Histoires de Nature, an original participatory science program open to all to collect testimonials about environmental changes

When participatory science sets out to explore everyone’s relationship to the evolution of the environment, it gives nature storiesIt is a unique project in which participants are invited to witness the changes in our relationship with nature based on documents and stories. This will allow scholars to understand how the relationship between humans and nature has changed while serving as a basis for designing exhibitions around these themes. Moreover, the project has a European mission as it is jointly implemented by the National Museum of Natural History in Paris and the Museum für Naturkunde in Berlin.

The process is simple: Histoires de Nature offers everyone to file a file online platform www.changing-natures.org Document accompanied by a narrative. The aim is to collect testimonies of biodiversity decline.

Nature stories, collecting heterogeneous objects and stories bearing witness to the Anthropocene

” The strength of this project is that it aims to document the transformation of biodiversity through a participatory and digital database. It will help to better understand and understand the extent of environmental changes at work by approaching them from a Europe “, explains Bruno David, Head of the National Museum of Natural History. Bruno David also shows in the video below the object that most testifies to the developments in the perception of nature according to him: a children’s book Rikiki beautiful pictures. He is amazed to see in this book the names and representations of the various species of birds and trees accurately, while the main protagonist of this children’s story, Rikiki, is confronted with the topic of fishing glue.

The Histoires de Nature is therefore an atypical scientific program in the making. The participatory approach is at the crossroads of environmental sciences, social sciences, and history. It should help understand the way biology’s vision evolved. To date, more than 150 testimonials have been collected: they can be viewed online. As for the bulk stuff associated with each person speaking, it ranges from Cooking recipe With ingredients less common these days in Picture of a shrinking glacier Under the influence of the greenhouse effect, passing through skating shoes become useless in Berlin due to lack of snow, or even A 1972 article praising DDTNow Banned Insecticide…

[À lire aussi L’être humain s’éloigne (spatialement) de plus en plus de la nature]

Bring a little bit of everyone’s sensitivity to understand the world through science

” Each of us has experience of environmental change. An old photo, song, book, or newspaper article brings back buried memories. We ask everyone, from a document of their choice, to provide their perspective, story, and feelings about these changes. Every one has something to say Frédérique Chlous, professor of anthropology at the Museum who works on human-environment relations and is one of the pilots of the Histoires de Nature project, sums it up. She considers this one A participatory scientific approach with an approach that is more than anthropological questions. »

” Citizens and participants have something to say about the evolution of nature that is more familiar and intimate.”Frederick Claus says. “ Besides the scientific knowledge on biodiversity erosion is already well documented, for example by the Tribune [NDLR le « Giec de la biodiversité]It was necessary to leave space for the intimate and familiar to notice and document these changes in a different way. »

[À lire aussi Le nouveau rapport de l’IPBES (le Giec de la biodiversité) remet en cause la vision purement économique de la nature]

Indeed, environmentalists know that it is difficult to measure the erosion of life on the scale of a human lifetime. they speak ” Environmental amnesia This individual or generational amnesia means that it is difficult to perceive the developments of biology. This is why the scientific and participatory approach proposed by Histoires de Nature is based on documents. Frederic Kloss: These scientific elements, whether stories or documents, can allow us to better understand, on a large scale, these relationships with the environment. How do we talk about it, what do we say about it, what feelings are associated with it… We hope to learn from it costly “.

[À lire aussi notre interview avec Philippe J. Dubois sur le concept de la grande amnésie écologique Ne plus oublier la biodiversité]

Nature Stories, a unique scientific approach at the crossroads of many disciplines

The Nature Stories project allows everyone to witness a changing world. The variety of objects collected and testimonials make the project rich and ambitious, but also complex in design in terms of methodology. Researchers hope to obtain data, narratives, and possibly descriptive accounts of the world’s transformations. It will be necessary to wait at least two to three years before obtaining the first results of the Histoires de Nature.

[À lire aussi Les sciences participatives ont maintenant leur site web]

A better understanding and awareness of the evolution of organisms can help find solutions to conserve biodiversity, raise public awareness and encourage them to take action. ” Each piece in the collection tells a story. Here we want to learn from your stuff and your stories, because together we can tackle the challenges of climate change and biodiversity loss. says Johannes Vogel, Ph.D., Museum für Naturkunde in Berlin.

Julian Leprovost

To proceed to Histoires de Nature and testify

Nature Stories website To leave your items, stories and testimonials there and consult other participants

The page dedicated to Histoires de Nature on the website National Museum of Natural History

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