Speaker: Arlene Williams, Seattle, Washington, USA
How (and why) are you taking action on climate change solutions in, for, and with your community?
Arlene Williams: For me, it's all about stories. I'm a writer. My stories tackle climate change, but I don't write gloomy dystopia. That's not where I want to take my imagination. Those stories make me feel like giving up. Instead I write about change happening now because if we want things to change, we have to imagine it and stories can change the world by changing us. As readers sink into a story, they emotionally connect with the character and get inspired by the actions, feelings and choices that character makes stories galvanize readers to act. I write a free newsletter, Climate story garden.com. Subscribers to my newsletter can download my new climate fiction mystery suitable for young adults and adults and you can read it for free. Jane Goodall said hope does not deny all the difficulty and all the danger that exists, but it is not stopped by them. There is a lot of darkness, but our actions create the light. That's a recipe for great climate fiction. And I work to embrace this type of hope in my stories.
