Stories that underscore the values of courage in the face of the unknown, perseverance in the face of difficulty, and resilience to changing conditions are necessary for the survival of humanity. About The Story Arks Institute
The Story Arks Institute is founded in 2008 with a strong sense of mission and a specific goal: to stimulate and facilitate the media, especially those media that work with
drama and fiction entertainment, to become more proactively involved in the issues of climate change. Behind this primary focus on climate change, the Institute also addresses the larger global transformations that are taking place and the potential of stories to shape the public’s attitudes and motivations. The pervasive nature of the global media makes their impact on our future inevitable, perhaps decisive—for better or worse. It is the mission of The Story Arks Institute to articulate the issues involved in storytelling and rhetoric in the mass media, to facilitate new story visions that will help humanity move toward a stable, just, and sustainable future, and to work with professionals to develop these new visions into new media products. The Situation
The consensus of scientists is that unless very broad changes are made, and soon, in the way that mankind lives on the Earth and appropriates its resources, climate change will lead to a severe to catastrophic degradation, not only of the quality of human life and civilization, but of the biosphere as well. Vice President Al Gore asserted in a 2008 speech to the U.S. Congress that the most important decisions need to be made in the next 10 years. There is now a growing momentum for change against the enormous inertia of the status quo, as well as entrenched interest groups. Important leadership is coming from the UN, from national and regional governments, from NGOs, and from the newsgathering and non-fiction media. A related but distinct aspect of the problem, however, is that the current transformational crisis is not primarily technological. Many of the technological solutions are at hand, and with appropriate investment and prioritizing could dramatically change our carbon-emissions landscape. The larger problem is that of collective will and solidarity. In this regard, documentary information is not, by itself, enough to pe*****te to the heart of collective attitudes. In democratic societies, it is only the strong voice of the people’s will that may convince politicians to act decisively against industrial lobbies and for the greater good. That strong collective voice comes when the right information also touches people’s hearts, the seat of their motivations, and drives them to act. As we all know, the work of moving the public to a new attitude is not a simple, straight highway. It is not about information; it is about story, the story people can believe in, trust, and take hope and courage from. Such new stories cannot be put together like advertising campaigns, which are designed for short-term gain. They must avoid ideology and brainwashing, and yet they must be effective. And they must find the middle way between provoking fear and alienation on one hand, and lethargic complacency on the other. This is a mission for an ethically responsible drama and fictional media.
