Revitalising Embodied Community Knowledges as Leverage for Climate Change Engagement

Abstract Scientists inform us that the industrialised epoch has caused climate breakdown and ecological collapse that threaten human survival. These facts impose a sense of urgency on us to understand that our modern ways of living have created these problems and that we must find ways to resolve them. Communities need to come to terms with the damage that industrialisation has caused to ecology, adapt to the climatic consequences that have been unleashed, and adopt more sustainable ways of living. Yet, the scale of this crisis and lack of wisdom to act can be numbing, so how can communities become more informed and motivated to take action? This paper proposes a performative, practice-led approach to generate discrete engagement strategies that enliven public attention towards changing attitudes, developing more holistic behaviours and adopting mitigative actions. Such engagements are relatable, values-oriented and framed towards the priorities, knowledges, capacities, and lived experiences of rurally-based, intergenerational communities. This novel approach is exemplified in a case study on community food growing that successfully achieved decarbonisation targets. Public engagement was developed through the strategic promotion of embodied community knowledges (ECK) to engender and intensify a sense of ability to respond and act. A series of decarbonisation projects were designed to engage and mobilise local participation through the practical, adaptive capacities that lay within the community. Findings revealed that valuing a community’s existing body of knowledge and revitalising that knowledge as a method of climate change engagement increased the potential for attentive, effective, and committed community-based actions.