Jim Densham, Senior Land-Use Policy Officer (climate) at RSPB Scotland, tells us about a new short story collection exploring the impact of climate change.
Today a new short story book will be published. Beacons: stories for our not so distant future is a collection of fictional stories penned by some of the UK’s most well-known authors (including Adam Marek who used to work for the RSPB). Their theme, in the specially commissioned stories, is visions of our future and how we will live in a world where the climate is changing but it won’t be all doom and gloom, or science fiction. On the face of it, this book sounds like an interesting read but buying it has an added benefit as the royalties are going to the Stop Climate Chaos coalition in the UK (SCC) and Scotland (SCCS).
The RSPB is an active member of SCC and SCCS, adding our voice to 100 other member organisations to make it the UK’s largest group of people dedicated to action on climate change. With a combined supporter base of more than 11 million people, Governments in Westminster, Edinburgh and Cardiff tend to sit up and take notice when SCC speaks on climate issues. You might remember the impact of The Wave marches, the recent Green is Working campaigning in London or the Get Your Act Together lobby of the Edinburgh Parliament.
Here’s a bit of the blurb from the book’s publisher:
Never we been so uncertain about what the following years, decades and centuries might bring. This riveting and provocative collection of short fiction throws down the gauntlet to award winning writers, challenging them to devise original responses to the climate crisis. From Joanne Harris' powerful vision of a near future where venturing outside becomes a dangerous habit, to Nick Haye’s beautifully illustrated tale of the bond between man and nature. Here, our authors have created provocative, funny, sometimes satirical, and at times deeply moving stories that bring an immediate reality to the problems at hand. Beacons warns before have and inspires by offering stories that are as various as our possible futures.
So why not buy yourself a copy...and one for a friend...and a spare as a present for someone. Beacons is available at good bookshops and online here.