The arts as a vehicle for small shifts in thinking on climate change, heat and environmental destruction in South West Sydney

This paper reports on a collaboration between advocacy organisation, Sweltering Cities, artists and researchers who developed a multi-site research project that provided South West Sydney residents an opportunity to engage in drama and poetry workshops that gave voice to their lived experience of rising surface temperatures, as well as their desire for environmental protection and climate action. The research featured in this paper contributes to previous research that finds aesthetic modes of engagement to be powerful with regard to ecological awareness, capable of being a positive motivator of small shifts in thinking which are a precursor to climate action.