Climate change is no longer a theoretical disaster looming in the distance, but crashing down upon us. Records are breaking over and over with the extreme heat, drought, and wildfires we are experiencing around the globe and there are reports of early signs of current collapses in our oceans. Meanwhile, governments continue to support the fossil fuel industry and large corporations that perpetuate the growth of climate change crisis.
Like many others, I have found it challenging to remain hopeful. Hope is particularly hard to come by when it seems no one is doing anything about fixing the problems or holding governments and big businesses accountable. If you do not feel hopeful, you are less likely to do anything about these problems yourself.
In coming to UNBC I have met so many like-minded people who care about finding workable solutions to climate change or who are working on ways of making our communities climate resilient. Being surrounded by smart, passionate people has given me so much hope. Just knowing I am not alone has given me hope. So often we are just not conscious of the wonderful people do wonderful things right in our own communities. And when we do not know they are there, we feel like anything we ourselves do is starting from scratch, so what is the point? But this is not true, we just need to be able to find the people and organizations that give us all reason to hope.
I propose an interactive map that illustrates all the reasons we have to hope. This map would allow users to find and learn about the people and projects in their own communities and ways in which they can participate. This map would cover BC with information available for at least each provincial electoral riding by the time proof of concept is due. Ideally, the project would have the capacity to grow in detail so as to represent efforts in every community.
Project: An interactive map showing climate and sustainability actions by geographic location. Map users can click on the icons representing actions taking place in different regions in BC to view profiles about projects and organizations working towards climate solutions and resilience. There would also be buttons linked to information on elected officials, policies, and sustainability related services.
Outcome: A visualization of action taking place all around BC which would allow people to learn about people and projects near them and how they can get involved themselves. This would also allow communities to learn about projects and solutions elsewhere that could be applied closer to home. And most importantly, users would be able to visualize all that gives us hope in the face of climate change.
Tools and technology: ArcGIS StoryMaps, linked websites, documents, and other media resources.
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