Project Highlights

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Identifying Pressures

The “Sensing Our World” research project assesses the potential for novel cultural practices to communicate environmental data and issues to the public in Ireland against the backdrop of local and international environmental pressures. International governing bodies such as the United Nations and the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services have warned of impending societal disruption unless transformative pathways away from environmentally unsound ways of life are found. The urgency with which global societal transformation needs to occur is therefore a key pressure informing this project. The project acknowledges that transformation occurs in part through idea-making and imaginaries (i.e. a set of understandings and values that a society might hold) that can encourage and inspire publics to make changes to unsustainable behaviours. Communication of environmental data to publics therefore plays a significant potential role in societal transformation. However, in the Irish context, prior research has found that mainstream media can be limited in its abilities to communicate such transformative pathways. Therefore, the key pressures identified are around how to communicate novel imaginaries about the environment/ society relationship to publics in Ireland, in such a way as to engage them in environmental issues.

Informing Policy

The “Sensing Our World” project conducted a review of policy literature in the areas of environmental and cultural policy. This was to assess the extent to which these policy domains can inform each other and mutually support novel communication practices that engage publics. The policy review found aspirations in both environmental and cultural policy framework documents to seriously consider the communication of environmental issues specific to the Irish context and to consider communication channels to promote sustainable futures in Irish society. However, the policy review also found that these environmental dimensions in the framework documents were omitted from implementation documents, potentially deprioritising the communication of environmental issues at a time when urgent and sustained policy implementation is required. It has been identified, therefore, that there is scope within environmental and cultural policy to encourage and implement novel communication practices, with the project identifying an already existing model from which policy in Ireland can be informed.

Developing Solutions

Having found that potential for increased linkages between environmental and cultural policy that can encourage novel communication of environmental data and issues exists, the “Sensing Our World” project makes recommendations towards developing solutions to the communication of environmental data to publics. This project developed a solution in the form of an online database of novel cultural practices that provides stakeholders, such as environmental scientists, data producers, artists and teachers, with a resource from which to draw inspiration from already existing international practices (www.sowdata.ie). It is recommended that this resource continues to be maintained and developed further. From the broader cultural policy side, it is recommended that Arts Council policy takes account of the environmental impacts of works, just as it currently does with social, economic and cultural impacts of work. From the environmental policy side, the project calls for the application in Ireland of an already existing model in the UK that directly links environmental scientists, technical experts and artists in an organisation with a specific remit to communicate environmental data in novel ways to publics.