'Can Writing Save the Ocean?'- A discussion hosted by Falmouth Book Festival
Falmouth Book Festival was held between the 17th-23rd October this year and hosted a variety of author and campaigner talks, as well as other events. The festival, back for its second year, is a place where readers, writers and other members of the Falmouth community can connect, share and learn something new.
Falmouth’s arts venue, The Poly, welcomed travel and nature writer, Philip Marsden, Marine Biologist and conservationist Fiona Gell, and author Wyl Menmuir at the weekend to discuss how writing can be used to help protect the ocean from climate change. The conversation, ‘Can Writing Save the Ocean?’, was directed and steered by the head of Research and Communications Inc, Natalie Hart.
Each author brought to the panel a different perspective on writing about the ocean. Fiona Gell’s memoir, Spring Tides, tells the story of her project to create the first marine nature reserve on the Isle of Man. She revealed how she did not set out to write such a personal book however, after attending a workshop and realising the project allowed her to bring together two of her passions- ‘talking about conservation and writing about incredible things’, she realised it was the best way to spread important information to an audience looking to learn.
Philip Marsden discussed his non-fiction book, The Summer Isles, which explores his journey by sailing boat from the shores of Cornwall up to the top of Scotland, where the Summer Isles lie. His book reveals the secrets of the beautiful shores through his experiences and conversations on his way up the coast. Truly though, Marsden revealed, The Summer Isles is about ‘the human relationship with the sea.’
Finally, Wyl Menmuir talked about his novel, The Draw of the Sea, which looks at the ocean from the perspective of a variety of voices whose lives revolve around the ocean and coastal living. Through writing his book, he found there is a universal frustration and desire to protect the ocean- to protect something so loved. Thus, he poses a challenge to the reader in the final pages of the book- what are you going to do about it?
Leading on from this, the panel were asked what they considered the biggest challenge when writing about the sea. Wyl discussed that when writing fiction, if you are telling a story and there is also an issue to be highlighted (such as climate change), you can’t do both well. You must let the story come to its own conclusion, and from there the messages emerge by themselves.
It was also discussed that the ocean is so hard to write about because we know so little about it- it mainly occupies a place in our imagination. But this means that there can be an ‘out of sight, out of mind’ stance taken towards it- we can’t see the effect that climate change has on the ocean because of its vastness, so why should we do anything about it? Fiona Gell recalled her involvement in an attempt to break this barrier by putting together a ‘Fun Palace’ workshop, as a different way of engaging people with the sea. In the workshop, members of the community were encouraged to get hands on with activities, ranging from making papier mache models of coastal shores to decorating marine themed cakes. This encouraged a wide variety of individuals to get involved and penetrate the surface of the ocean to start thinking of the ecosystems that exist beneath.
Natalie then brought a very interesting question to the panel; ‘who has the right to speak for the ocean?’ There was a moment of contemplation at this question, before Philip considered how writers and scientists should work together to bring the facts, no matter how scary, to the reader. Fiona then brought forwards her experience of working with fisherwomen and men in Mozambique and getting an insight into the sea from a community who rely on it heavily. She revealed how listening to voices from different cultures and backgrounds is just as important as listening to the voices of scientists. All three authors agreed that we need to consider the relationships humans have with the sea from all over the world before we can solve the sea climate issue.
Finally, the discussion turned to the future- what can be done to make change happen?
An audience member brought up the idea that the sea is faced with a damaging metaphor in literature of it’s sublime invincibility, which feeds into the narrative that anything humans do to it, pour into, or take out of it, will leave it unharmed and unchanged. It was agreed amongst the panellists that this narrative needs to be crushed, and a new one written, in order to make a change in the way individuals read about and view the ocean.
Another audience member contributed a question about the role of children’s literature in making change. Again, it was agreed that creating narratives about the importance of protecting the ocean in children’s books would encourage the next generations to want to make changes to marine health.
To finish the conversation off, each author was asked for one thing individuals can do to contribute to change. The three tips were:
Engage in local efforts- support organisations like Cornwall Wildlife Trust.
Vote for people who care about climate change, and specifically the impact it is having on the ocean- let government know what we care about!
Get onto the street and make your voice heard!
Just one event amongst many hosted over the week, ‘Can Writing Save the Ocean?’ took an eye-opening look at how readers and writers can start to think about the impact that literature can have on the ocean and the way it is treated by humans.