Teach-Reading-and-Writing-Issue-21

Give young people stories of hope, not despair, says Brogen Murphy 66 | www.teachwire.net L A S T WORDS With a background in zoology and climate tech, BrogenMurphy nowwrites middle-grade fiction. Their debut novel Wildlands (Puffin, £7.99) is out now. M y wife is a classical musician and workshop leader. She recently spent a week visiting schools to write songs about climate change and renewable energy. Each day, she came home and sang me the latest absolute banger the pupils had composed. From a disco anthem declaring The world is turning hot, it’s a heat wave , to a punk-rock accusation of No trees, no life, say goodbye to the animals… it’s clear these children get it: we’re in trouble. Today’s children are more aware than ever of the world’s challenges, from climate change to social injustice. They hear it on the news, learn about it at school, and read or watch stories set in vivid dystopian futures. We are raising a generation of politically and environmentally engaged activists, which is something to be celebrated. But that awareness comes at a cost. As an educator, you’ll have seen it first-hand: fear, anxiety, depression and hopelessness. What can we do about that? We need to start teaching something new – the ability to imagine a better world. Pupils need to know what is wrong, of course. But once that is established, we need to turn our attention to envisioning what could be instead. As a writer, I never start a story until I can picture the last scene. I might not know the exact route to get there, or how to overcome all the challenges along the way, but I know where I’m going. Right now, in the world, we don’t know where we are going – and so of course we feel unable to see a way forward. I don’t believe we’re going to be able to steer ourselves away from disaster until we have a positive vision to work towards, rather than just a worst-case scenario to avoid. When I wrote my first novel, Wildlands , I wanted to create a vivid world that felt not just imaginable, but achievable. The story is set twenty-five years from now, when green energy, eco-design and plant-based diets are all the norm. But most radical of all is the complete shift in how we live alongside the natural world, from beavers in Bradford to dolphins swimming up the river Thames. Key to this transformation was the creation of the Wildlands, an enormous rewilding project covering much of Northern England and Southern Scotland. Here, wild boar, bison and elk roam free alongside lynx, wolves and bears. Released from human pressures, the landscape has transformed into a vast wilderness of forests, meadows, scrubland, rivers, lakes, beaches and wild seas. People enjoy a ten-mile buffer zone around the edge of the project, where they can hike, canoe and camp alongside these awesome wild creatures. But no human is allowed into the core of the Wildlands, except on the high-speed rail line that runs from Manchester to Glasgow. At the beginning of the book, thirteen-year-old Astrid and her little sister, Indie, are travelling alone on the train. A rash decision leaves them stranded right in the heart of the Wildlands, with only a rucksack, a phone without signal – and each other. As every wrong turn takes them deeper into this truly wild land, they’ll need all their ingenuity and determination to survive. The stories we tell – whether in books, in the media, or in the classroom – shape young people’s ability to imagine what is possible. So, if we get to create our own narrative, why not choose a thriving, beautiful utopia instead of a desolate, desperate dystopia? Tales of a better future teach children that this world is still worth fighting for – that their choices and actions matter, and that they can make a difference. With my own stories, I want to encourage children to dream big, to ask what if , and to believe that another world is possible. I want children to not only dream of a better future, but to believe that they can help create it. “We need to start teaching something new – the ability to imagine a better world” Why the world needs utopian thinkers