Experts ‘rewild’ British Sign Language with new environmental terms | Deafness and hearing loss

Scientists and British Sign Language users have created new signs for greenhouse gases, carbon footprint, and more than 200 other environmental terms.

It is hoped the effort to “rewild” BSL will make climate and biodiversity science more accessible for deaf people.

Scientists and BSL users from the Royal Society and Scottish Sensory Centre worked together to create signs for common environmental terms. The first 200 signs were themed around biodiversity, ecosystems, pollution and the physical environment.

To sign “greenhouse gases”, for example, BSL users are told to gesture with “both hands in circular shapes [to] represent gases, then put the left hand at the horizontal position and move the right hand, with the index finger pointing, down and back up to the left hand to show the sunlight reflecting on Earth’s surface”.

The team extracted words related to biodiversity, the physical environment and pollution from GCSE and A-level courses, which were then reviewed by environmental scientists and developed into signs.

By the end of the project, the team will have developed signs for more than 400 environmental terms. The final 200 will be themed around energy, sustainability, and the impact of environmental change on humans, and will include the terms global warming, carbon neutral and deforestation.

Dr Audrey Cameron, the project coordinator at the University of Edinburgh, said the signs would allow BSL users to participate in “the conversation about the current threats to biodiversity and the environment”. The glossary could, for instance, enable deaf people to attend global climate and biodiversity summits and participate in discussions.

“The representational nature of sign language offers us a unique lens through which to engage with the natural world around us,” Cameron said. “For deaf students and scientists, it means they no longer have to rely on finger-spelling complex terms.”

Prof Jeremy Sanders, the chair of the Royal Society’s diversity and inclusion committee, said the signs aimed to “inspire and empower the next generation of BSL-using students and allow practising scientists to share their vital work with the world”.

New signs in British Sign Language

• Carbon footprint: Left hand as a C shape with right hand fingers moving away from the left hand to resemble carbon being released to the environment.

• Greenhouse gases: Both hands in circular shapes move around to represent gases, then put the left hand at the horizontal position and move the right hand, with the index finger pointing, down and back up to the left hand to show the sunlight reflecting on Earth’s surface.

• Carnivores: Two five-fingered claws coming together as sharp teeth.

• Herbivores: Closed fists together, palms facing, with right hand on top + slide knuckles against each other in a circular “teeth grinding” motion.

• Omnivores: Sign for “carnivores” + sign for “herbivores”

• Cetaceans (marine mammals including whales, dolphins and porpoises): Bring hands together to form a circle that faces the ground (sign for “group”) + link thumbs, palms facing the body, and fan palms up and out to resemble “whale tail fin”.

• Natural selection (the natural process whereby the best-adapted individuals survive longer, have more offspring, and thereby spread their characteristics): Two index fingers moving forward and the right hand, index still pointed, “falls down”, and the left index finger continues to stay upright and moves forward.

• Rewilding (the process of creating habitats that are similar to the conditions present before the natural habitat was changed by human actions): Two flat hands, palms facing down, then drop palms while pulling hands back (sign for “habitat” but upside down). Then right hand at a distance from the body turns from palm facing up to down.

A full glossary of terms can be found online.