OU Creative Writers focus on the environment and climate change

Creative Writers in the department of English & Creative Writing are involved in research and writing projects that draw attention to local effects of climate change and focus public attention on the environment. 

Global climate change and environmental damage are often highly visible in rivers - in their flooding, drying out, or in the pollution of riverine habitats and ecosystems. Dr Wanda O’Connor is one of the two poets in Wales selected for the ecopoetry project Rising and Sinking Like Mountains in Streams funded by the British Council’s ‘Connections Through Culture’ programme (https://www.lit-across-frontiers.org/activities-and-projects/project/rising-and-sinking-like-mountains-in-streams/). The project brings together poets from Wales and Vietnam who have created experimental works based on rivers and riverine ecosystems as sites of memory and transformation, and orientated towards a shared ecological future. Wanda’s residency involves site-specific writing along the River Wye and will culminate in a reading on May 29^th at the 2026 Hay Festival.

Improving community engagement with rivers, at source and in sea estuaries, is the subject of the Source to Sea project, headed by Dr Lania Knight and also involving Jennie Owen and Natalie Lewis. The threat posed to river ecosystems by privatised water companies in the UK has been well documented, and the Source to Sea project promises to bring renewed public attention to English and Scottish rivers and their systemic health through creative engagement led by writers and artists. The project is focused in the north of England on the rivers Ribble, Lune and Eden, and in Scotland on the Water of Leith, and has received funding from the FASS Academic Deanery Academic Communities Projects. 

Climate change also threatens UK coastal communities with projected sea-level rises of over one metre by 2100 if greenhouse gas emissions are not reduced. Longer-term trends could see rises of three to seven metres by 2300, representing a major threat to coastal cities.

The English & Creative Writing impact project 'Coastlines', originally devised by Professor Nicola Watson and now led by Dr Ed Hogan, seeks to bring renewed attention to key British coastlines through active public engagement in combined walks and writing workshops. So far, walk/write events, which encourage creative responses to the coast and emphasise coastal sustainability, have been held on the Isle of Wight, and more are planned in Suffolk. The project has also involved environmental groups in Northern Ireland, showing how coastal and sustainability work might transcend historical and political binaries in the region. The Coastlines project will include a symposium in June, attended by representatives from National Trails UK, the Nature Calling project (part of National Landscapes UK), and the Coastal Communities Alliance.

These exciting projects are being used to support the Open University’s bid to renew its Responsible Futures accreditation. They show that sustainability is not simply an issue for STEM colleagues but also something that those in the Arts and Humanities can address, frame and advocate for as part of public engagement.