Given everything that has happened in the past week or so, no matter where you are in the world, things are all seeming very scary. Here in the UK, that British Winter has truly set in and has gotten to the point where sunlight is slowly becoming a thing of the past. Apparently last week, the UK only had 3 hours of sunlight over the whole week, which is really adding to the feeling of melancholy and hopelessness that seems to be around at the moment.
Which means that the Wildlife Trust’s Hope Week has come at the most perfect of times. Hope Week is described on their website as being all about creating positive vibes and a supportive community of people passionate about protecting nature. ‘While it’s really important to know what’s happening to our planet, it’s also important to take a step back sometimes and look at the success stories and give ourselves a little boost of hope and happiness’. This is something that can happen to all types of campaigners, where we all forget to take a step back and to appreciate how far our movements have come over the years, and all of the wonderful people that are working to drive progress forward into the future. I am definitely guilty of it, so this whole week is a very welcome break for me to fully celebrate nature and to remember why I feel such a strong desire to protect it.
The week will run from 11th-17th November and will be filled with uplifting actions, inspiring stories, and simple daily steps to make a positive impact for nature. To end the week on Sunday 17th November, The Wildlife Trust will be hosting a livestream on YouTube called “Hope is in Our Nature”. The link to sign up to this is here.
The week is then broken down as follows:
Monday 11th November: do something creative inspired by nature. You could write about nature, paint, play some music, write a poem, make a leaf collage, or take some nature photos. Literally anything that gets you feeling creative and gets you reconnecting with nature.
Tuesday 12th November: Be more tree. This day is about grounding yourself, and they have links to helpful podcasts on their website to help you practice grounding exercises.
Wednesday 13th November: Make a promise. The focus on today is to commit to doing one thing differently in your life to benefit the planet. You can even inspire a friend, family member, classmate, or colleague to join you, with the focus also being on how small changes can have big impacts on the world.
Thursday 14th November: Find an inspiring story. This day is for you to discover an inspiring conservation success story. Take a few moments to search online and explore the amazing work being done in conservation, be it for nature specifically or for a particular species that you are interested in. Reading about positive progress for our planet can give you that much-needed boost of optimism to brighten your day, and also helps to highlight just how many other wonderful people are working towards the same goals as you.
Friday 15th November: Share your favourite place in nature. A day to spread some positivity! The Wildlife Trust are asking people to share a photo of their favourite place in nature on social media and help them to fill social media feeds with the beauty of the outdoors.
Saturday 16th November: Go for a mindful walk. Take 10 minutes (or as much as you feel capable of) for a peaceful walk outside and to reflect on something you’re ready to release to make space for new possibilities. If going outside isn’t an option, simply relax indoors with calming nature sounds and take a few moments just for you.
Sunday 17th November: The ‘Hope is in Our Nature’ online event on YouTube. The event will start at 4pm and is set to involve live performances, music, interactive panel discussions and a chance to connect with like minded people.
Day 1 Activity: Do something creative
Luckily for me, this has all come together very nicely. As November is NaNoWriMo, I am very much deep into my writing project for this month. My story for this month is set within solarpunk, which is a genre of writing that imagines a hopeful future where humans and nature live harmoniously together. This is a new area of writing that I only learnt about this year, so it has been so fun to be wildly creative with how society and nature could live in harmony. So far my story involves factory farming having been entirely replaced by lab grown meats, animatronics being used in zoos and aquariums instead of live captive animals, and certain areas of London having been converted into nature reserves and floating cities. The whole point of solarpunk writing is to be hopeful, which is also a nice break to the usual dystopian tales I can tend to write. I am really enjoying this project so far, and I am really enjoying exploring these themes of nature.
Taylor Talks Vegan 