For Disegno’s, 2°C Communicating Climate Change residency, which challenged roughly a dozen design groups to re-think the climate change campaign, we created ‘Future Climate [Hi]stories’ – an ongoing fictional book that blends scientific fact with stories that tell of like-minded people who sought to alter the course of climate change by establishing new cultural practices and rituals. Seizing the power of storytelling, and the ability of folklore to be passed down through generations, the book intends to encourage new ways of thinking about climate change, hopefully triggering accompanying shifts in behaviour.
Referencing traditional pagan rituals and festivals, one story focuses on ‘The Charists’, a fictional grassroots society who spend the majority of their time looking for ways to produce biochar to sequester CO? from the atmosphere. Wearing smocks and waving flags for each monthly harvest of biomass, they produce a Char-Dolly, a ceremonial object given to the Charists who generate the largest amount of sequestered CO? that month. You can also read an interview with us here on their 2°C microsite
Story of The Charists: a fictional grassroots society obsessed with the sequestration of CO?
The Char-Dolly: a ceremonial object made by the Charists to celebrate the sequestering of CO? from the environment.
Images generated to illustrate the story of the Charists showing flag and clothing worn by local chapters of the Open Society for Carbon Sequestration.
