News / climate change
Using poetry and art to confront the climate crisis
After a summer of extreme weather patterns and climate disasters on national and international levels, eco anxiety could be at an all-time-high.
The Climate Poetry Workshop was created by Emily Herbert, a local activist, to tackle just this.
The workshop aims to create a safe space to create, talk and nurture people’s mental health while strengthening the climate movement.
is needed now More than ever
The inspiration for the space came to Emily after taking part in other events with the same core ambition: discussing and encouraging active citizenship in the face of climate change
The Bristol University graduate said: “Most crucially though, the workshop was inspired by the work of The Resilience Project, which helps young people overcome burnout from climate activism and aims to foster a healthier psychological relationship with the climate crisis.
“I thought, as poetry and climate activism are my two passions, it was only natural to combine the two.”
According to Friends of the Earth UK, eco-anxiety is not a mental health problem that needs to be fixed, but a “healthy response to the situation we’re facing.”
NHS statistics show that anxiety is a “common condition”, affecting an estimated 5 per cent of the UK population.
Emily is familiar with this, saying “I personally suffer a lot from climate anxiety, which in my case is feeling debilitated by a sense of doom around the climate to the extent where one feels unable to take action. But I find that talking or writing about the news and trying to find hope in the news can really help.”
Artivism uses creative expression to cultivate awareness and social change, diverting from traditional forms of protest on the street – photo: Rob Browne
How poetry and art could contribute to raising awareness and processing the climate emergency
According to Emily, people have often used art as a cathartic tool in times of hardship and challenge.
She said: “Humanity has always used art to process heavy emotions about incomprehensible political events, from war poetry to paintings from the bubonic plague, not to mention the immense wealth of art created during the Covid pandemic – and I think the climate crisis is no different.”
The interconnection that Herbert sees between art and nature comes from reading Gossip from the Forest by Sara Maitland during her English studies.
“It talks about how forests rely on folk stories for their survival because people want to conserve nature more when they feel a connection to it. A lot of my own poetry is also about nature, and a creeping sense of hopelessness,” Emily explained.
Its first edition will take place on Brandon Hill on September 27 at 7pm.
To join, message @_ehpoetry on Instagram and RSVP using this link
This piece of independent journalism is supported by NatWest and the Bristol24/7 public and business membership
Main photo: Bristol City Council
Read next:
- ‘We strongly believe in using the power of art as a force for good’
- What you need to know about Bristol’s Clean Air Zone charges
- ‘The Uninhabitable Earth gives us reasons both for optimism and alarm’
- Bristol park restoring grassland to fight ‘climate change and biodiversity loss’
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