Our Future is Green
Communicating Climate Change through Creative Writing
The Journey Begins
About Ryan
My name is Ryan Mizzen and I am 25 years old. It’s hard to remember exactly where this all began for me, but I distinctly remember completing a piece of coursework on climate change for GCSE Geography in 2007. I remember around that time, the Met Office produced a visualisation map of what a 4°C rise in temperatures would look like across the globe (based on the report findings of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in the same year). I was astounded at the widespread implications of a warming world and wanted to learn more about why climate change was happening and how we could avoid the worst impacts. So began a profoundly overwhelming journey.
I decided to explore the subject of climate change in more depth and in 2012, I graduated with a First Class Bachelor of Science degree (with Hons) in Climate Change, from one of the first universities to offer climate change as an undergraduate degree. Since then, I have spent over three years working for energy efficiency and renewable energy organisations. I am now embarking on my greatest challenge to date, as I work towards an MA in Creative Writing at Teesside University, which I hope will help me communicate climate change in an engaging manner to a wider audience.
I will use this website as platform to blog about my experiences and share some of the work I produce along the way. Onwards!
I decided to explore the subject of climate change in more depth and in 2012, I graduated with a First Class Bachelor of Science degree (with Hons) in Climate Change, from one of the first universities to offer climate change as an undergraduate degree. Since then, I have spent over three years working for energy efficiency and renewable energy organisations. I am now embarking on my greatest challenge to date, as I work towards an MA in Creative Writing at Teesside University, which I hope will help me communicate climate change in an engaging manner to a wider audience.
I will use this website as platform to blog about my experiences and share some of the work I produce along the way. Onwards!
by Ryan Mizzen @MizzenR
My first blog post on #climatechange and #climatefiction is now up on http://www.ourfutureisgreen.co.uk . More to follow on #CliFi and #anthropocene.
TEXT:
On Tuesday the 13th of September, I finished my last day of work and commenced my M.A. in Creative Writing here in the UK.
If you know me, this degree may sound random given that I completed my undergraduate degree in climate change; but there is method to this madness.
My beliefs are firmly in line with the 97% of climate scientists who acknowledge that climate change is happening, caused by humans and that we need to act fast. As an individual, I therefore asked myself what I could do to help bring about the change we need and I have decided to focus on engaging a wider audience about the impacts of climate change, through various forms of creative writing (including the newly emerging ''climate fiction'' or ‘cli-fi’ genre). Various articles have pointed out that this type of writing could reach people who wouldn’t usually choose to read non-fiction books/articles about climate change.
To put this in context, climate change largely became a public issue in 1988, when Dr James Hansen spoke before a US Congressional Committee, confirming that humans were increasing the levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. In the intervening 28 years, we have taken very little action to avoid a ‘worst case climate change scenario’ from occuring.
There are many reasons for this. One of which is that climate science is extremely complex and difficult to convey to lay people. Media sensationalism and special interests have also played a role in ‘muddying the waters’ around climate science and as a result, large swathes of the public are unaware of the future impacts we face and the current events taking place around the world which have been exacerbated by climate change.
Yes you read that right, we are already seeing some of the early effects of climate change – it isn’t just a ‘future issue’.
In an auspicious turn of events, it just so happened that the 13th September 2016 was the warmest September day on record for the past 105 years in the UK.
In addition, the date also marked the 100th birthday of Roald Dahl, one of the main authors who inspired my love of reading and writing at an early age. Perhaps it was a sign.
I can’t think of a more appropriate way to sum up what I hope to achieve, than with the following quote from Roald Dahl himself:
I think we can all do well to remember that – now more than ever we need a concerted effort to tackle a plethora of pressing global issues, including the ‘planetary emergency’ that is climate change.
If you know me, this degree may sound random given that I completed my undergraduate degree in climate change; but there is method to this madness.
My beliefs are firmly in line with the 97% of climate scientists who acknowledge that climate change is happening, caused by humans and that we need to act fast. As an individual, I therefore asked myself what I could do to help bring about the change we need and I have decided to focus on engaging a wider audience about the impacts of climate change, through various forms of creative writing (including the newly emerging ''climate fiction'' or ‘cli-fi’ genre). Various articles have pointed out that this type of writing could reach people who wouldn’t usually choose to read non-fiction books/articles about climate change.
To put this in context, climate change largely became a public issue in 1988, when Dr James Hansen spoke before a US Congressional Committee, confirming that humans were increasing the levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. In the intervening 28 years, we have taken very little action to avoid a ‘worst case climate change scenario’ from occuring.
There are many reasons for this. One of which is that climate science is extremely complex and difficult to convey to lay people. Media sensationalism and special interests have also played a role in ‘muddying the waters’ around climate science and as a result, large swathes of the public are unaware of the future impacts we face and the current events taking place around the world which have been exacerbated by climate change.
Yes you read that right, we are already seeing some of the early effects of climate change – it isn’t just a ‘future issue’.
In an auspicious turn of events, it just so happened that the 13th September 2016 was the warmest September day on record for the past 105 years in the UK.
In addition, the date also marked the 100th birthday of Roald Dahl, one of the main authors who inspired my love of reading and writing at an early age. Perhaps it was a sign.
I can’t think of a more appropriate way to sum up what I hope to achieve, than with the following quote from Roald Dahl himself:
I think we can all do well to remember that – now more than ever we need a concerted effort to tackle a plethora of pressing global issues, including the ‘planetary emergency’ that is climate change.
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