’ve been contemplating, that of ecological grieving and mourning nature. 

[Image description: two pages of a sketchbook separated by a coiled spine in the center. The left sketchbook page is a black ink drawing depicting an old out-building, coming from the out-building is a speech bubble with large black letters that spell “Lilian’s House.” The right sketchbook page has a thought-map of words in bubble shapes connected by dark lines.]

When I think of how Lilian must have felt when she left her home on those nights when the water trickled in, it makes me grieve for all the homes that have been lost to or displaced by the sea, and for the eroding shorelines and creatures whose habitats wash away with it. When we identify ourselves with a place, what are the impacts when that place erodes or washes away?

Working with this theme of ecological grieving, I began to imagine an art installation of a small house built with recycled barn materials like weather shingles, cedar shakes, barn boards and battened windows, positioned in a public space but facing out towards the water. It wouldn’t be a re-creation of Lilian’s actual house, but an embodiment of the feelings of hope and loss her home represented in the community of Victoria by the Sea.

Beyond thinking of this art installation as a memorial to the effects of climate change, rising sea levels and increasing erosion I couldn’t decide what the action-item or take-away of this art installation would be, (art doesn’t need action items or lesson plans, but this concept felt incomplete without one); so I tucked the idea away.

Changing The Narrative

In March, I attended a webinar called Changing the Narrative, hosted by Dr. Robin Cox at Royal Roads University. The webinar explored how shifting the climate change story may offer a key to motivating citizens, businesses, and governments alike, to take the collective and transformative action necessary to shift the catastrophic trajectory we’re on. Panelists included Johanna Wagstaffe (CBC News meteorologist and science host), Denise Withers (Narrative Strategist), and SG̲aan Kwahagang (James McGuire - Musician/Storyteller/Historian/Artist). 

You can view the session here:

This webinar broke the logjam of the Lilian’s House art installation.

There were two quotes that stood out for me:

“You can’t change what people think, say or do until you change the stories they tell themselves. - Rather than treating story-telling as a communication activity that we tack-on at the end of developing new strategies, we need to start with the stories. What are the stories that we’re telling ourselves that are holding us back, and what are better stories we can tell that will inspire people to take action? We’re not talking about what life could be like, we’re only talking about the pain-points and nobody wants to buy into a story about how their life is going to suck. So, we need to figure out how we’re going to tap into the positive stories and the hopeful stories”. - Denise Withers

Later in the webinar, SG̲aan Kwahagang described the six guiding principles of the Haida Law, with great emphasis on one in particular:

“Giid tlljuus - Balance. The world is as sharp as the edge of a knife. Balance is needed in our interactions with the natural world. Care must be taken to avoid reaching a point of no return and to restore balance where it has been lost.” SG̲aan Kwahagang elaborated by stating “Our existence is right here, on this edge, but if we understand climate change and take action, then we can prevent the future from tipping over the edge.”

[Image description: two pages of a sketchbook separated by a coiled spine in the center. The left sketchbook page shows an ink and color pencil drawing of a grey house surrounded with plants with a speech bubble that reads “A new building built with old materials”. The right sketchbook page shows a mirror image of the same house but colored yellow and surrounded by different plants, it has a speech bubble that reads “A new building built with new materials”.]

These ideas immediately changed my approach to the Lilian’s House art installation. Instead of building a new house with old materials and plopping it down onto a landscape, I realized I should approach it with balance in mind.

I began sketching a version of a small house built with all new materials. The house would age, weather, decay and eventually crumble into the earth as the years pass. Maybe it would be an installation where wildflowers and weeds grow up around it, instead of a place where people lay flowers in remembrance. It could be an installation that teaters on the edge of a shore, but co-exists with a living shoreline instead of being “protected” by a seawall.

Still in its initial idea phase, Lilian’s House is evolving into an artwork about finding balance between hope and loss, life and death, and future, past and present.

Climate Sense & Wooly Sheep

In a new blog series for The River Clyde Pageant, Alexis Bulman, our ClimateSense Intern, offers a peek into her research and artistic explorations as she begins her year of working with us to develop community-engaged programming around climate change adaptation.

In January, I started a year-long ClimateSense internship position with UPEI and two community partners: Creative PEI and The River Clyde Pageant. 

The goal of this position is to develop and deliver community-engaged arts projects and outreach activities that inspire awareness and action on climate change adaptation.

I come to this position not as a climate expert but as an artist. I’ve made artwork in the past that looks at climate change from an ephemeral and observational perspective but I’ve never made artwork that is truly reflective of scientific evidence and research. Like many people I know that climate change is real, but it can feel like a skyscraper towering over me. Until recently, that overwhelming feeling prevented me from learning how climate change and adaptation practices are re-shaping Prince Edward Island. 

[Image description: a panoramic photograph of Fleet, an art installation by Bulman. Six illuminated camping tents of various colors float in a harbour at night. The water and sky are deep blue, at the far right of the image a boardwalk, rocks and trees are silhouetted in black with spots of light from street lamps]

The first month of this position felt like running aimlessly through an open field with my arms wailing about, tripping over logs, sneezing from hay fever but discovering some pretty flowers and cool frogs along the way.

All that to say, I read articles, which lead to videos, which led to conversations with experts, which always led back to my sketchbook. Since the artwork I make is often site-dependent, it means that much of my art practice is spent planning projects in my sketchbooks in creative and exploratory ways. So that’s what I’ll be sharing in these monthly blog posts: pages from my sketchbooks, as well as articles and resources that have stood out to me.

First up: Wooly Sheep and Rotational Grazing

PEI Climate Stories is a series of short videos exploring the impacts of climate change on Prince Edward Island, and the adaptation strategies being implemented here. The video series was produced by the University of Prince Edward Island's Climate Lab, in partnership with ClimateSense, so it seemed like a great place to start my research.

The video that stood out to me featured Adam MacLean, a shepherd located in South Melville, PEI. In the video, Adam speaks about the challenges and opportunities from climate change that faces his sheep farm.

[Image description: two pages of a sketchbook separated by a coiled spine in the center. The left sketchbook page depicts 13 white sheep with black heads laying down in a solid green field. Centered in the right sketchbook page is a dark green rectangle representing a field as seen from above. This rectangle is colored in with dark green, with small white shapes scattered throughout the rectangle, like sheep in a field as seen from above.]

In the video, Adam defines rotational grazing as “a given amount of sheep on a given amount of land, which encourages eating.” This practice increases herd health by providing the animals access to more space and fresh air. It’s also an environmentally-friendly farming practice, as it strengthens the pastures, making them richer and more abundant as the sheep eat the weeds which would otherwise reduce the nutritional value of the soil. This also makes the soil less susceptible to erosion.

[Image description: two pages of a sketchbook separated by a coiled spine in the center. The left sketchbook page has a photo of 13 white sheep with black heads laying in a green field. Below the photo is a drawn replica of the photo in green, white and black color pencil. The right sketchbook page shows five clustered sheep formations as seen from above, all drawn in black ink.]

The video sparked an idea for a drawing project that would evolve over the summer and fall:

Each time Adam rotates his herd of sheep to a new pasture, I could take an aerial photograph of the herd in the field using a drone. I would turn that photograph into a 4’x5’ drawing where the entire sheet of paper is colored in with a green color pencil, leaving negative space to represent the composition of the sheep in the pasture. Each time the herd is moved a new drawing would be made. The color pencil selection would reflect the condition of the grass as bright and lush or pale and brown from drought. In addition to the changing herd compositions and colour of the pastures, the drawings would show the sheep growing up, getting bigger and most importantly, becoming WOOLIER! 

[Image description: two pages of a sketchbook separated by a coiled spine in the center. The left sketchbook page is an aerial photograph of 30 or more sheep grazing in a grassy green field. Centered in the right sketchbook page is a dark green rectangle representing a field as seen from above. This rectangle is colored in with pale green, with small white shapes and black shapes scattered throughout the rectangle, like sheep in a field as seen from above.]

This evolving drawing project (temporarily titled Becoming Woolier) could be a fun way to engage with and celebrate an environmentally-friendly farming practice in PEI. 

Becoming Woolier is just one of many preliminary concepts I’ve dreamt up during my first month as a ClimateSense Intern. I’ll share more ideas, artistic progress, links and sketchbook pages next month!

In the meantime check out Adam Maclean’s instagram account to cry over his litter of pyrenees puppies and his flock of wooly sheep.