Everything Change: Addressing the climate crises through innovative storytelling and adaptive thinking

After the hard work put in unrelentingly by green activists, journalists, and writers, issues of climate crises are now recognised as the biggest global crises facing all countries on the planet, even though global leaders have not yet taken decisive steps to curb carbon emission which causes global warming.

Environmental issues cut across different disciplines and sectors. Therefore, dialogues between scientists, thinkers, activists, and people from different professional backgrounds are a prerequisite for working out an interdisciplinary approach to addressing these issues. Of late, writers and artists have raised another important question: can literature and creative thinking contribute in any way to finding solutions to the climate crises?

To answer this pressing question as well as facilitate dialogues about other aspects relating to the issue, a Wales-based arts centre and Swansea University Professor in Creativity Owen Sheers have organised a 10-day virtual event, Everything Change, which begins today and can be accessed globally from any part of the world. 

Produced by Taliesin Arts Centre (Swansea, Wales) in partnership with Dhaka Lit Fest (Dhaka, Bangladesh) and with support from the British Council, the event is entirely free. 

Over ten days, writers, artists, academics, scientists, and activists will exchange ideas in panel discussions about how we can overcome the challenges of climate crises with creative thinking. 

“We’ll gather to consider how creative thinking might help shape the imaginative revolution we need to make meaningful action on the climate crisis feel not just vital, but possible,” says a press release.

Panellists will contribute their ideas on bringing about changes in the following areas: storytelling, money, food, water, energy, justice, and story. The diverse array of contributors includes Margaret Atwood, Poet Laureate Simon Armitage, Saleemul Huq, and Dr Mya-Rose Craig.

Also Read: Schedule of Events: Everything Change

The inaugural session will feature two-time Booker Prize winner Margaret Atwood in conversation with Sadaf Saaz, director of Dhaka Lit Fest. Atwood will discuss the role of creative storytelling in meeting the challenges of climate crisis while reflecting on her own work and remarkable career. 

On the sixth day, 16 June, world renowned scientists Saleemul Huq and Aaron Thierry, and writer Sabrina Mahfouz, among others, will discuss how clean water can be ensured for all. 

The event will conclude on 19 June with a closing keynote event where Owen Sheers will discuss the response of poets to the climate crisis with Poet Laureate Simon Armitage and Taylor Edmonds.

Talking about the event, Owen Sheers said, “We urgently need to recalibrate how we talk about, imagine and tell stories about our relationships with nature.” 

A unique Everything Change Writers’ Lab is also part of this event, which is produced in partnership with Dhaka Lit Fest and supported by British Council’s Creative Commissions for the Climate. The Lab will provide a platform for six writing talents from Wales and Bangladesh to create innovative narratives in response to the ecological crises. Full details of participating writers are yet to be announced.

For more information about tickets and individual events, visit the Taliesin Arts Centre website: www.taliesinartscentre.co.uk