Envisioning alternative futures helps rethink human-ocean relationships

The high seas are incredibly vast and seemingly distant and disconnected from people. In reality, our lives are closely intertwined with the ocean, most people just are not aware of it. Imagine if we could bridge this mental gap – would that change how we govern and relate to the high seas?

A recent paper published in the journal Nature Ocean Sustainability encourages us to engage with alternative visions of the future in order to rethink human-ocean relationships and guide decision-making on the high seas.

Collectively held visions of the future can help to define goals and create a sense of what is possible and desirable. That way, they can shape the future, according to the study’s authors, including recent Centre MSc graduate Hannah Lübker and Centre researchers Andrew Merrie, Laura Pereira and Juan Rocha.

“There is a critical need to use one’s imagination and draw on creative and dynamic stories about the future for improved decision-making in the present,” says lead author Hannah Lübker.

A combination of science and creativity

The authors created future visions by combining computational text analysis of scientific literature, scenario building exercises and science fiction storytelling. They put emphasis on combining empirical data and creative approaches when creating their future visions. This ensures that these visions are plausible and legitimate, while opening up spaces where novel ideas and a diversity of alternatives can occur.

“We want to expand the notion of what is possible, and creatively envision feasible futures of the high seas, but based on solid scientific evidence,” says Centre researcher Andrew Merrie.

This process resulted in four science fiction stories, which aim to capture the complexity of the system, embrace the uncertainty of the future and question current unsustainable trajectories, while emphasising the many possibilities that the future may hold.

Powerful communication tools

The story-based visions were then presented to experts on high seas issues, to capture their responses. They described the visions as powerful communication tools that could help engage diverse audiences and raise awareness of environmental issues.

The authors also found that telling stories where the ocean is inhabited by people could evoke the audience’s emotions and empathy, and foster a more personal connection to it, which is necessary when imagining collective futures.

“Imagining yourself as a character in a story about the high seas allows you to understand them as a place closely related to you, rather than as a place ‘out there’ for which you do not have to be concerned,” says Hannah Lübker.

Read: Imagining sustainable futures for the high seas by combining the power of computation and narrative »