Abstract

To close the gap between an individual's felt sustainable and environmental values and performed behaviors, this thesis explores current visual and digital communication paradigms in the United States. This paradigm fuels a demanding attention economy that perpetuates climate anxiety, green fatigue, and audience disengagement from vital climate and environmental communications.

Through design thinking, while leveraging systems thinking, this thesis explores sound-centric communications as a tool to foster holistic reception of sustainability communication with an ultimate goal to motivate individuals to adopt sustainable behaviors.

This project considers audio in both form and narrative. Deep listening, facilitating connectivity with nature, along with emotional and systems thinking-based reflection are utilized to render sustainability narratives personable and achievable. This strategy is shaped by self-determination theory and self-actualization processes. Audio forms include field recordings, spoken reflections, and data sonification. A case study on storm drains in relation to watershed health drive this project's narrative subject through the Adopt-a-Drain program's impact within Nine Mile Creek watershed district in Minnesota.

This thesis prototypes a QR coded sign posted at a storm drain in Nine Mile Creek watershed's district, prompting individuals to consider where water flows from local storm drains, linking to a website that presents an audio experience synthesizing the surveyed audio assets. Creating and surveying audio assets demonstrate potential for local and community-driven sustainability efforts and organizations to utilize experiential audio to engage an audience, with heightened interest in joining the Adopt-a-Drain program in response to audio assets.