Climate Mobility and the Pandemic: Art-Science Lessons for Societal Resilience

Abstract

Societies were underprepared for the COVID-19 pandemic. This is also the case for climate change. Art may have a greater role to play in advancing societal resilience across these different categories of shocks and risks. In this Intervention, we deploy and evaluate art as a social practice supporting societal responses to sea level rise and its impacts. Our evaluation is focused on the ways in which the open-ended, deliberately unusual juxtaposition of art and science can accelerate fundamental adjustments in responding to complex climate risks such as climate mobility threats, under simultaneous stressors such as COVID-19. Through art, we explore science-society interactions, using Miami as a globally relevant case study. Our critique identifies outcomes of the perhaps radically interdisciplinary approach, including the integration, passion, and dialogue enabled and enriched through art.