WGGB General Secretary Ellie Peers has joined more than 200 authors, public figures, and scientists in calling on the cultural sector to do more to tackle the climate crisis.
The open letter to COP30 (published on 13 November 2025) was coordinated by the University of Birmingham and supported by (among others) Booker Prize-winner Samantha Harvey, Pulitzer Prize-winner Barbara Kingsolver, National Youth Theatre chair Dawn Airey, associate director of the Royal Shakespeare Company Elizabeth Freestone, and Green Party leader Zack Polanski. It advocates for the role of storytelling to help in efforts to fight climate change.
“Storytelling should be better utilised to drive change, communicate the threat of the climate crisis and inspire visions of a more equitable and sustainable future,” the letter states.
“To imagine and bring about the future that we must create – and to avert the disaster that will befall us if we don’t – we need to draw on the resources and the power of literature, film, music and the other storytelling arts.”
“Stories can inspire hope and drive change. They reach us emotionally as well as intellectually, reminding us of what we truly need and value, and reconnecting us to one another and to the natural world. They are vital to mutual understanding, cultural continuity and the promise of a hopeful future in a time of deep anxiety and rapid change.”