Journalism students explore personal stories of climate disaster survival
KAMLOOPS — Last fall, Thompson Rivers University (TRU) associate professor Jennifer Chrumka’s digital journalism class took on a project telling stories of surviving climate disaster — a subject with deep resonance in a region that experiences flooding and wildfires with increasing frequency.
The works those students created — 24 personal testimonies exploring a range of climate disasters from Kamloops to as far away as Bolivia, India, Kenya and Sri Lanka — are now being shared through publication in The Wren and an exhibit at the Kamloops Art Gallery (KAG) that opens on April 5.
Chrumka is one of the leaders of the Climate Disaster Project, an award-winning collaborative teaching newsroom where students work with disaster-affected communities to document and investigate people’s experiences using trauma-informed practices, founded by Sean Holman, a journalism professor at the University of Victoria.
“I first heard about the Climate Disaster Project on CBC radio. Sean Holman was being interviewed about how the traditional approaches to interviewing climate-disaster related survivors can re-traumatize and misrepresent sources, thereby making bad experiences worse. As he shared more details about the approach he’d developed to gather testimonies of climate disaster survivors, it spoke to me on a deep level and I knew I wanted to bring this work to students,” said Chrumka.
“What students learn in this class is very different from what is taught in traditional journalism classes. The emphasis is placed on trauma-informed interviewing, on storytelling and on looking towards solutions in the face of climate disasters. Traditional forms of interviewing and reporting are of course still valid in many circumstances, but when interviewing traumatized sources, I think we’re learning that our approach needs to change in order to maintain trust and move toward solutions.”
“Climate change has often been understood as a global problem that impacts the environment in the future,” said Aldyn Chwelos, managing editor of the Climate Disaster Project.
“But it’s actually a local problem that is impacting our lives right now. That’s why we’re honoured to be working with Thompson Rivers University so the climate experiences of people in British Columbia’s Interior can be seen and heard.”
The students worked with each other to co-create testimonies about their own experiences around climate disaster, then they did the same with people from stricken communities.
Fourth-year journalism student Lara Romero said being part of this project taught her how storytelling can be a powerful tool to bring awareness to the impacts of climate change.
“I was able to share my experience of going through a water shortage in my hometown in Bolivia, and also to raise awareness about the recent fires that happened in the forests of my country last year. As an aspiring journalist, these types of stories are really important to me and I’m grateful to have the opportunity to share them.”
The Wren began publishing students’ stories on March 11 and will continue to do so up to the week of April 15.
The public is invited to the KAG exhibit, titled Fragments from the Frontlines: Voices and Portraits of Survival, which displays short text and photographs by local artist Jess Beaudin in its Open Gallery. It runs from April 5 to May 31.
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Contact:
Jennifer Chrumka, associate professor
Digital Media, Faculty of Arts
[email protected]