Bees, Extinction and Ambient Soundscapes: An Exploratory Environmental Communication Workshop

• Main Authors: Rosamund Portus, Claire McGinn
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2019-09-01
• Series: Humanities
• Subjects: soundscapes; bees; creativity; climate change; future
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0787/8/3/153

As a response to the challenges that visual communication, popularly used in environmental communications, poses for more embodied engagements with climate change, this article focuses upon the neglected role of sound within environmental and climate communication scholarship. Focusing upon the decline of bees as a meaningful topic for the exploration of climate change, this article draws on research conducted with participants of a soundscape workshop to investigate the potential benefits and limitations of using sound-based activities to communicate about a specific climate change topic. This article demonstrates that modes of communicating climate change that encourage people to participate in imaginative, creative and future-based thinking can provide an effective way to engage audiences with the topic of climate change, thus encouraging greater individual and collective action.