Storytelling for sustainability: A definition and its implications for education and communication

The concept of storytelling has sparked renewed interest in different fields of research and practice. Stories are presumed to simultaneously convey information, explain problems and evoke emotions. Educators and communicators wishing to explore the potential benefits of storytelling in a sustainability context, however, have struggled with conceptual ambiguity about what distinguishes storytelling from other pedagogical approaches, and how it best relates to sustainability issues. This chapter proposes a definition of “storytelling for sustainability” we call “SusTelling”, gives examples that illustrate different features of SusTelling in practice, and critically appraises both opportunities and risks of using storytelling for sustainability in education and communication.