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Writing for the Planet: Creative Writing as Activism in a Time of Climate Change and Ecological Decline

Module description

This module invites you to address the potential for creative writing and publishing to have a social, political and cultural impact in addressing the most urgent problems of our era: climate change and ecological decline. Dynamic critical readings of some of the most important writers addressing these issues today will fuel new critical and creative writing of your own.

Together on this module we will address some central questions. To what extent can literary writing be an effective form of activism on political issues? What is its distinctive impact in comparison to other art forms and media? How can creative writing deal with the vast scientific complexity of climate change and ecological decline? Who are the best literary-activist writers and ecopoetic thinkers addressing these issues today? What key themes, forms, perspectives, and craft techniques make their texts effective – or less effective than it could be? Who is publishing these texts, and why does that matter?

By the end of the module, you will have read, discussed and debated a range of dynamic literary essays and writings on this this theme by diverse contemporary writers, and you will have produced: (a) a literary essay on this theme; and (b) a linked creative writing project.

Module aims - intentions of the module

The module will develop your skills in writing creatively with the intention of making an impact on your audience in relation to the vital political issues of climate change and ecological decline.

You will develop your knowledge of key debates, issues, and thinkers in this field; your ability to read critically; your ability to make a persuasive argument in the form of a literary essay; and your ability to compose a piece of creative writing that aims to make a lasting impact on its audiences.

The module will improve your skills in critical reading, research, debating, presentation, essay writing, and creative writing, through assigned work, and through feedback from both your peers and your tutor. 

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

ILO: Module-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 1. Produce a literary essay on the issue of literary activism in relation to climate change and ecological decline that demonstrates a knowledge and understanding of current debates, a familiarity with key writers and texts in the field, an ability to read critically, and an understanding of the concept of impact in this context.
• 2. Compose a piece of creative writing that demonstrates active engagement with the topic, and that seeks to balance literary qualities with activist objectives.

ILO: Discipline-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 3. Demonstrate advanced skills in critical reading and constructing a persuasive argument through the incorporation of literary techniques in the composition of an essay.
• 4. Demonstrate a subtle appreciation of creative writing techniques and fluency in deploying them.

ILO: Personal and key skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 5. Critically analyse complex written contemporary material, and clearly communicate your interpretation of it in both verbal and written form.
• 6. Come up with creative solutions to difficult problems, and produce material that ably anticipates audience responses.

Syllabus plan

This module will include the following elements:

• Critical reading and discussion of a series of key texts on this topic;
• Formulating a research question and presenting it to your peers;
• Developing a research plan, linking a planned literary essay with another creative writing project;
• Devising a structure for a literary essay and for a linked creative writing project;
• Discussing and revising these plans and structures in seminar groups, and both offering and responding to constructive feedback from peers and your seminar leader;
• Drafting an essay and a linked creative writing piece and submitting drafts for feedback;
• Responding to feedback with thoughtful re-drafting;
• Producing two pieces of high-quality literary writing in response to the module theme.

Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)

Details of learning activities and teaching methods

Formative assessment

Summative assessment (% of credit)

Details of summative assessment

Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)

Re-assessment notes

Deferral – if you miss an assessment for certificated reasons judged acceptable by the Mitigation Committee, you will normally be either deferred in the assessment or an extension may be granted. The mark given for a re-assessment taken as a result of deferral will not be capped and will be treated as it would be if it were your first attempt at the assessment.

Referral – if you have failed the module overall (i.e. a final overall module mark of less than 50%) you will be required to submit a further assessment as necessary. If you are successful on referral, your overall module mark will be capped at 50%.

Indicative learning resources - Basic reading

Basic reading: core texts may vary or be changed, but recommended reading will include:

• Allen-Paisant, Jason, Thinking with Trees, Carcanet, 2021
• Aridjis, Homero, Eyes to See Otherwise
• Atwood, Margaret, The MaddAdam Trilogy
• Boyle, T.C. A Friend of the Earth
• Burnett, Elizabeth-Jane, The Grassling, Penguin, 2019
• Cook, Diane, The New Wilderness
• Dunghy, Camille T., Black Nature: Four Centuries of African American Nature Poetry
• Ghosh, Amitav, The Great Derangement: Climate Change and the Unthinkable, University of Chicago Press, 2016
• Ghosh, Amitav, Gun Island
• Graham, Jorie, Sea Change
• Harris, Alexandra, Weatherland
• Kingsolver, Barbara, Flight Behaviour
• Lopez, Barry, Arctic Dreams
• Lloyd, Saci, The Carbon Diaries: 2015
• Macfarlane, Robert, Landmarks
• Millett, Lydia, A Children’s Bible
• Moss, Sarah, Summerwater
• Offill, Jenny, Weather
• Onyebuchi, Tochi, War Girls,
• Pancake, Ann, Strange as this Weather has Been
• Pico, Tommy, Nature Poem
• Powers, Richard, The Overstory
• Russell, Karen, Orange World and Other Stories
• Shoptaw, John, ‘Why Ecopoetry? There’s no Planet B’, Poetry Foundation
• Sphahr, Juliana, That Winter the Wolf Came
• Stanley Robinson, Kim, The Ministry for the Future
• Winterson, Jeanette, The Stone Gods

Indicative learning resources - Web based and electronic resources

• ELE page:
• New Yorker, Paris Review, TLS

Key words search

Creative Writing, Fiction, Cli-Fi, Poetry, Ecopoetry, Literary Essay, Publishing, Ecopoetics, Climate Change, Ecology, Environment, Political Activism, Literary Activism, Culture, Aesthetics, Impact