Narrating Sustainability through Storytelling

Stories and narratives are powerful tools for explaining the world around us. This book explores storytelling as a way of engaging audiences with sustainable development issues and reflects on the opportunities and limitations of storytelling for sustainability as an innovative approach to sustainability communication.

Bringing together voices and perspectives from research and practice, this volume explores the ways in which storytelling can support change toward sustainability. Unlike other anthologies, the book first provides a sound scientific basis by unfolding the storytelling approach and presenting empirical studies on its impact on sustainability. It clarifies important terms and presents recent findings on the impact of storytelling for sustainability from an extensive three-year research project on this question. The second part shows how storytelling can be used in different fields of practice to communicate sustainability in more engaging and effective ways. Here, the main focus is on case-based accounts of positive change, but also tensions, arising from the application of storytelling for sustainability in journalism, higher education, corporate communication or science communication.

Combining theory with practical examples, this innovative book will be a great resource for students and scholars of environmental communication and sustainable development, as well as professionals working in related fields.