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May 26, 2025

A new initiative from the ßÉßɱ¬ÁÏ is demonstrating how the arts can play a critical role in responding to the climate crisis. Envisioning Nature-based Solutions  (ENBS) is a national community-based knowledge mobilization project led by UVic researchers. The project brings together artists, researchers, and community partners to explore how creative expression can deepen public understanding and engagement with nature-based climate solutions.

Funded by the Government of Canada’s Climate Action and Awareness Fund, ENBS has to date commissioned twelve unique artist projects across Canada. These artworks—ranging from digital storytelling and video to public installations and photography—offer diverse, place-based perspectives on ecological resilience, land stewardship, and environmental justice. 

Highlights of the commissioned work include:

• Hydrosheds by Colton Hash, an interactive simulations that depicts landscape relationships between an urban community and its adjacent ecosystems. 

• Bowker Creek Sketches by Emrys Miller, a photography and drawing repository that includes visual storytelling techniques designed to engage communities in urban watershed understanding and stewardship. Miller's sketches focus on Bowker Creek, an urban salmon-bearing stream in Victoria that has suffered under urbanization and is currently being restored by local grassroots environmental organizations. 
• Address by Erin Robinsong and Merlin Sheldrake (shown below) is one poem within a non-fiction/poetry chapbook focused on the concept of direct address (addressing nonhuman members of the living world in second person rather than speaking about them)
• Memory Map Drawing Workshops by Governor General's Award-winning artists Marline Creates and Don McKay, who gave a series of workshops and guided walks in Creates' property in Portugal Cove, Newfoundland, to over 100 grade 4 students.

 

 

 

“By humanizing the abstraction of facts and figures, art provides a resonant, emotional connection to the local impacts of climate change,” writes program lead Maleea Acker, a postdoctoral researcher in UVic’s School of Geography. “It... enables meaningful dialogue across disciplines, bringing together scientists, artists, and community members to co-create solutions.”

ENBS has also launched a free, publicly accessible online toolkit featuring multimedia resources, interactive maps, and artist profiles. Designed for educators, policymakers, and community groups, the toolkit showcases how the arts can be integrated into broader climate planning and communication strategies.

The ENBS project reflects UVic’s ongoing commitment to climate leadership and community-engaged research, aligning with the university’s climate and sustainability goals.

Learn more about the project and explore the digital toolkit at: