Storytelling for Social Impact: Using Art and Critical Dialogue to Address Environmental Inequities

Over 9 million people prematurely die each year as a result of chronic exposure to human-made (e.g., vehicle emissions) or natural sources (e.g., wildfires) air pollution. Research shows that chronic exposure to air pollution can lead to poor health outcomes including, increased risk for breast cancer when chronically exposed to air pollution (Cheng et al., 2019); impaired blood vessel functioning (Riggs et al., 2020); reduced lung functioning (Wang et al., 2019); and increase in asthma prevalence (Altman et al., 2023). Air quality research often focuses on monitoring air quality to understand how meteorological determinants (e.g., wind direction) impact air quality. A gap exists in the research showing how key concepts around the danger of air pollution can be best communicated to vulnerable populations. In health promotion research, comic books and animated films have been found to meaningfully engage communities and patients in developing their health literacy and their interest in civic engagement (Branscum & Sharma, 2009; Bratpisies, 2019; Brown, & Lindvall, 2019).These studies suggest that arts and literacy based approaches can translate to other settings where knowledge, awareness, and understanding are central to improving outcomes, such as exposure to poor air quality. This roundtable will provide a space for social workers to reflect on the ways that visual storytelling and the arts can be incorporated into collaborative, environmental health research. We will focus the discussion around how the use of art forms, such as comic books and storytelling, alongside critical dialogues can help community members understand the social and structural factors that expose them to air pollution. Drawing from literature on arts and health and well being, the first speaker will discuss how art forms and analytic reflections can promote a better understanding of one’s own life conditions, and one’s own health and well-being. The second speaker will explore the ways that comic books, environmental comics and zines created for and by children and teenagers can serve as pedagogical texts that critique social injustices and motivate change. The third speaker will discuss a collaborative research project entitled Envisioning Clean Air which worked with residents in the Greater Boston (Massachusetts) area to develop a comic book about air pollution. The speaker will additionally discuss the creation of an animated film about air pollution that highlights how chronic exposure to air pollution impacts health. The fourth speaker will present findings from the Envisioning Clean Air study, inclusive of themes from interviews and focus groups, as well as the results of an environmental health literacy survey. The roundtable will conclude with a comic book activity and a discussion about the ways attendees can imagine using visual storytelling in collaborative research to advance social and environmental justice.