Climate change is profoundly disturbing Earth systems but, as Amitav Ghosh puts it, “the climate crisis is also a crisis of culture, and thus of the imagination.” In this context, what is storytelling? And does it have a role to play in responding to the climate crisis? If so, what role?

Speakers:

  • Nadia Bozak and Barbara Leckie are professors at Ӱԭ in the Department of English.
  • Nadia’s work focuses on climate change and how narrative and visual art are informed by extraction of raw resources and patterns of consumption.
  • Barbara is Founder of the Ӱԭ Climate Commons and the Academic Director of Re.Climate. Her work is centred on climate change and the humanities.

Actions

  • As a reader, passionately engage in the works you read and practice critically thinking
  • Chose what you read wisely
  • Flex your imagination muscles, imagine what your ideal day to day life would be like. What are some little steps you can do to make your ideal?
  • If you aren’t a reader, try to engage with video or audio formats
  • Create or join a book club! It’s a fantastic setting to have deep discussions on what you’ve read or heard
  • If you like a book or want access to a book, recommend to your nearby library to include it in their stock! Most likely they will say yes.
  • After you read/consume something, try to discuss it with a friend or family member to reflect on what you’ve learned and pass on information

Resource List

The following is a list of resources recommended by attendees at our event.

Climate-related fiction books:

  • Vandana Singh books
    • “Indra’s Web” from Ambiguity Machines
  • Annihilation by Jeff Vandermeer
  • Dune series by Frank Herbert
  • Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanely Robinson

Non-fiction Climate storytelling:

  • On Time and Water by Andre Snaer Magnuso
  • The Great Derangement by Amitav Ghosh

Non-fiction books on story-telling, not all are climate related:

  • Out of the Wreckage: A New Politics for an Age of Crisis by George Monbiot
  • Not Too Late by Rebecca Solnit and Thelma Young-Lutunatabua
  • Dear Science and Other Stories by Katherine McKittrick
  • Seduced by Story: The Use and Abuse of Narrative by Peter Brooks
  • Radical Hope by Johnathan Lear

Articles and websites:

  • Climate Disaster Project, stories from people affected by climate change

Passionate Immersion in research or reading:

  • Van Dooren, Thom, Eben Kirksey, and Ursula Münster, ‘Multispecies Studies: Cultivating Arts of Attentiveness’, Environmental Humanities, 8.1 (2016), 1–23 <>

Resource List Suggestions