When I was in kindergarten I had a friend with the most vivid imagination. She could paint pictures with her words and I remember lying in the grass next to her while she was building an entire world around us. With roaming dinosaurs and huge birds in all sorts of colours flying over our heads. Plants with flowers so intricate and wonderful I almost knew how they smelt and to this day I could swear I saw a dinosaur munching away at a cloud. Those images are so eternally burned into my memory I could never forget them. And I remember walking around in awe and wonder every time she told me about the beauty of the visible and invisible world around us. Language is a powerful tool to envision the future as well as appreciating the present and we need to understand its powerful impact when we talk about the climate, nature and the future we want to live in. When we think about language in relation to climate our perception is probably pretty bleak. Doom, gloom and the apocalypse seem to be omnipresent. But what if we replaced those with all the words of the things that we love and want to protect and nurture in our world today?
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This month’s community Notion document on the topic of language needs your input! It’s open to everyone. We will be adding to it as we go.
This month’s book club take aways: Secrets of a Vanishing Country by Pelin Turgut
Admittedly this month’s book club read was a bit of a rogue choice but we were longing for some fiction (and perhaps escapism) after having made it through that tomb of a brilliant book ‘Humankind – A hopeful history’ by Rutger Bregman. It turned out to be a brilliant choice though.
The author didn’t write the book with climate change in mind, which was quite surprising to us considering the title. We were lucky enough to have Pelin join our meet up and she did say that only in recent years has she noticed the parallels.
Do fairy tales and story telling have a place in the climate movement? It was a strong focus in our conversation and we believe they do. Stories stick because they create images in our heads and evoke emotional responses, whereas cold hard facts – not so much.
What we are missing in our language when it comes to talking about the Earth is the expression of our love for nature and the world. Pelin led us through a beautiful writing exercise to remind us of what it is we hold dear.
If you have 10 minutes, grab a pen and paper and follow Pelin’s instructions:
The first step is to think of a memorable/significant tree from your childhood. It might be a group of trees - someone had the beeches in Epping Forest, for example. Mine was a cluster of pine trees outside a neighbor's apartment. It may also be one very specific apple tree in your nan's garden. Recall that tree/trees, even if its just a fragment of a memory. Did you play there? Did you climb it? What kind of branches did it have? Anything at all you can remember and the more sensory detail, the better. Once you have called up all this sensory richness about your tree (if you can do this exercise with someone else, it's double the pleasure) it's time for...
Step 2. Write yourself a letter from this tree/group of trees. It should start Dear (Your Name). In it, the tree will speak to you about this particular moment in time. Be open to whatever it has to say. The trick is to just let your pen go. Don't censor or overthink it, just set a timer for 5 minutes and write.If you’re feeling brave, feel free to share your letters with us :)
Join the next book club: Entangled Life by Merlin Sheldrake
We're halfway through the Alphabet of Climate Solutions and have landed on the letter M. Can you guess what it will be all about?
About the book:
There is a lifeform so strange and wondrous that it forces us to rethink how life works…
Neither plant nor animal, it is found throughout the earth, the air and our bodies. It can be microscopic, yet also accounts for the largest organisms ever recorded, living for millennia and weighing tens of thousands of tonnes. Its ability to digest rock enabled the first life on land, it can survive unprotected in space, and thrives amidst nuclear radiation.
In this captivating adventure, Merlin Sheldrake explores the spectacular and neglected world of fungi.
Entangled Life is a mind-altering journey into this hidden kingdom of life, and shows that fungi are key to understanding the planet on which we live, and the ways we think, feel and behave. The more we learn about fungi, the less makes sense without them.
Community feature: Sandra Pallier
Every month we are highlighting a member of our community and what they are working on and interested in. This month we are highlighting Sandra Pallier, our most loyal book club member to date (she has never missed single one!) and all around awesome sustainability champion. Read more about her below:
Hi Sandra! Tell us a little bit about yourself.
I'm Sandra (she/her) and I work as a designer at Microsoft and I'm one of the organisers of ClimateAction.tech. I'm currently learning to grow vegetables on my patio and I capture most of my life in tiny handwriting in my doodle diaries.
What do you enjoy about being part of the And The Future bookclub?
The and the future book club has been so helpful on my climate journey. I've learned so much from reading all the books, and more importantly chatting with folks about the books. It's such a lovely group of people and I always leave the meeting with so much energy and inspiration. I can highly recommend it.
Tell us a little bit more about what you’re doing with ClimateAction.tech.
With ClimateAction.tech we're hoping to achieve business culture change in the tech industry. There's so many toxic and unsustainable mindsets and ways of working in tech and we're on a mission to change that from within.
Thank you for reading this month’s newsletter. A special shoutout to Pelin, who made our last book club meet up truly magical with her writing prompt. If you want to join us for one of our upcoming events, make sure you follow us on Eventbrite or Meet Up. If you have any questions please add a comment to this post, DM or send us an email to hello@andthefuture.com
Lisa & Tash ✨