MA Environmental Education and Communication Theses

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    Heating Up the Conversation on Climate Change Storytelling in Canada
    (2024) Acres, Teghan; Takach, Geo
    The urgency for storytelling as an environmental communication and climate justice strategy is becoming clearer and louder as the climate crisis unfolds disastrously around the world. This qualitative study explored how eleven storytellers in Canada are responding to this need and how intersectional storytelling on climate change can shape environmental communication in Canada. The study was guided by ecofeminist and intersectional theory. Data was collected through semi-structured individual interviews and then subjected to thematic analysis. My goal was to fill a gap in the literature about how climate change storytelling can evolve in Canada and produce a set of recommendations on what kind of climate change storytelling is needed in Canada right now to catalyze a socially and ecologically just future.
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    The Beauty Of Bradner: Envisioning an Ideal Future to Inspire Environmental Stewardship
    (2024) Switzer, Aleesha; Kool, Richard
    Abbotsford’s rural agricultural Bradner – Mt. Lehman Neighbourhood (Bradner) sits on the precipice of transformation. Faced with pressures of increased industrialization, urbanization, climate change, and the gradual loss of small neighbourhood identity, some residents have expressed a desire to keep Bradner beautiful. But how can we conserve something like beauty when it is so subjective and difficult to describe? This phenomenological case study invited Bradner residents to examine the beauty of their neighbourhood using photovoice methodology and appreciative inquiry. Participants submitted photos and written description of how they found the neighbourhood beautiful. Then, in small focus group discussions, participants used photographs to investigate their perceptions of beauty in different areas and used this understanding to envision their ideal futures for the neighbourhood. My project revealed an inseparable link between the neighbourhood as a physical space, comprised of rural agricultural land with forests and streams, and the neighbourhood as a special place, held together by a strong sense of community. The land use practices and access to natural spaces go hand in hand with the experience of living in a connected, caring community. In the eyes of participants, keeping Bradner beautiful in the future meant protecting the community spirit alongside the land, which included indicators of healthy ecosystems such as mature trees, healthy streams, and vulnerable species. I suggest that inspiring environmental stewardship in the Bradner neighbourhood could start by bringing people together under the banner of appreciating the beauty of our connection to the land and our connection to each other. Keywords: Abbotsford BC, neighbourhood, agriculture, beauty, conservation, stewardship, environment, aesthetics, photovoice, appreciative inquiry
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    The Art of Walking with the Animate Earth: A Heuristic Inquiry
    (2024) Bowlby, Angela; Leighton, Hilary
    This thesis is a qualitative, phenomenological, arts and nature-based study of living as an artist amid a social and ecological emergency. By taking up a method of heuristic inquiry, which utilizes personal knowledge and experience as a foundation for exploring phenomena, this research was organized as a journey around the lunar and seasonal cycles of one year. My research focused on the cultivation of ecological perception and questions of how my art practice might become more ecological and, in turn, contribute to the transformation necessary to address the social and ecological crisis. Data was gathered from reflective writing and art-making and analyzed according to the five criteria for Creative Analytical Practice (CAP). While definitive answers were not the objective of the study, the research revealed creativity and imagination as inherent qualities of life and art-making as an act of cultural reflection and a means to remain connected and responsive to the complex, living web of life, death, and human/nature entanglement.
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    Environmental education at Kwantlen Polytechnic University: Hidden curriculum, informal learning of Pro-environmental Values
    (2024) Drury, Melissa, Champagne; Takach, Geo
    The purpose of this study was to identify if and how the hidden curriculum (informal teaching and learning) on Kwantlen Polytechnic University (KPU) campuses influences students’ pro-environmental behaviour and ideas. The study aims to make the invisible visible. A phenomenographic approach involved interviewing 14 KPU students, individually, to collect their perceptions of pro-environmental examples on campus, and potential improvements. I grouped data from interviews into themes and also incorporated the lens of environmental worldviews into my analysis of the results. Consequent recommendations to KPU and post-secondary counterparts include environmental communications incorporating understanding of different worldviews, efforts to move towards zero-waste (making green behaviour convenient) as well as fostering stronger community and student sense of belonging. It is hoped the KPU community, as well as other post-secondary institutions, can better model environmentally responsible practices on all campuses to positively influence environmental literacy and pro-environmental values of students.
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    Drinking from the Wellspring: An Embodied Inquiry at the Confluence of Ecological Identity, Water, and Wellbeing
    (2024) Farr, Rachel; Leighton, Hilary
    This autophenomenographic study was formed at the confluence of diverse sources: existing literature and poetry, and subjective being-in-the-world experiences of sitting, listening, and learning from the wisdom of Mission Creek, “speaking”. I explored how this kind of embodied inquiry might shape me as a burgeoning environmental educator and communicator synthesizing these knowledge streams to create my own new wellness narrative larger than any one source could convey. As I gathered ‘warm’ subjective data from my mind-body, I recognized the implications of myself in this research as a concomitant cell within the body of the Earth. Delving into theories and insights gleaned from studying water intelligence, exploring my own ecological identity in relationship to river, and experiencing nature-as-medicine through place-responsive sitting practice at the river, I explore the ebbs and flows of these relationships with (and for) the world, toward a greater understanding of how wellbeing might be expressed and lived.