Create the Change

The Entanglement Archive

Human Sciences in Action
Browse the projects

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Planetary challenges don’t yield to technology alone.

Power dynamics, inequities, culture, and communication shape whether solutions are understood, trusted, and adopted.

These ten write-ups document concrete ways scholars and community partners are meeting that reality: using theatre to turn climate grief into action, convening public deliberations on new technologies, mapping urban systems with communities, and more. Each entry offers a quick gist, why it matters, and a snapshot of methods or outcomes, with a link to the full project document.

These projects are supported through the Create the Change initiative that tackles the moral, cultural, political, and economic dimensions of planetary health. Together they advance re-information & dialogue, social & environmental justice, alternative knowledge systems, and next-generation learning.

Create the Change is built on four pillars:
Pillar 1 – Re-information & Dialogue

Countering mis- and disinformation with truthful narratives, counter-speech, and creative practice; facilitating hard conversations.

Pillar 2 – Justice

Centering intersections of social and environmental justice, and distributing risks and benefits fairly.

Pillar 3 – Alternative Knowledge & Co-creation

Embracing Indigenous and community expertise; collaborative problem-solving across sectors.

Pillar 4 – Next-Gen Education

Mentoring and empowering emerging change agents with adaptive, transdisciplinary learning.

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The Projects

Performance students exploring climate storytelling
Project 1

Embodied Storytelling with Dr. Rachel Bowditch

Lead: Dr. Rachel Bowditch | Format: Full Semester Course
Method at a glance

Eco-dramaturgy and performance create a risk-free space that translates complex climate issues into embodied experiences and gives participants agency.

Pillar 1 - Countering Disinformation & Dialogue Pillar 3 - Embracing Alternative Knowledge Pillar 4 - Educating Next-Gen Change Agents
Why it matters
  • Performance art reaches audiences and evokes intellectual, physical, somatic, and emotional connections that data alone rarely achieve.
  • A positive-only feedback model builds trust, encourages creative risk-taking, and deepens collaboration.
  • Pairing sustainability and the arts reveals new pathways for mobilizing personal commitment.
Snapshot
  • Weekly dramaturgy dumps and movement shares surface themes for the ensemble.
  • A vision-keeper role keeps alignment and clarity amid creative ambiguity.
  • Participating sustainability students develop independent creative pieces that feed into the production's themes.
  • Student-made artistic works are woven into the culminating production.
Common threads
  • Creative expression as a tool for understanding and action
  • Safe spaces that invite experimentation and collaboration
  • Nurturing agency when tackling complex problems
Open Project Document
Image: Students building adaptive thinking mind maps
Project 2

Enabling Adaptive Thinking in a Rapidly Changing World with Dr. Gary Dirks

Lead: Dr. Gary Dirks | Format: Humanities Lab Course (HUL 598: Energy, Justice, and Action)
Method at a glance

Mind-mapping and critical dialogue help students expand their narratives, embrace openness, and co-create new stories that reshape energy and justice futures.

Pillar 1 - Countering Disinformation & Dialogue Pillar 3 - Embracing Alternative Knowledge Pillar 4 - Educating Next-Gen Change Agents
Why it matters
  • Encourages students to notice and challenge good-versus-evil narratives and other closed categories that stall adaptation.
  • Builds adaptive thinking skills required for navigating dynamic, uncertain futures.
  • Collaboration with energy experts, storytellers, and community members keeps new narratives grounded in real transition work.
  • Treats disagreement as a learning opportunity that broadens ontological perspectives.
Snapshot
  • Diagnostic mind maps reveal each student's starting narratives and dimensionality.
  • Facilitated discussions guide movement from closed to open categories of thought.
  • Teams study energy histories and craft new narratives through films, podcasts, or other media.
Common threads
  • Challenging preconceived notions
  • Centering narrative and framing
  • Practicing adaptability and critical thinking
  • Embracing productive discomfort in learning
Open Project Document
Collaborative dramaturgy board for climate performance
Project 3

Curating a Co-Creative and Interdisciplinary Space with Dr. Karen Jean Martinson

Lead: Dr. Karen Jean Martinson | Format: Multi-year Transdisciplinary Performance Project (Anthropocene)
Method at a glance

Long-term, non-hierarchical collaboration pairs dramaturgical research with embodied storytelling to translate climate complexity into resonant performances.

Pillar 1 - Countering Disinformation & Dialogue Pillar 3 - Embracing Alternative Knowledge Pillar 4 - Educating Next-Gen Change Agents
Why it matters
  • Emotionally resonant stories help audiences connect with climate complexity beyond charts and data.
  • Taking time for iterative, collaborative exploration values process over rushed outcomes.
  • Embodied storytelling activates multiple ways of knowing and becomes transformative in itself.
Snapshot
  • Visioning workshops surface Anthropocene themes and shared intentions.
  • Risk-free feedback loops refine movement and narrative choices.
  • Faculty from sustainability and allied disciplines contribute critique and context, with a narrative specialist helping integrate their feedback.
Common threads
  • Storytelling and art as drivers of engagement
  • Interdisciplinary, co-creative collaboration
  • Relationship-building and process stewardship
  • Humanizing complex environmental issues
Open Project Document
Students mapping social ecological connections
Project 4

Sustainable Social-Ecological System Education with Dr. Dan Childers

Lead: Dr. Dan Childers | Format: Undergraduate Activities (Landstory, Council of All Beings)
Method at a glance

Place-based activities like Landstory and Council of All Beings help early undergraduates map human-nature entanglements and practice interspecies empathy.

Pillar 3 - Embracing Alternative Knowledge Pillar 4 - Educating Next-Gen Change Agents
Why it matters
  • Shifts students from siloed views of the environment to holistic social-ecological thinking.
  • Uses embodied, creative learning to deepen engagement with complex systems.
  • Prepares learners to navigate diverse perspectives and collaborate across disciplines.
Snapshot
  • Landstory prompts research and mapping of the social and ecological layers of a meaningful place.
  • Council of All Beings asks students to craft masks, embody non-human voices, and dialogue as a collective.
  • Warm-up embodiment exercises build comfort before students convene the Council of All Beings.
  • Reflection and presentation connect insights back to social-ecological resilience.
Common threads
  • Place-based storytelling and mapping
  • Empathy for more-than-human communities
  • Building confidence with interdisciplinary collaboration
Open Project Document
Concept map of Arctic systems
Project 5

Mind-Mapping the Arctic with Dr. Stephanie Pfirman

Lead: Dr. Stephanie Pfirman | Format: Educational Activity (Concept Mapping)
Method at a glance

Concept mapping reveals the interconnected systems of the Arctic and invites students to consider scientific and Indigenous perspectives side by side.

Pillar 3 - Embracing Alternative Knowledge Pillar 4 - Educating Next-Gen Change Agents
Why it matters
  • Mind-mapping makes the Arctic's intricate relationships visible and memorable.
  • Encourages learners to move beyond linear cause-and-effect logic.
  • Creates space to honor multiple knowledge systems tied to the region.
Snapshot
  • EcoChains: Arctic Futures and other warm-ups introduce entangled Arctic systems before students learn mind-mapping techniques tailored to polar systems.
  • Each learner builds a map tracing Arctic components and relationships.
  • Group discussion surfaces insights, gaps, and paths for deeper inquiry.
  • Post-session reflections capture how comparisons with an Inuit Elder's map reshape student thinking.
Common threads
  • Systems thinking and visualization
  • Respecting diverse knowledge traditions
  • Strengthening critical analysis of complex environments
  • Understanding context-specific interdependencies
Open Project Document
Temple with forest illustrating religion and ecology
Project 6

Understanding the Entanglement of Religion and the Environment with Dr. Evan Berry

Lead: Dr. Evan Berry | Format: Humanities Course/Research (Religious Studies)
Method at a glance

Humanities-based inquiry uncovers how religious beliefs, institutions, and narratives shape environmental attitudes and justice efforts.

Pillar 1 - Countering Disinformation & Dialogue Pillar 2 - Addressing Social & Environmental Justice Pillar 3 - Embracing Alternative Knowledge
Why it matters
  • Illuminates the often underestimated influence of religion on ecological behaviors.
  • Connects faith-based engagement with social and environmental justice movements.
  • Draws on ritual, meditation, and other practices to help students process ecological grief without succumbing to apocalyptic despair.
  • Invites interdisciplinary dialogue between religion, science, and policy.
Snapshot
  • Students analyze texts and case studies linking faith traditions and ecology.
  • Coursework probes religious environmental ethics and activism.
  • Seminars explore how institutions can drive or hinder ecological action.
Common threads
  • Interdisciplinary cultural analysis
  • Interrogating belief systems within environmental discourse
  • Fostering critical, inclusive dialogue
  • Recognizing varied ethical frameworks
Open Project Document
Researchers and community members discussing public health
Project 7

Entangling Research with Communities to Support Public Health with Dr. Vernon Morris

Lead: Dr. Vernon Morris | Format: Community-Engaged Research (Public Health and Environmental Science)
Method at a glance

Community-engaged research teams co-design studies on environmental determinants of health and translate results into action.

Pillar 1 - Countering Disinformation & Dialogue Pillar 3 - Embracing Alternative Knowledge Pillar 4 - Educating Next-Gen Change Agents
Why it matters
  • Aligns research with the priorities and lived experiences of affected communities.
  • Builds trust that leads to more sustainable public health interventions.
  • Turns scientific findings into policy-ready, community-owned insights.
Snapshot
  • Communities and researchers jointly identify pressing public health concerns.
  • Partnerships gather data through participatory methods and multidisciplinary panels.
  • Open listening sessions and student-facilitated expert panels build trust and synthesize diverse guidance.
  • Findings return to communities via briefings, reports, and action-oriented forums.
Common threads
  • Reciprocal community partnerships
  • Interdisciplinary problem-solving
  • Advancing environmental and health justice
  • Translating lived experience and scientific insight into action
Open Project Document
Environmental humanities class discussing film
Project 8

Environmental Humanities with Dr. Joni Adamson

Lead: Dr. Joni Adamson | Format: Humanities Course/Research (Environmental Humanities)
Method at a glance

Environmental humanities scholarship uses boundary objects, literature, and cultural analysis to reframe human-nature relationships and foster multispecies perspectives.

Pillar 1 - Countering Disinformation & Dialogue Pillar 2 - Addressing Social & Environmental Justice Pillar 3 - Embracing Alternative Knowledge Pillar 4 - Educating Next-Gen Change Agents
Why it matters
  • Offers ethical and critical frameworks that extend beyond technical solutions.
  • Cultivates empathy by situating humans within broader multispecies communities.
  • Uses boundary objects to connect disciplines and audiences.
  • UNESCO Bridges leadership and Storying Just Futures workshops equip learners to imagine just, futures-minded responses.
Snapshot
  • Coursework spans ecocriticism, environmental philosophy, and postcolonial ecologies.
  • Students analyze how literature, film, and art portray environmental issues.
  • Projects deploy boundary objects to bridge disciplinary communication.
Common threads
  • Interdisciplinary humanities inquiry
  • Cultivating multispecies perspectivism
  • Using cultural and literary tools to interpret environmental issues
  • Bridging disciplines with shared boundary objects
Open Project Document
Researchers collaborating on urban social-ecological systems
Project 9

Fostering Entangled Urban Social-Ecological Systems Research with Dr. Dan Childers

Lead: Dr. Dan Childers | Format: Research Mentorship (Urban Ecology and Sustainability)
Method at a glance

Urban ecology mentorship braids social and ecological inquiry so researchers can understand cities as integrated systems.

Pillar 1 - Countering Disinformation & Dialogue Pillar 3 - Embracing Alternative Knowledge Pillar 4 - Educating Next-Gen Change Agents
Why it matters
  • Clarifies how human decisions and ecological processes co-create urban environments.
  • Helps researchers embrace discomfort and dialogue across disciplines to tackle complex questions.
  • Keeps sustainability grounded in the life-support functions urban ecosystems provide for communities.
Snapshot
  • Mentors broker relationships between complementary scholars to spark organic collaborations.
  • Long-term research programs expand beyond ecological data to integrate human dimensions of city life.
  • Graduate cohorts welcome students from varied backgrounds to build shared vocabulary and systems insight.
Common threads
  • Integrated social-ecological perspectives
  • Interdisciplinary team science and mentorship
  • Building shared language across fields
  • Learning to be comfortable with entangled complexity
Open Project Document
Public deliberation tables about technology
Project 10

Public Participation in Science and Technology with Dr. Mahmud Farooque

Lead: Dr. Mahmud Farooque | Format: Research and Engagement (Science and Technology Policy)
Method at a glance

Research and practice expand democratic models for public participation in science and technology policy.

Pillar 1 - Countering Disinformation & Dialogue Pillar 2 - Addressing Social & Environmental Justice Pillar 3 - Embracing Alternative Knowledge Pillar 4 - Educating Next-Gen Change Agents
Why it matters
  • Broadened participation makes science and technology policy more legitimate and robust.
  • Inclusive engagement surfaces innovative, socially relevant solutions.
  • Transparent processes build public trust in emerging technologies.
Snapshot
  • Studies compare citizen science, deliberative forums, and participatory technology assessments.
  • Science museum partnerships co-host deliberation days to keep forums accessible and engaging.
  • Case analyses track how engagement shapes policy outcomes.
  • Guidelines and best practices support effective public participation initiatives.
  • Mixed-method analysis turns participant rationales into actionable insights for decision-makers.
Common threads
  • Democratic engagement in science and technology
  • Valuing diverse knowledge and experience
  • Embedding social and environmental justice in policy
  • Building trust through transparency and dialogue
Open Project Document
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