Climate writing in & around Bristol
By Tanvir Bush and Sarah Bell
We’re really excited to share the first of our three Sensing Climate creative collections, crafted by a wonderful group of writers within and around our first case study city – Bristol.
The collection offers a glimpse into the lives, emotions and messages of a creative community about disability, nature and a climate-impacted world.
The creative pieces were developed through a series of online and in-person sessions that were designed and facilitated by project collaborator, Dr Tanvir Bush, an author, disabled activist and researcher.
The sessions made use of original muti-sensory creative writing prompts, including writing whirlpools, creative captioning, poetry, sensory memories, reflective journalling, scrapbooking and more, to ignite imagination and build confidence and camaraderie.
The pieces are shared here in three different formats:
A pdf booklet, designed by Bristol-based illustrator, Ellie Shipman
A series of audio recordings (available below)
Each contributor is introduced in these outputs. Their pieces invite you as a reader to hold together the many threads that weave through disability, nature and climate change: the emotions of tuning into a changing world and a changing body; understanding what it means to adapt to those changes; appreciating moments of joy in and with nature (human and non-human); and essential calls for care, action and reimagined futures.
The audio versions
Nat H (Nat-Aitch)
“Hi my name is Nat-Aitch and my favourite place is anywhere the sun beams down on me. I am a very creative individual and I really enjoy getting out and taking part when I can in community based art activities, writing poetry, sewing with others in a group setting, taking photographs, creating jewellery and crocheting items for fun. When feeling able to, I also find myself getting involved in activities such as research groups, open forums and advisory committees that contribute in making my locality a better place to live. It’s extremely important for me to take part in sharing my experiences when asked to do so about a variety of issues including statutory services so that any problems can be addressed both efficiently and effectively. Enough about me, now please enjoy my creative contributions”.
Nat H’s six pieces in this audio recording include:
Grow & Stand
My 2024 Action for Climate
Realisation: We Want The Same Thing
Artistically Choked (this piece includes an image that is accompanied by both a creative and descriptive caption)
My Cure for the UK Dampness
A Life Choice
Jackie Head
“Jackie is an artist and environmental campaigner who is passionate about the need to rapidly de-carbonise our lifestyles to meet the challenges of climate change. Jackie is part of the co-ordinating team of Bristol Airport Action Network (BAAN) and the national ‘No Airport Expansion’ campaign. She is a founding member of the Chew Valley CIC Sustainable Transport Partnership that is now managing the WESTlocal X91 Chew Valley Sprint and 99 Chew Valley Cat bus services. She is part of the Bath Ambition Board Climate & Nature Emergency strategy group and was one of 25 chosen by B&NES Climate Hub as ‘Women of Impact’ in 2025. Jackie is the winner of the ‘Chair’s Special Recognition Community Awards’ for B&NES in 2026”.
Jackie’s four pieces in this audio recording include:
Breath
On hearing the X91 bus might be cut
Describing an image
These are my people, this is my planet
Beth Richards
“I’m Beth Richards, I’m an actor and a poet. I want to make things fair and more inclusive for people with learning disabilities. One way I do this is with a theatre company, called the Misfits, based in Bristol. We take complicated topics and break them down into easy but powerful messages in our plays, films and poetry. We also work with trainee doctors and nurses to help them understand how to talk to us easily about our health. The public needs to understand about accessibility and I can help them! I’ve been described as an “activist, a voice for change” with a strong focus on the environment”.
Beth’s seven pieces in this audio recording include:
Lily delight
It is too hot
Pattering rain
Human bullies
You beeps!
See Me
I feel…
Beth has also produced an illustrated A-Z of climate change, which you can read more about online.
Jane Teed
“I’m Jane, I have hearing loss…it has its advantages – I cannot hear annoying alarms, and its disadvantages – I cannot hear important alarms!! I like to write as an outlet and also share my experiences”.
Jane created three visual pieces, which are described in this audio recording:
I Love Listening
This is how I hear
Birds… where are they gone?
Holly Thomas
“Holly is a UK-based dance artist, choreographer and co-director of Half Light Projects, specialising in inclusive choreography and embodied audio-description for dance and live performance”.
Holly’s four pieces in this audio recording include:
Day-dreaming about the future
Maybe we’re all the same
Memories of Creosote
The Heron
Kathryn Wise
“Kathryn has been a fashion and textile designer for over thirty years. She creates paintings from vintage fabric and recycles vintage jewellery to make exciting new pieces. In 2022, she self-published her autobiography and she continues to produce creative writing, poetry and is now finishing a fiction novel”.
Kathryn created two collage pieces, combining paper and fabric elements, which are described in this audio recording:
Eyes on the skies
Waterdrops sparkling with beads
Debbie Barefoot:
“Proudly neurodivergent and embracing the opportunities to follow different directions of interest as a woman in her 50s. I enjoy listening to audiobooks, filling in official forms for anybody but myself, going out and about with my little scruffy dog, Remi, and one day will start running again!”
Debbie contributed a photo with three different types of caption, included in this audio recording:
Magnolia
Suggested citation
Please attribute any individual pieces to the appropriate authors in this booklet, but if referring to the collection as a whole, we suggest the following citation:
Bush, T.N. and Bell, S.L. 2026. Creative writing for disability-inclusive, climate safe futures. A booklet produced as part of the Sensing Climate project with writers in and around Bristol, UK.
Find out more
If you would like to find out more about the creative writing activities or Tanvi’s Creative Writing Laboratory, do get in touch: