Stories for a Greener Future: Reading, Imagination, and the Environment
A few weeks ago at Hay Festival, I had the pleasure of hearing Brogen Murphy speak about their new novel, Wildlands, a gripping utopian adventure that’s part of this year’s Summer Reading Challenge ‘Story Garden’ themed book collection.
Wildlands transports readers to a future where much of the UK has been rewilded — a vast, untamed landscape where nature has reclaimed its space. When two sisters find themselves stranded in this wilderness, an unforgettable adventure begins. At Hay Festival, Brogen brought this world vividly to life while keeping the children in the audience engaged by getting them to wriggle around in their seats and roar like a bear. The first half of the talk centred around the idea of rewilding. Through playful interaction and vivid description, Brogen painted a picture of an untamed Britain with dense woodland, open grassland, edge places, wetlands and all the creatures that would live there (hence the bear sounds). Brogen used the tool of storytelling in this talk to engage the audience in the idea of rewilding and reawaken our sense of connection to the natural world.
This led me to think about how stories have the power to ground us in the natural world — to spark curiosity about how ecosystems work, foster empathy for wildlife, and help us see our place within the wider environment.
The current climate crisis hasn’t been kind to the biodiversity on earth. The State of Nature Report 2023 reported that nearly one in six species are threatened with extinction from Great Britain.1
Today’s children are more switched on than ever about what us humans are doing to the planet. They hear it on the news, learn about it at school, and read or watch stories set in vivid dystopian futures. But that awareness comes at a cost: fear, anxiety, depression and hopelessness.
Learning about the problems is important, but I believe it’s time we turn our focus to the solutions – to focus on hope instead of despair.
– Brogen Murphy
Imagining alternative futures
Books like Wildlands and other speculative fiction imagine potential futures inspired by what’s currently happening with our climate and environmental policies. This allows readers to reflect on the consequences of the decisions of the past and present, as well as encouraging hope.
I think the single most powerful action we can take is creating a vision of where we’re going. We need something to work towards. Scary portrayals of an apocalyptic future can do a great job of telling us what we don’t want. But do they get us any closer to what we do? I fear that if we only tell stories of a hopeless future, then that is the only future we can hope to create.
What we need now, more than ever, are stories that paint a clear picture of a future that we would all want to live in.
– Brogen Murphy
In Brogen’s talk, they asked the audience what animals they usually see out and about. Unsurprisingly, the answers included hedgehogs, foxes, badgers and the odd deer. They then listed some of the animals that used to live in Britain: bison, storks, wolves, golden eagles and more, and encouraged the audience to imagine that these animals still lived in our country today. I saw how animated the audience were, their imaginations reeling. Brogen’s whimsical request for ideas for the next Wildlands book was a testament to that. The children were using the storytelling Brogen had so wonderfully weaved into the talk, to inspire connection and give the children agency to imagine their own narrative.
In a country where bears and bison sadly no longer live, books can be the first and often only place children encounter landscapes beyond their own doorstep.
Empathy
Fiction offers a unique way to explore big ideas, like a wild Britain, through human lead stories. This helps readers get immersed in the narrative and feel invested in the characters. Stories can make abstract or distant environmental issues feel personal and meaningful.
Stories help children see the world through different perspectives, building empathy for others while helping them connect the dots between their own lives and the world around them.
Studies show that children often empathise deeply with characters in stories, from anthropomorphised plastic bags to indigenous peoples.2 This emotional response can plant the seeds of concern and care, which can then lead to environmental action and awareness.
Environmental Anxiety
The consequences of the climate crisis (weather events, falling biodiversity and more) are everywhere, and children are having to confront these realities more frequently. It’s no surprise that more and more people are experiencing environmental anxiety.
- 84% of children and young people say that looking after the environment is important to them.3
- 59% of children and young people said they are very or extremely worried about climate change.4
- 69% of children and young people said they did not feel optimistic about the future.5
How can reading help curb this growing eco-anxiety? Reading in general boosts mental resilience to anxiety and negative feelings6. And reading about the natural world, whether that be fiction or non-fiction, can act as a fantastic springboard for further exploration and conversation about the environment. This can all lead to young people feeling more hopeful, informed and empowered to take action.
I wrote Wildlands to not only help young people dream of a better future, but to really believe that such a future is possible.
– Brogen Murphy
Find out more about environmental anxiety and reading here.
Hope and action
In Brogen’s talk, they spoke about the “all is lost” moment in storytelling.
In story world, we call that that “all is lost” moment because it feels like all is lost. And those moments happen in stories and they happen in real life. But here is my top tip for you: if you’re ever reading a story and you think, ‘oh no, this has got pretty bad’, or you’re in life and you think ‘I don’t know how I’m going to get past this’, you are in an “all is lost” moment. But the great thing about it “all is lost” moment, is that things get better…So hang on and things will get better.
– Brogen Murphy
Just as Brogen reminded us, even in the most uncertain moments — both in stories and in life — there’s always space for hope, growth, and change. Stories like Wildlands give young readers the tools to imagine a future that’s greener, wilder, and fairer. And in doing so, they help children process big feelings, ask important questions, and believe in their ability to make a difference.
Whether you’re a parent, teacher, carer or curious reader, you can be part of that journey. Pick up an eco-themed book, share a story about nature with a child, and use it as a spark to wonder aloud about the world. Get involved in this year’s Summer Reading Challenge, where the Story Garden theme encourages young minds to explore stories rooted in the natural world. For teachers and librarians, the Teachers’ Reading Challenge offers a chance to discover the next books on green topics.
You can also browse our WWF booklist and Wild Isles booklist for more nature-themed reading recommendations for all ages. Explore even more inspiring novels tackling the climate crisis in the Climate Fiction Prize.
At The Reading Agency, we’ve recently launched a Green Team — a dedicated group working to improve the sustainability of our practices and champion environmentally conscious choices across our programmes.
Find out more about Brogen Murphy here and follow them on socials @brogen_murphy.
Written by Natalie Sired
- https://stateofnature.org.uk/ ↩︎
- https://warwick.ac.uk/research/priorities/habitability/researchnews/envirolitfindings/ ↩︎
- https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/the-childrens-people-and-nature-survey-for-england-2023-update/the-childrens-people-and-nature-survey-for-england-2023-update ↩︎
- Hickman, C et al (2021) ‘Climate anxiety in children and tong people and their beliefs about government responses to climate change: a global survey.’ The lancet Planetary Health, 5(12), pp. e863-e873. ↩︎
- Hickman, C et al (2021) ‘Climate anxiety in children and tong people and their beliefs about government responses to climate change: a global survey.’ The lancet Planetary Health, 5(12), pp. e863-e873. ↩︎
- Sharma, V. et al. (2014) Bibliotherapy to decrease stress and anxiety and increase resilience and mindfulness: a pilot trial, 10(4), pp. 248-252 ↩︎
