Rewriting Climate Narratives: Hope, Justice, and Youth Empowerment Through Creative Engagement

In this workshop, Grace Nosek is joined by youth climate advocates Jamie Hill and Uma Le Daca Jolicoeur to explore Grace's PhD research on the fossil fuel industry's impact on democracy and her community-engaged work with young climate activists. Drawing on her #hopepunk young adult novel, ROOTBOUND (think Greta Thunberg x The Hunger Games with heaps of queer joy and swoony romance), Grace will discuss how community-engaged research and creative writing can combat climate obstruction and encourage civic participation through stories rooted in justice, hope, joy, community, and systemic change. The session will focus on the need for new narratives that challenge the prevailing themes of climate despair, misplaced individual responsibility, and the misleading savior role of the fossil fuel industry. This discussion is especially crucial as misinformation and apathy grow in the lead-up to key elections in Canada and the United States.