Experiencing Climate-Change Consequences from App-Guided Storytelling in Climate Walks

It remains insufficiently understood how storytelling-based approaches to climate communication are experienced and engage psychological processes. This study explored how the use of storytelling influences experiences and understanding of local climate change. Fourteen participants performed one of two outdoor walks guided by mobile phone apps portraying the consequences of climate change in the surroundings. The main difference between the app-guided stories was that one was more human-centered by describing a family facing the challenges. Following the walks, the participants were interviewed and five key themes emerged from interpretative phenomenological analysis of their descriptions: (1) Experiencing climate change as tangible reality, (2) Grappling with climate change as a lived phenomenon, (3) Making sense and coping with climate change impacts, (4) Readiness for weather-related emergencies, and (5) Conditions shaping engagement and sense-making. Resulting subthemes show the two narrative designs of the climate walks prompted different patterns of reasoning and reflection in that the family story fostered a deeper understanding of how to manage future challenges. The main conclusion is that human-centered storytelling, preferably anchored in familiar locations, may contribute to a deeper understanding of climate change and its consequences by developing and strengthening cognitive processing and engagement.