The Messenger - Issue #25 From data to stories
Today’s Messenger is as much about climate change as much it is about storytelling. The world of data has exploded and is exploding at an exponential rate. It is becoming increasingly expensive and practically impossible to reconcile such large amounts of information and make any clear sense out it, let alone make it interesting for someone else understand it. So how can common folk grapple with issues that are afflicting them? Is the onus on us to deal with such complexities at scale or be left out? How then can wicked problems like climate change become real for us and and that we can realise that it is only us who can stop this catastrophic change if not reverse it?
Storytelling is at the heart of all initiatives, from scientific enquiry to statistics. And the personal stories brought to life out of the data is what makes it real for everybody. A common man might not understand the environmental impact of a fossil fuel, but might understand the fundamental rights of all children to breathe clean air. This messenger issue delves into the process of telling stories with data on air pollution.
Afterword
The data for the illustrations above all come from this article about putting pollution on our agenda by Dr. Amar Patnaik.
Putting air pollution on the agenda - Hindustan Times — www.hindustantimes.com The piece is authored by Amar Patnaik is a Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha from Odisha; a former CAG bureaucrat and currently a lawyer.