Despite their prescience and urgency, conversations around sustainability are almost always in danger of entering the Overton window (the range of ideas or policies relating to politics or society that are considered moderate enough).
We knew that this subject could engage an audience if the storytelling was good enough to earn it.
The first episode went up on the City of Edmonton's channels in 2017 and drew 100,000 views and a thousand-comment thread. Twenty-one episodes over four years later, the series had a following we started noticing in the field: interview subjects would arrive visibly nervous, having watched every previous episode, and needed reminding that our job was to make them look good. Emerging technology got a human face, and sustainability got explained in terms people actually use. When the UN IPCC conference came to Edmonton, its organizers asked us to host a panel on new media and environmental messaging for the international youth delegates. The episodes now teach in Alberta classrooms through the Alberta Council for Environmental Education. Recognition came from the Webby Awards, Banff World Media Festival, Canadian Cinema Editors and others. Our storytelling gave a municipality a cult following.
