Social and Environmental Impact Podcast series

Background: The potency of exploring the interconnections between community-led oral history and innovation in storytelling lies in the possibility of reformulating how we tell stories in order to build greater environmental literacy and connection. Cultural ecosystem services (CES) relate to the often intangible benefits people receive from their interactions with the natural environment contributing to individual and collective human wellbeing (Ainsworth et al 2019). This research investigated how the art of podcasting enables storytelling innovation in order to capture and disseminate the intangible benefits of CES. Contribution: From 2018-2020 I produced for the Victorian National Parks Association two podcast series: From the Desert to the Ocean. It included a 4-part series about the legacy of 1969 Little Desert campaign. Followed by a 6-part series on the creation of Marine National Parks in Victoria as world-first including a feature on Sea Country and Indigenous environmental knowledge. The podcasting form allowed to present “knowledge from below” (Cox et al 2009) in the protagonists’ own voices, combining oral history with interviews, field recordings and archival footage. This addressed the research concern around ‘disseminating the intangible benefits of CES’, by sharing community knowledge and its socio-environmental context in a culturally sensitive way. Significance: Both series present community stories that are not readily available elsewhere. It was funded by Parks Victoria and the Victorian State Government ($14,700), to be included in the Victorian VCE curriculum. It led to a RMIT funding application ($10,000) with Prof Lisa Waller for a podcast workshop with VFTOC and IndigenousX, a literature podcast for the Foundation of Australian Literature Studies ($25,000)‚ a video on cave crickets, funded by the Australian Speleological Federation ($2,500) and a sound work for the CSEARNA conference on Tasmanian salmon farming, funded by RMIT ($1000).