Stories from the Peaks: An Interactive Data Storytelling to Narrate Climate Change Impacts through a Pluralism of Voices

Explaining the seriousness of climate change while encouraging audiences to take action to counteract it is especially challenging. Data about temperature and CO2 increases are often perceived as abstract and ungraspable, while extreme events like floods and droughts generate a sense of awe and helplessness. This paper presents the design process of an interactive data storytelling prototype about climate change and overtourism in Trentino. Rooted in the principles of data humanism and feminist epistemologies, this study emphasizes the importance of combining scientific data with locality and including a plurality of voices. Through a meticulous data curation process involving public institutions and scientific experts, the storytelling was designed to integrate human and more-than-human perspectives, grounded in rigorous and credible data. An initial evaluation with eleven users shows that data-driven narratives can effectively convey the complex challenges climate change imposes on mountain communities and ecosystems.