Stories that turn climate anxiety into hope

Students in a Discovery Core class harness the power of storytelling to teach ecology to the next generation.

A bear named Bingo wanders the temperate rainforest of Cascadia, looking for his mother. As he moves through trees and along rivers and ponds, he encounters other local inhabitants: Olivia Owl, Frank the Frog and Seth the Slug, to name a few. 

In this children’s book — authored and hand-illustrated by students in UW Bothell’s “Learning Ecology Through Storytelling” class — the emphasis is on interconnectedness and perseverance. 

Bingo’s journey unfolded in one of six different books created by first-year and transfer students in the new Discovery Core offering. The course surveyed both children’s and scientific literature to explore ecology — and to inspire a deeper sense of connection with the planet. 

Highly cross-disciplinary, the class was co-taught by Dr. Jennifer Atkinson, teaching professor in the School of Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences, and Dr. Cynthia Chang, associate professor in the School of STEM.