Drew Arrieta: The Role of Storytelling in Uplifting Climate Solutions and Inspiring Hope

As students interested in the creative aspect of the environmental field, we were grateful to have the chance to talk with Drew Arrieta, the Storyteller Coordinator at Project Drawdown. Project Drawdown is an organization dedicated to facilitating science-based solutions to climate change. Project Drawdown is recognized as a leading resource for climate solutions, with a library of nearly 100 science-based solutions that can be put into action today.Additionally, Project Drawdown strives to nurture and support new climate leadership, particularly amongst typically underrepresented groups who are disproportionately impacted by climate change. Project Drawdown’s commitment to working with and uplifting marginalized communities most affected by climate change is a way to ensure that justice is at the forefront of their efforts.

Drew’s position as Storytelling Coordinator focuses on Project Drawdown’s mission to amplify diverse voices and narratives in the climate movement. He researches, vets, and secures partners and interviewees to share their climate stories. His work passes the mic to underrepresented voices so they can share their personal climate stories and put a face to climate solutions already in action. By promoting new voices, Project Drawdown helps to shift the narrative about climate change away from pessimism and towards positive possibilities.

Drew describes his path to Project Drawdown as untraditional. In the past, Drew has worked in labor organizing the music industry to make touring more environmentally sustainable. After the murder of George Floyd in 2020, Drew combined his passion for activism and photography by documenting the uprising in the Twin Cities. He noticed that mainstream coverage focused mostly on grief and pain, but Drew was interested in also documenting the resilience, joy, and sense of community. Documenting was his way of showing up for his community. Drew’s interest in spotlighting resilience has continued into his work at Project Drawdown. The storytelling projects at Project Drawdown share the grief and loss that come with climate change alongside solutions that inspire hope.

In addition to the emphasis on hope, Drew’s favorite part of his role at Project Drawdown is “the totality of the work”, which allows him to immerse himself in different communities around the United States. He spends most of his time on an ongoing project called Drawdown Neighborhood, which showcases climate activism. With this project, Drew interviews activists who are not commonly represented in the climate movement. He specifically tries to choose interviewees who are under 30 years old and who are not necessarily regarded as leaders in the movement. Throughout his work, he has observed that those who don’t often share their stories with large audiences tend to be more raw and honest.

The process for Drawdown Neighborhood begins with conversations with local stakeholders, such as spiritual community leaders or non-profit organizations. With this, he searches to answer the question: who in your community has a story that should be heard that hasn’t been told yet? Drew aims to let the community tell him who they are inspired by rather than deciding for himself whose voice is important.

Many conversations take place before any interviews are filmed. Due to the emotional nature of the work, Drew wants to make sure the interviewees feel comfortable and supported as they share their deeply personal stories. The filming process for the interviews generally takes around one to two weeks, with every session looking to dive deep into each story.

After two months of post-production, Project Drawdown invites the community to come together and enjoy the final product. Screenings of each episode are held in the towns highlighted in the series. These gatherings are meant to celebrate the community and their work. Recently, Drew has been experimenting with holding workshops in each place he visits as well, hoping that community members can learn about the power of climate storytelling as well and encourage individuals to share their stories even after Project Drawdown leaves.

Drew is also involved with a Project Drawdown series known as the Global Solution Diary.  In this series, individuals submit their own videos discussing how they work to combat climate change. So far, 35 countries are represented in the series, with each nation sharing a wide range of actions that the audience can try out themselves. Drew hopes that the Global Solutions Diary will inspire people to get involved with the climate movement at whatever level they can.

Drew recognizes that climate stories are often emotional and painful: “There’s a lot of doom and gloom when it comes to climate change.” However, this is part of what makes climate storytelling such an impactful medium. Everyone can connect with the feelings of grief that come with climate change and its damage to communities. The emotions of these stories resonate with people in a way that data and science can’t. Seeing the effects that climate change has on individuals can move people to action because it often feels more real than graphs or data tables.

Storytelling zooms in on climate change and its effects on humans. Not everyone can interpret and make sense of data, but human experience is universal. Most of the stories involve the loss of places that hold significant meaning to an individual or a community. Losing or having to leave something you love behind is a feeling that everyone can empathize with. But what makes these stories so powerful is that they don’t end with pain and loss. Drew emphasized the importance of focusing on hope and inspiration. The climate activists showcased by Project Drawdown have chosen to turn their pain into something productive by fighting to protect others from the loss they have experienced. The goal is to inspire the audience to take similar action by writing representatives, making lifestyle changes, and/or getting involved with local organizations.

Drew also explained that climate storytelling empowers everyone to get involved with the movement because there’s no expertise required. Climate activism can feel intimidating, but we’re all experts when it comes to our own story. As Drew put it, “You don’t need a PhD in climate science to share your experience and what you’ve been witnessing.”“You don’t need a PhD in climate science to share your experience and what you’ve been witnessing.”

Hope was a recurring theme in our interview with Drew. He offered wisdom about maintaining hope and optimism in the face of climate change. To cultivate hope, he explained there must also be space for grief and anger. He said there needs to be space, “to cry and be sad about seasons changing and humans making horrible decisions about the planet…We need more spaces for those conversations and those feelings to come out and also to share that collectively with other people. Art is a great way to do that.” Drew believes that climate work should also incorporate spirituality because of its existential nature. Put simply, he said, “We have to grieve to get where we need to go.” Storytelling is an integral way for climate activists to process grief, inspire hope, and offer practical solutions.

As aspiring climate activists, we were grateful for the opportunity to learn from Drew, who has a wealth of experience in activism and organizing. Climate change is a source of great pain and anxiety for both us, and many others in our generation, and this anxiety can feel paralyzing at times. However, Drew’s understanding of the power of storytelling as a means to transform grief into action resonated deeply with us. Storytelling is a very accessible way for people to channel their emotions about climate change into something that can make a difference. At the end of our conversation with Drew, we left with a renewed sense of motivation to continue our fight against climate change.