Forest Carbon Futures: Creative Avenues to Critical Data Literacies at the Confluence of the Ecological and Climate Crises

Abstract Our collective futures depend on ecological stewardship rooted in both understanding of and care for the complex relationships of forest ecosystems. In particular, nuanced insight into forests’ entwined link with climate change is integral to policies and practices that can mitigate the worst climate impacts and sustain resilient multispecies communities. To this end, we foreground a creative approach to critical data literacies in the context of the biodiversity and climate crises. As part of the project Forest Carbon Futures, we present three explorations into different creative avenues for representing data, which share common aims of exploring the value of storytelling and situatedness in supporting more palpable connections between people, forests, stewardship responsibility, collective agency and more resilient futures. We position this inquiry as a valuable facet within an emerging field of Critical Forest Studies that holds promise in fostering ecologically-attuned understanding and care in relation to forest landscapes. Through interdisciplinary co-inquiry grounded in design and creation methodologies, we offer a constellation of interlinked themes, strategies and insights to inform transformative approaches to environmental education in our current era of ecological disconnect and rampant mis/disinformation.