May 22, 2014 — Last week’s announcement of the ongoing disintegration of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet means global sea level will almost certainly rise by at least several feet over the coming century.

While the scale and pace of this melting may be unusual, the environment — including coastlines — is in a constant state of change.

Scientists and researchers often capture this change through a series of complex models, data sets, charts and graphs. But is there another way to understand what’s happening?

As the video above explores, the arts and humanities play an important role in helping us discern past, present and future changes to coastal areas.

Through storytelling, music and maps, “Imagining Change: Coastal Conversations” takes the viewer on a journey through the English countryside to meet Caitlin DeSilvey, a cultural geographer from the University of Exeter; Mike Pearson, Professor of Performance Studies at the University of Aberystwyth; and Simon Read, a visual artist and lecturer at Middlesex University.

“Narrating. Performing. Picturing. We see three different creative engagements with environmental change in different coastal landscapes,” says video host Stephen Daniels, cultural geography professor at the University of Nottingham. “These perspectives can combine constructively with the insights of science, the demands of policy and the interests of people to create conversations to reach a wider world.”

As the planet continues to warm, understanding the impacts of climate change from a variety of perspectives will become even more important than ever.