Tag Archive for: community

,

Letters to the Earth | introduced by Emma Thompson

How can we begin to talk about what is happening to the world? How can we explain to our children, and to ourselves, what the future of our planet might look and feel like? Letters to the Earth is the beginning of a new conversation. One that attempts to answer some of these questions by listening to the voices of parents and children; politicians and poets; songwriters and scientists. Gathering together over 100 letters written in response to a callout from Culture Declares Emergency, each entry begins to give language to the unspeakable, and shows how our collective power is present when we are ready to slow down and listen to each other.

It’s natural to feel worried or concerned about what the future of the earth holds. These letters are an opportunity to reflect on our connection to the planet and the way it faithfully sustains us. But they are also an opportunity to act, to respond to this crisis. To put pen to paper and make your voice heard.

A collection of 100 letters from around the world responding to the climate crisis, illustrated by CILIP award winner Jackie Morris. Includes contributions from activist Yoko Ono, actor Mark Rylance, poet Kae Tempest, author (of Rebel Library favourite The Ice) Laline Paull, illustrator of The Lost Words Jackie Morris, novelist Anna Hope, environmental writer Jay Griffiths and Green Party MP Caroline Lucas.

The conversation is still going, so get in on it: submit your own Letter to the Earth here.

,

Birnam Wood | Eleanor Catton

 

Five years ago, Mira Bunting founded a guerrilla gardening group: Birnam Wood. An undeclared, unregulated, sometimes-criminal, sometimes-philanthropic gathering of friends, this activist collective plants crops wherever no one will notice, on the sides of roads, in forgotten parks, and neglected backyards. For years, the group has struggled to break even. Then Mira stumbles on an answer, a way to finally set the group up for the long term: a landslide has closed the Korowai Pass, cutting off the town of Thorndike. Natural disaster has created an opportunity, a sizable farm seemingly abandoned.

But Mira is not the only one interested in Thorndike. Robert Lemoine, the enigmatic American billionaire, has snatched it up to build his end-times bunker – or so he tells Mira when he catches her on the property. Intrigued by Mira, Birnam Wood, and their entrepreneurial spirit, he suggests they work this land. But can they trust him? And, as their ideals and ideologies are tested, can they trust each other?

A psychological thriller from the Booker Prize-winning author of The Luminaries, Birnam Wood is Shakespearean in its wit, drama and immersion in character. A brilliantly constructed consideration of intentions, actions, and consequences, it is an examination of the human impulse to ensure our own survival.

,

Hope: Visions for a Better Future | Create the Future

 

Too often, we focus on the kind of future we fear. It’s time to start creating the one we long for.

Creating the future means finding the courage to re-imagine life on this beautiful planet, and having the determination to make it happen. It means seeking out hope in times of darkness, and seeing community in the midst of distrust. Most of all, it means flipping the script: it’s time to turn our anxieties about the climate crisis into action and justice. It’s time to be the change we want to see.

Hope: Visions Of A Better Future is a collection of stories, artwork and interviews from experts, thinkers, campaigners and writers, Hope is part-guide and part-inspiration that invites us to celebrate the solutions and actions that are already in progress, and feel the power which lies within all of us to be a force for good through our contributions to a better, more sustainable world.

This tremendous anthology from the inspirational Create the Future team includes six creative writing pieces, five ‘postcards from the future’ created by schoolchildren throughout the UK, and fifteen interviews with some fascinating experts on a wide range of climate topics. There is a lovely

Read Hope: Visions for the Future online and free thanks to Create the Future.