Storytelling for Sustainability: Interdisciplinary Media Approaches to Environmental Engagement and Justice in Los Angeles

1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: Clara was a co-writer of a three-part animated film, LA 2050: Grand Theft Eco, which envisions more sustainable futures for Los Angeles and investigates the complex entanglements of social and environmental justice (produced by the Laboratory for Environmental Narrative Strategies). The animation was created through modifications of the popular video game Grand Theft Auto V, an effort to interest new and young audiences in environmental concerns. Clara took the lead in organizing and directing undergraduate voice actors to bring the characters and stories of LA 2050 to life. She’s also been co-writing and researching Southern Californian socioenvironmental stories for the KCET/PBS documentary series Earth Focus.

2. IMPORTANCE: My involvement in environmental storytelling in fiction and non-fiction television and film has enabled me to integrate my research on ecology and climate change, environmental justice, audience engagement, and artistic methodologies to increase awareness about environmental issues and management options specific to the LA region. I’ve also helped cultivate dialogue and shared purpose in a diverse community of people interested in advancing sustainability within and beyond campus.

3. IMPACT AND REACH: LA 2050: Grand Theft Eco is still in production, but when it is complete, it will be screened and shared with audiences within and outside of UCLA, possibly through professional distribution. KCET/PBS has a large audience who will learn about environmental issues and possibilities for involvement in Southern California. In focus groups I attended, viewers relayed how the show had motivated them to educate friends and family and to act on things they’d learned (e.g., seeking medical help for pollution-related asthma.)

4. COLLABORATIONS: Because of my initiative (conducting outreach and auditions, casting actors, and organizing rehearsals and recordings) undergraduate students and other members of my school (Theater, Film, and Television) became involved in LA 2050: Grand Theft Eco as voice actors. I’ve also helped to promote the project to other departments beyond UCLA who are interested in creative strategies for integrating scientific and humanistic research to advance environmental justice, helping LENS and UCLA to have a leadership role in a larger academic context.

5. YOUR ROLE WELL DEFINED: In LA 2050: Grand Theft Eco, I took the lead on producing the acting within the film by auditioning, casting, rehearsing, directing, and recording the voice actors, researched particulars of the scenarios we were discussing (energy futures, water futures, urban wildlife futures), wrote scenes of the script, gave feedback to the visual team, and voiced the trailer voice-over for a teaser trailer. In my participation in Earth Focus, I researched, wrote, and pitched stories for the next three seasons of the show to KCET/PBS and regularly attended meetings.

6. OPTIONAL NEXT STEPS: I am currently teaching an undergraduate class on Ecology and Performance, and I am guiding theater students who are interested in sustainability to be involved in LENS and LA 2050 after my graduation, as well as helping them to devise, write, and rehearse original plays that in some way incorporate socio-environmental research and concerns. I will also continue to contrast and integrate natural science, social science, and humanistic methodologies / understandings of climate change in my own research and writing on climate (in)justice in the American sub-Arctic.