History & Hope for Climate Action: An Interpretive Toolkit

Creative Climate Stories

The cover of History and Hope for Climate Action: an Interpretive toolkit, with the NPS logo and an image of a lighthouse
Click on the image to download a PDF copy of the toolkit.

Wherever people are a part of the landscape, there are relevant—and important—climate change stories to explore. These stories can improve our understanding of why we’re in this moment of climate crisis. They can inspire our curiosity on how people have worked together to create change in the past. And they can motivate us to protect parks and communities in a warming world.

History & Hope for Climate Action: An Interpretive Toolkit helps communicators explore people-centered connections to climate change. The toolkit uses a three-step process to develop engaging, site-relevant stories that move audiences to awareness and action. An accompanying worksheet helps interpreters implement the three-step approach. Department of the Interior employees can also access an interactive version of the toolkit. Although developed for National Park Service employees, interpreters and communicators from other organizations may find History & Hope equally useful.

History & Hope in Action

"People come to parks because they’re compelled to connect with and understand them. What happened here? What does it mean to me? That’s an opportunity for rangers to help visitors explore the consequences of past actions on today. That’s what the History & Hope toolkit does. It helps make those connections clear and expands the way we’re able to talk about climate change. That can bring people into the meaning-making process and move them to action."

Eric Leonard, Superintendent of the High Plains Group of Parks (Amache National Historic Site, Bent’s Old Fort National Historic Site, Capulin Volcano National Monument, and Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site)

History & Hope is a framework that can be integrated into a variety of mediums: webpages, exhibits, formal programs, education programs, and more. Below are a few examples of how History & Hope was integrated into products:
A poster. Section 1: "What did mobilization look like in July, 1968?" with an image and description of the Special Olympics. Section 2:"What issue do you want our country to mobilize around next?" with a word cloud with climate change in the center.

Example Interpretive Product

Staff at Rosie the Riveter/WWII Home Front National Historical Park used visitor voices to build a History & Hope-inspired interpretive product. Hundreds of visitors answered the following question posted on a whiteboard:

During WWII, the country mobilized around a common cause. What cause do you want to mobilize around next?

Every response was recorded and tallied. The larger words in the word cloud to the right are the most popular responses. Staff created an exhibit that drew parallels between issues visitors proposed we mobilize around today and social movements from the postwar period.

History & Hope Resources

Last updated: September 24, 2024

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