Rachel Birchley reports on the ‘Planting Words‘ literary event at the Sustainability Centre:
On Tuesday 22nd July 2025, Pens of the Earth joined forces with authors, researchers and environmentalists for an action-packed day of writing workshops, performances and talks at the beautifully picturesque and peaceful Sustainability Centre.
Nestled in the Meon Valley, surrounded by 55 acres of woodland, it was the ideal location to host this absorbing and inspiring itinerary celebrating positive environmental activism.
We were given a friendly welcome by Sustainability Centre staff who ushered us down into the café and meeting room areas where we checked in and there were opportunities to get a coffee, tea or cold drink. There were also displays where visitors could purchase books by the various authors who were speaking today.
Kicking proceedings off was former research biologist and Green Gardener Kevin Bryan who gave a talk on the principles and practice of rewilding, followed by a fascinating presentation from researcher, author and Professor of Sustainable Practice Denise Baden.
Denise showed examples of how people’s responses to climate-focused media coverage, film and fiction varied, depending on how they were presented and represented. Research found that positive news stories and fiction proved much more successful in inspiring and encouraging individual and collective environmental mindset and actions than ‘greenscaring’ news and dystopian fiction which, by contrast, often harboured or exacerbated cynical, distrustful or resigned attitudes.
This talk fed into her introduction of how she set up Green Stories and their mission statement from their website sums it up:
‘Our mission is to create a cultural body of work that entertains and informs about green solutions, inspires green behaviour and raises awareness of the necessary transformations towards a sustainable economy. Green Stories began as a series of free writing competitions across various formats to solicit stories that showcase what a sustainable society might look like.’
Denise announced that the latest competition is a 500-word-maximum flash fiction challenge, the theme being that of ‘epiphanies’. The closing date is 27th August and full details can be found here.
After a short break, Denise then led an engaging writing workshop where the prompt was ‘What would you change in the world to make it better?’ and a series of fun and thought-provoking short exercises followed.
After a rather delicious vegan lunch and some time enjoying the woodland and wildflowers outside, we then decamped to the rustic Woodland Hall where Pens of the Earth writers read from our anthology Wild Seas, Wilder Cities.
Compèred by Pens’ Richard Salsbury, the audience were treated to an array of readings from short stories, articles and poems featured in the book, including the prize winners from our community-themed competition last year.
Pens founder Helen Salsbury provided an introduction where she spoke about the inspiration and ethos for the Pens community and the book itself, along with the vital role of seagrasses and the vast restorative work being undertaken by the Hampshire & Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust (HIWWT). All proceeds from Wild Seas, Wilder Cities (as you probably are well aware by now!) are being donated to this Solent Seagrass Restoration Project.
Readings from the book were brilliantly performed by Helen, Richard, poet Sue Spiers, Tamsin Hopkins and prominent local authors Tina McNaughton and Christine Lawrence, along with a talk from HIWWT’s Senior Community Development Officer Katy Gary on the wonderful Wilder Portsmouth initiative.
After this, it was time for another interactive activity workshop, led by author, academic and activist Toby Litt, whose short book ‘How to Tell a Story to Save the World’ about storytelling – and notably his debunking of the ‘Hero’s Journey’ monomyth – was published in a series of free-to-access posts on Extinction Rebellion’s ‘Writers Rebel’ site in 2021.
Since then, this book – and Litt’s emphasis on putting community over the individual in world-saving storytelling – has gathered momentum, and has particularly relevant gravitas given the current climate crisis. This activity saw us work through a ‘Hero’s Journey’ scenario (of a kind – it involved a hamster!) in small groups to consider alternate reimagining of the tale – with somewhat extraordinary and hilarious results!
The final third of the day was gardening-themed and there were readings from Denise Baden’s novel ‘Habitat Man’ (inspired by Kevin Bryan’s Green Gardening Consultancy) and writer Sue Harper read her short story ‘Compost Heap’ published in Wild Seas, Wilder Cities, and Kevin closed the day’s events with a talk on how to make your space sustainable, no matter how small it may be.
A fitting end to an incredible day!
[Photography by Rachel Birchley, Andy MacNaughton and Richard Salsbury]