Introduction

Rita Wong’s Watersheds discusses the need for more sustainable environmental practices and a deeper connection and respect for the land. She draws the reader’s attention to water specifically and its great importance and prominence in our lives. She then connects literal watersheds, where numerous waterways converge into one, with the possibility for literary watersheds, where Canadian literature might reach a momentous turning point. Wong envisions this literary watershed to involve critical and creative responses to the climate crisis and environmental destruction. In her call to action she explains that the ecological crisis “calls forth from us resources and knowledges we may not have known we had” (117). This is the call to action that our group has honed in on and discussed. Creative and critical responses to the ecological crisis can offer new perspectives and reach new audiences. Artistic projects spanning across disciplines and mediums contribute to our understanding of the land we live on and work to create and recreate the stories of history and of potential futures. Quartet (Zac Collins, Magdalena How, Laura Metcalfe, and Samantha Stewart) took up Rita Wong’s call to action by exploring a collection of artistic responses to environmental issues and how they tell the same story in different ways to offer unique opportunities for connection.

We chose to begin a dialogue with On Stolen Land (Leo Yamanaka-Leclerc, Connor Page, Victoria Ranea, and Lenaya Sampson), who are investigating “how our relationships to orality and aurality shape our identities in written text, and the role that such identities can take in decolonizing our literary canon” (“About Us”). We felt their research offered a plethora of connections to our own as both rely on a primarily cross-disciplinary approach and share a focus on how individual arts can have an impact that stretches beyond their own perceived immediate sphere of influence.

Central Points

Building upon our individual research through dialogue with each other as well as with the members of On Stolen Land and 4Hands, our team was able to identify three central themes to anchor our intervention strategy: connection, activism, and place. While interconnected, each of these central themes contains its own key points as outlined below.

Connection

The first central theme we identified is that of connection. Our research and dialogue revealed that art has the ability to create a connection that science and data can often not achieve. Some examples of this artistic connection can be found in Judy Twedt’s environmental data art, Hilary Inwood’s success with environmental art education, and the phenomenon of plant blindness. Art can “mediate or make humanly real experiences or realities that exceed our perceptual and cognitive equipment” (Connor Page, On Stolen Land). This incredible ability art has is grounded in how art can engage our interest, and a major component of that relies on connecting to our emotions. Kyle Olsen (4Hands) summed this up perfectly when he commented that “stories typically target the reader’s emotions with the hopes of actively engaging them.” By creating an emotional connection, art can then inspire us to effect real change. 

“Projects like Traubeck’s and Twedt’s […] can play a central role in teaching us to connect with nature (and its destruction) in ways that strike emotional chords with us – by turning it into art” (Victoria Ranea, On Stolen Land).

Yet art is inherently subjective; ten different people exposed to the same work of art may be influenced ten different ways. This leads us to the next central point of connection: sharing the same story through many modes offers the chance to connect with more people. Connor recommended Terence Cave’s book “Thinking with Literature” as it “develops an understanding of literature (and, perhaps, other arts) as affording/allowing ways of thinking that would be otherwise unavailable—ways of thinking that are particularly in tune with our embodied lives and that can’t be reduced to scientific, philosophical or political discourse (they all have their characteristic modes).” Zac further reflected on this notion, suggesting that “the principles stored in the way these works of art reflect on scientific data is not about science, per se, but about comprehension, and how we can take in information that allows us to see its meaning.” By telling one story a multitude of different ways, using a myriad of mediums, the chance of achieving comprehension in a wide range of people increases. This perhaps harkens back to Canadian philosopher Marshall McLuhan and his famous quote “the medium is the message.” If comprehension is the goal, the way the story is told matters. 

“Art is a language that transcends borders; it speaks to the past and present, and looks towards the future. It creates a dialogue not only between artist and audience, but artist and themself” (Samantha Stewart).

Art can cross the boundaries of the oral and the written; even on its own, art is connection and communication. This is the final central point we identified in the theme of connection. Many art mediums already combine the written and oral – poetry is a good example of this – and still others help to bridge the perceived gap between them; art, in all its forms, can generate interconnectivity. In discussing Rita Wong’s poem “Beholden”, Laura noted that “[Beholden’s] interdisciplinary creation of eco-literacy is a prime example of how literacy and environment are interconnected. Artistic creations in response to environmental changes and the current climate crisis help to develop our understanding of the land we live on and create a shared story of past, present and future.” The power of art to break the boundaries between disciplines is further examined in the exceptional research and dialogue generated by On Stolen Land.

Activism

The second central theme we identified is activism. The first central point we found within this theme was the important role literature and art play in connecting us to activism. Creative and critical projects, such as the ones explored in our comments section, draw in the reader, listener, or viewer and bring to life some of the harsh realities of our futures. “By creating these connections”, Victoria writes, “we will (hopefully) feel more inclined to intervene in the climate emergency”. Using literature and art for activism opens up a broad spectrum of mediums, as Magda notes, that has “the ability to engage the reader/listener/viewer enough to inspire them to further reflection”.

“This economic profit at the expense of environments is exactly why we need the activism that literature can provide for us. If we continue to have the attitude perpetuated by C.J. McEachern, that of placing anthropocentric economic interests ahead of environmental concerns, we risk not knowing where to draw the line” (Victoria Ranea)

Just as art can connect to our emotions, so too can it connect to hope. Our second central point within the theme of activism is that hope is important. Not only do creative and critical projects offer an opportunity for activism, but they also give a glimpse of a better future, a new hope. Too often are scholars full “of cynicism, doomed to wield a critical eye that seems to continuously locate the dreadfully negative” (Leo Yamanaka-Leclerc, On Stolen Land). By focusing on the positives, arts and literature can lead others to work towards greater environmental care.

“By showing us the emotional consequences of climate change and deforestation […] imagination and story can be used to conceptualize potential futures, which can then lead to a widespread effort to discover how to achieve – or avoid – those potential futures.” (Victoria Ranea). 

“I believe that these ways of connecting art to issues like climate change is a great way to get people to listen and to care” (Lenaya Sampson, On Stolen Land)

Our third central point we found under the theme of activism connects with the idea of our potential futures: art has the potential to let us encounter anomalies that incite action before they actually occur in real life. Joe Stevens (4Hands) noted that the world is made up of unique individuals who all hold differing perspectives around topics such as environment, sustainability, and climate change. Our perspectives are formed by our life experiences and the stories that we pick up along the way. Many of us have the ability to re-learn and re-write the stories we bring with us when we are presented with information; however, others are stuck due to a variety of cognitive biases. It is in these instances when a significant event may be the only thing to engage this part of the population, and as such critical and creative projects such as eco-fiction and climate fiction can “bear fruit, by making anomalies such as hurricanes, wildfires, melting permafrost, invasive species, arctic air escaping the polar vortex, and drought-refugees pouring into Europe and Arizona harder to ignore” (Joseph Stevens). These stories present varying perspectives on climate change while bringing the added element of entertainment (Kyle Olsen), which can engage multiple groups of people into action.

“…story is an incredibly powerful tool, made all the more so for its flexibility and versatility. Just how much can we achieve if we utilise story’s power to re-frame the same narrative?” (Magdalena How)

Land and Place

The final central theme we identified is that of the land: the importance of place, and the connections between the land and learning, language, and listening. As we uncovered in our conversations about the significance of land and place, there is a powerful influence within the intersections of language, art, and learning on the community level. 

Land and place are a deeply important part of modern education. There are aspects of the education that we experienced as kids (which are still going on today) that are deeply and inherently colonial. Squared classrooms, with artificial lighting, desks all pointed towards the whiteboard, where the teacher speaks from, are all elements of education that was founded in Britain during the rise of the industrial revolution. Even the 9am to 3pm schedule, with bells ringing to signify start, breaks, and the end of the day, are elements that were intended not just to keep ‘order’ within the school, but also to prepare students for the factory work — and later office work — when they eventually entered the workforce (Robinson). These elements do little to benefit children, outside of the colonial mindset of industry and wealth. However, Place-Based Education (PBE) approaches education through a focus on land and space, incorporating nature and local community in order to teach its curriculum of Math, Social Studies, Language Arts, Science, and other subjects (Sobel 6). Where the focus on industry would have driven education in the past, and into the present day, Place-Based Education pulls education away from solely the needs of industry, and allows for greater understanding of the local community, and what makes it work. 

With so many educators in this group, and in this class, it wasn’t hard to find relevant experiences of this form of education. Lenaya described her own experience of PBE in her work at Vancouver outdoor school: 

“We focus on building meaningful relationships with the area around us. By building these relationships students become more aware citizens of the environment around us. Therefore, allowing them to make more informed decisions later on. I personally love PBE not only as an Indigenous person but also as an educator because it allows for people to connect to the land and build relationships with the area you are in.” (Lenaya Sampson)

By using elements of the local community in their education, students are able to identify with their learning and take ownership of their understanding and actions within the space that they are learning and engaging in. But the elements that can be used in the educational settings can also be related to the local environment itself. In Exploring eco-art education in elementary classrooms, Hilary Inwood describes a means of creating art that directly captures the state of the environment and the powerful forces within it. According to Inwood, this form of art was created by generations of activists who have been using art to speak to environmental concerns, and provide hope for ways that they can be solved (Inwood). In the classroom, this means of creating art with a scientific tie-in will be beneficial for creating environmental- and community-minded students who are willing and excited to engage with topics of science, where otherwise they may not be. Amanda Leung (4Hands) elaborated that “eco-art [is] a way to cultivate mindfulness and eco-awareness to elementary students in a whole new way,” further describing eco-art’s ability to promote collaboration and ingenuity in students, and any who engage in it.

“[Eco-art] will … allow [students] to appreciate natural environments more because of the subjective element where students can use their interpretations to understand eco-art rather than only learning objective facts about the environment” (Kyle Olsen).

With eco-art being such an effective means to communicate on behalf of the environment, the way that we choose to listen to the environment was also an important part of conversation. Quartet and On Stolen Land had several back-and-forth conversations regarding these ideas of how we choose to listen to and engage with the land, the environment, and the community. Specifically, On Stolen Land discussed in their Annotated Bibliography, the work of Margaret Noodin, an Indigenous Poet and teacher of the Anishinaabemowin language. Noodin has been vocal on the connections between the language and place through her studies and expression of Anishiaabemowin, and her activism in helping this language thrive in the indigenous communities that it comes from.

In her TEDx Talk, “Minowakiing,” Noodin describes unique qualities of the Anishinaabe language, specifically noting how it teaches those who use it the system of connections in the land and environment. What Noodin ultimately discusses in her talk is that the language that we use teaches us about the place that hosts that language: language is connected to (and critical to understanding) place. 

Noodin entered our dialogue as our team made connections between Noodin’s work and Rita Wong’s, specifically taking note of Noodin’s remark that “every place on earth has languages – layers of languages that teach us about the place,” and how this connects all of the earth, and connects human experience to it as well. (Noodin, “Minowakiing”) These connections are like Rita Wong’s Watersheds, where people come together to find common ground, and like the watershed moment, make changes in understanding and policy.

Connor Page found similar connections to our research interests, noting that “there are hints about how the language is ‘an echo of the place [Anishinaabe homelands]’.” (Noodin 7) Concluding that “the pedagogy of language and environmental literacy may thus be linked.” This dialogue on language highlighted how humanity is inherently linked to the earth, not just in proximity, but in the ways in which we learn from it, and the language we use to describe it.

Conclusion and Further Questions

Our dialogue was extremely lively, which in many ways is evidence that this intervention strategy has potential to create change within the literary and ecological world, as it offers a multitude of access points and connects to our emotional responses, prompting engagement and expansion. Through our research and dialogue we identified three strategies for taking action towards Canada’s literary watershed moment. The first strategy is art as activism. This can take many forms, as we have seen in our collection of sources, but works of social action art all share the clear intention to engage an audience and affect some kind of change. The second strategy is education.  Efforts to enhance school curricula and pedagogical practices to promote engagement with place, to encourage and expand the areas of ecological arts, and to centre environmental and climate narratives work to build a community of students who care deeply about the earth, are critical thinkers regarding environmental decisions, and are motivated to create positive changes for the future. The third strategy is storytelling with a focus on varied expressive forms and Indigenous creativity.  Throughout English 372 we have explored storytelling – its definitions, its histories, its purpose and impact – and our research dialogue expanded further upon the importance of telling and retelling stories to preserve histories and envision futures. Canadian literature has long been telling stories, so storytelling alone may not offer something new to the literary landscape. However, we offer a strategy with a specific focus on varied forms of expressions and Indigenous creativity. As our sources demonstrated, stories can exist in many forms and are not limited to traditional categories of oral or written. Stories can be sung, danced, and painted. Stories can be taught through science and art and math class. Stories can be crafted from creative amalgamations of many mediums, such as Twedt’s TED talk (data, visual art, clothing design, musical composition and performance) or Walde’s glacial symphony (video, photography, musical composition and performance, site-specific performance).  Indigenous creativity plays a large part in this final strategy, as in all of them. Encouraging and promoting Indigenous creative projects (or, more simply, listening to Indigenous artists) is a critical part of this intervention. Our growing understanding of Indigenous storytelling as so much more than an art form, has taught us the power of sharing stories and that stories can be shared in many ways. In our context, stories that are responses to climate crisis, become more than an art piece. They become tellings and retellings of history. They become critical analysis of policy and environmental decision making. They can allow us to see the horrors of possible futures and work to make change before they become a reality, and they can allow us to share visions for a desired future. 

Though these three strategies answer well Rita Wong’s call to action, they are by no means the end of the question “what would a watershed moment in Canadian literature look like?” (Wong 116). This question opens a door to more possible answers than we alone can come up with, so we leave it here for you to consider and reconsider, along with a few more complex and interesting questions that arose from our dialogue. Joe and Samantha began a dialogue around the question, how can storytellers or creators telling stories of ecological destruction engage those who do not perceive the threat to the environment? Victoria, Magda and Laura attempted to answer the question “what is it about literature that makes it especially conducive to ideas of activism, that makes us want to act?”

Our final question is inspired by climate activist Greta Thunberg (who coincidentally is being awarded an honorary degree from UBC this spring). In a TED Talk in 2018 Greta asked, “why should we be studying for the future if the future will not be anymore?” Adapting this question slightly for our context we ask, Is literature enough to generate a response that is profound enough to actually solve the climate crisis?

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