Thirty years ago climate science, global warming, ecosystem degradation, and food security were issues reserved only for the world’s highly specialised scientists and engineers. The everyday citizen was familiar but not that concerned about the impact of these sustainability issues. Many of us did not understand the basics of climate change and how the consequences would present in different parts of the world.
Fast forward five years to the turn of the millennium, and we see that only small pockets of civil society start to place environmental sustainability on their radar of importance. Ten years into the new millennium, society at large starts to wake up to the urgency of climate change, ecosystem and resource depletion, and food shortages.
Today we sit with highly challenging global sustainability issues and ambitious plans like the 2030 UN Agenda for Sustainable Development and a set of 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that are supposed to guide sustainable development. While it is encouraging to see a global unified effort around the 2030 agenda and SDGs, the impetus is not only sitting with scientists and engineers to create a more sustainable way of living, but rather everyone. It is therefore easy to argue that all citizens should recognise the responsibility in educating and empowering themselves on these sustainability issues that we face. But, where do we start?
For sustainability to be everyone’s responsibility, we need to understand that communicating the science of sustainability needs to be at the foundation of active citizenship. This is based on the premise that citizens will and can only take action when they understand the complex issues at hand.
Science and sustainability communication looks at both the content and design of messaging to disseminate important messages to different demographics and cultures of citizens. Let’s take a look at the role of each, starting with content.
The content of climate change is vastly complex, layered and intertwined with other disciplines of environmental and human science. Often, the end story that a user or audience digests has been filtered through many different mediums of language before it is deemed accessible to the everyday citizen. When we map out the journey of how science content is formed and how it is then worked into a story, we will notice that there are many steps along the way.
Science content starts with the foundation of science itself, the hypothesis. A hypothesis is an idea that can be tested through observations and experimentation. This can be occurrences in the natural world or simulations and experiments in a controlled lab setting. A hypothesis is essentially a big question or statement that guides observation. This is also the ‘why’ in a story. Why does climate change exist? It drives our exquisite nature to know and understand these occurrences.
The hypothesis is followed on with observation and experimentation. Here we rigorously test the hypothesis, record different phenomena, track trends, and document findings that either prove or disprove the hypothesis.
Sounds like a typical highschool science experiment. However this formula is followed to examine the most pressing global sustainability challenges, like climate change. Following this formula of hypothesis > observation > record > prove / disprove, essentially builds the story. Peer reviewed science journals, publications and specialist reports all hold stories and content that have followed this formula. However, we cannot rely on these publications as the only means to share and communicate important sustainability messages. We need to have other avenues that reach everyday citizens. This is where we get creative with design.
Design takes the content that has been reviewed, accepted and published into recognised science publications and offers a different way of sharing it with a wider demographic. Design offers more than one way to tell a story. It can tap into different mediums and modalities for sharing a message. When we look at a typical science centre exhibit we can see how a message or content can take shape in many forms, including written, visual, audio, experiential, and immersive. Many museums and science centres offer completely immersive virtual experiences, projection mapping and augmented reality experiences to portray stories. Design is at the heart of all of these modalities.
As with the formula for science experimentation, design follows its own formula: Content > Ideation > Prototype > Create. Following this, designers of science centre exhibits have to work hand in hand with scientists to ensure that the messaging is accurate, does not get diluted and is accessible depending on the audience.
For the design team to build an impactful exhibit, there is a significant process of experimentation that happens as well. Different ideas are tested, many are built up as prototypes. These prototypes are tested further until such time the final design is approved for the build. A crucial element in the design phase of a project is incorporating human and behavioural science into the design and build of an exhibit. With this we always say that science, content and design are closely related disciplines.
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Today we sit with highly challenging global sustainability issues and ambitious plans like the 2030 UN Agenda for Sustainable Development and a set of 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that are supposed to guide sustainable development.
For sustainability to be everyone’s responsibility, we need to understand that communicating the science of sustainability needs to be at the foundation of active citizenship.
- How content and design plays a big role in sustainability issues (header image)
- The content of climate change is vastly complex, layered and intertwined with other disciplines of environmental and human science.
- Often, the end story that a user or audience digests has been filtered through many different mediums of language before it is deemed accessible to the everyday citizen. When we map out the journey of how science content is formed and how it is then worked into a story, we will notice that there are many steps along the way.
- Following this formula of hypothesis > observation > record > prove / disprove, essentially builds the story. Peer reviewed science journals, publications and specialist reports all hold stories and content that have followed this formula.
- Design takes the content that has been reviewed, accepted and published into recognised science publications and offers a different way of sharing it with a wider demographic.
- A crucial element in the design phase of a project is incorporating human and behavioural science into the design and build of an exhibit. With this we always say that science, content and design are closely related disciplines.
