Poetry & Protest: On Looking and Moving Forward // Ellen Chang-Richardson

Ellen Chang-Richardson writes about using the power of writing to incite action and call attention to political issues in this guest edited month looking at ecopoetics.

In an era of information overload and mandated isolation—bolstered by the ease of scrolling through social media—I spend my mornings tuning in to the news of a natural world in collapse.

Another wildfire, this time edging closer to the wastes of Chernobyl and stoking radiation levels higher than they’ve been in decades. Another multinational oil company demanding government bailouts. Another political party preaching age-old colonial constructs as truth. A green energy initiative, scrapped. An environmental bill of rights suspended. It depresses me.

The world is screaming, and who is paying attention?

Writing is always biased, but in this bias, there is truth. It holds no comfort to stay silent. As Audre Lorde said, “Your silence will not protect you.”

I view the COVID-19 pandemic as timely. In its own way, COVID-19 has given the earth a breather—it has shown a path forward. But it is not enough. The pandemic has given us the chance to momentarily recoup some of the damage inflicted upon nature, but if we are to rebalance the earth and reset the capitalist world, there is still so much that needs to be done.

The hardest task for the written word is to incite real action. In this, scientists may have fallen short in convincing the public to change their habits and tackle the industries responsible, despite rising surface temperatures and inevitable mass extinction. From September 2019 until March 2020, I worked with scientists at the University of Ottawa, helping to translate their research into plain language for the average reader. Scientists are passionate, thoughtful, and innovative—but they are not writers. They don’t have to be, really. That’s our job—and the next step is our responsibility.

Ecopoetics, in the time of Walt Whitman or Sylvia Plath, was about interacting with the realms of nature and using verse as a means to refer or reflect. We have to move beyond this. Ecopoetics can no longer be simply enacting or performing the natural world onto a page—today, poets who engage with the climate crisis and climate justice must also consider the politics intrinsically linked with it.

It is not the 1800s. We are no longer beholden to the Industrial Revolution: it is possible, and indeed necessary, to move forward. With time and effort, we can reform our energy sectors. Countries like Sweden, for example, have proven this to be true. According to a national report, more than half of their current energy comes from renewable sources. As third parties project, Sweden’s renewable power is expected to double in capacity by 2030. It can claim an energy policy that is well-integrated with its climate objectives. Supported by a solid multi-party system, Sweden is a world leader when it comes to successful energy transition.

We can do this, too.

As writers, we can—and must—fight the old rhetoric that our systems must rely on fossil fuels and resource extraction. Through our words, we must voice support for new methods of energy, new ways to sustain a global economy. We must protest against governments stripping away our environmental rights. We must convince those with deeper pockets to donate funds to Indigenous advocacy groups and environmental non-profits. We must vote. As writers and artists, it is our responsibility to call attention to issues that others are unable or unwilling to acknowledge.

To me, this is the purpose of contemporary ecopoetics. It can be daunting and even discouraging—but there is an inherent urgency in ecopolitics that demands our action.

Ellen Chang-Richardson is a Canadian poet, writer, and editor of Taiwanese and Cambodian-Chinese descent. Winner of the 2019 Vallum Award for Poetry, her writing has appeared in Cypress Press, Bywords.ca, Ricepaper, and more. The founder of Little Birds Poetry, co-founder of Riverbed Reading Series, and author of Unlucky Fours (Anstruther Press, 2020), Ellen splits her time between Ottawa & Toronto. Twitter @ehjchang.