Actors, authors, and public figures have signed an open letter calling for the cultural sector to have a prominent role in the fight against the climate crisis.
As world leaders meet for the 30th Conference of the Parties (COP30), the premier global summit on climate change, an open letter to the United Nations (UN) has been signed by more than 200 people, from the creative and scientific industries, including actors, authors, academics, and policymakers. They are demanding that the cultural sector be given a more prominent role in the global fight against devastating climate change.
The signatories include actors Sir Mark Rylance, Harriet Walter and David Oakes, broadcaster Chris Packham, Pulitzer prize-winning author Barbara Kingsolver and Booker prize-winner Samatha Harvey, the current and former leaders of the Green Party, Zack Polanski and Caroline Lucas, and leading climate writer and author Bill McKibben, amongst others.
The letter, coordinated by the University of Birmingham, argues that science alone has failed to inspire the action needed to combat 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.
Despite 30 years of COP summits, we have failed to make the changes we need to avert a climate crisis. This is fundamentally a failure of the imagination.
Professor John Holmes, President of the global Commission on Science and Literature from the University of Birmingham, who has been leading the call, said: “Despite 30 years of COP summits, we have failed to make the changes we need to avert a climate crisis. This is fundamentally a failure of the imagination. If governments around the world, including our own in the UK, are serious about meeting net zero targets and averting disaster, they need to address this failure by working more closely with the creative industries.”
In the letter, the signatories call for the UN and its member states to meaningfully involve the creative arts in developing climate change policy and action by:
It is well past time that our leaders stop viewing arts and culture as an accessory, and start viewing it as a vital tool in the fight against climate change.
The letter argues that by doing this, governments will be able to use the emotional and intellectual power of storytelling and the arts by bringing them together with the sciences, so that people truly connect with the need for wide-ranging societal change.
Professor Holmes concluded: “Stories can inspire hope and drive change. They reach us emotionally as well as intellectually, reminding us of what we truly need and value. They are vital to mutual understanding, cultural continuity and the promise of a hopeful future in a time of deep anxiety and rapid change. It is well past time that our leaders stop viewing arts and culture as an accessory, and start viewing it as a vital tool in the fight against climate change.”
Other notable signatories in the open letter include Dawn Airey CBE, Chair of The National Youth Theatre; Nicola Davies, the Children’s Laureate for Wales; Alistair Dutton, Secretary General of Caritas Internationalis; Elizabeth Freestone, Associate Director of the Royal Shakespeare Company; Areeba Hamid and Will McCallum, Co-Executive Directors of Greenpeace UK; Ellie Peers, General Secretary of the Writers Guild of Great Britain; Emeritus Professor Rupert Read, Co-Director of the Climate Majority Project; Dr Adam Rutherford, writer, broadcaster and UCL academic; and Sri Lankan contemporary artist Anoma Wijewardene.
For media inquiries please contact Ellie Hail, Communications Officer, University of Birmingham on +44 (0)7966 311 409. Out-of-hours, please call +44 (0) 121 414 2772.
Professor of Victorian Literature and Culture
Biographical and contact information for Professor John Holmes, Professor of Victorian Literature and Culture at the University of Birmingham.
