Alison Habens reports on the role of Pens in the Plastics Future Conference on 20th and 22nd June:
“Pens of the Earth were invited to perform our spoken word at a prestigious reception aboard HMS Warrior in Portsmouth Harbour for the Plastics Future 2023 conference at the University of Portsmouth. This was 
a big, international gathering of sustainability academics and activists, to share research findings and future plans around global plastic waste issues.
We were delighted to showcase the creative work of our group at the gala evening on board the historic ship, and on the closing day of the conference in Portland Building UoP. Spokespeople Vincent Adams, Sue Harper, Sue Spiers and Alison Habens presented a range of writing from the Pens of the Earth website, focussing particularly on our beach cleans and seagrass sponsorship themes.
It was a wonderful opportunity to promote not just the creative writing of our group, but the importance of using arts-based approaches to address environmental concerns, and the possibility of changing peoples’ conservation practices through our collaborations. We felt very lucky to be given this significant platform to speak, and will look forward to following up some of the connections made during the conference in our further Pens projects.”
