George Orwell proclaimed that writers write to ‘change the world’. Climate change is now a fact of life, and culture increasingly reflects our concerns about the climate crisis. Climate Fiction or environmental storytelling can be compelling but doesn’t always lead to the hoped for green behaviours. Its predominantly dystopian tone can lead to unintended consequences, such as buying up all the toilet rolls rather than sustainable practices. Evidence for this possibility is discussed in a keynote speech by Dr Matthew Schnieder-Mayerson here. Particularly relevant is the section 37-44 minutes in.

Writing for a cause can result in preachy writing and info-dumping, but done well it can inspire readers and give writers a profound sense of purpose and meaning. On this page, Professor Denise Baden will share her research on positive role models, readers’ responses to stories and provide examples from the writing competitions and her novel ‘Habitat Man,’ and her play ‘Murder in the Citizens’ Jury’ to show what works well, what doesn’t work and why.

Research from Professor Denise Baden at the University of Southampton provides important insights into how to use fiction most effectively to inspire greener behaviour.

Baden, D. (2018). Environmental storytelling can help spread big ideas for saving the planet. The Conversation.

Baden, D. (2019). Solution focused stories are more effective than catastrophic stories in motivating pro-environmental intentions. Ecopsychology, 11(4).

Baden, D.: 2020, ‘Which work best? Cautionary tales or positive role models?’ In Molthan-hill, P., H. Luna and D. Baden (Eds.), Storytelling for Sustainability in Higher Education: An Educator’s Handbook (Routledge, Abingdon).

Baden, D. (2023). Readers’ Emulation of Green Behaviours in Fiction: A Case Study of Habitat Man. Sustainable Innovation: Accelerating Sustainability in the Creative Economy and Creative Industries, Online. https://cfsd.org.uk/events/sustainable-innovation-2023/

Baden, D. (2023). The Role of Fictional Characters in Consumer Culture. Sustainable Innovation: Accelerating Sustainability in the Creative Economy and Creative Industries, Online. https://cfsd.org.uk/events/sustainable-innovation-2023/

Baden, D. and J. Brown: (2024), ‘Climate Fiction to Inspire Green Actions: A Tales of Two Authors ‘, In Wang, H. and E. Coren (Eds.), Story telling to Accelerate Climate Solutions (Springer, Cham, Switzerland).

Baden, Denise. Five fiction books to inspire climate action The Conversation (2024).

McIlroy, R. C., Baden, D. A., Brown, J., Gauthier, S. M., Swierczynski, J., & Wilks, S. A. (2024). Clean vs green: the impact of reading short stories on sustainable and healthy cleaning behaviours. Discover Sustainability, 5(1), 356.

The Creative Climate Communication newsletter on LinkedIn by Denise Baden also covers relevant advice

Denise provides one to one consultancy for established authors working on new material on how to smuggle in green solutions. Again, payment not always required. She works across several genres, for example, her most recent consultancy was on the comic The Renegades Flames of Amazonia published by DK children. Denise was also on the expert panel for the Global Action Plan Flickers of the Future project (patron Richard Curtis CBE) providing advice on green content for finalists. She worked with Bafta and Albert on the #ClimateCharacters project and is on the Forbes list of Climate Leaders in the TV and Film Industry.

Upcoming Events

We have frequent online and in-person events about writing for a cause. Check out our events page for the latest details on what’s happening, and subscribe to our mailing list to be notified of any new events. Professor Denise Baden is also happy to talk at writing and/or sustainability-themed events or as a guest lecturer on creative writing courses about her research and her novels, plays and scripts . Payment beyond expenses is not always required, depending on the nature of the event.

Tips on how to write for a cause

Findings by Professor Denise Baden indicate that solution-focused stories with a positive tone are more likely to inspire greener behaviours and a proactive mindset to address sustainability issues than stories with a catastrophic focus. This seems to be because negatively framed stories can either make people avoid the subject and switch off, or leave them feeling helpless to make a difference. Example quotes relating to the various stories illustrate:

The positive stories were inspiring and made me realise everyone can make a difference.

I think the ones with solutions have more impact than the over the top scare mongering.

The second story felt inspirational. It gave me a simple option that I could take to do something positive for the environment.

This was very frightening and negative. It made me angry and I switched off

Scaring people only leads to switching off.

Psychology of behaviour

The theory of planned behaviour proposes that behaviour results from awareness, social norms and perceived behavioural control i.e. we know about an issue, see that other people approve of a behaviour and feel able to do it ourselves. Behavioural control also includes the belief that what we do makes a difference. Research indicates that social norms and feelings of behavioural control are the most important influencers of behaviour. That is, awareness of the benefits of a behaviour are not enough to lead to action – it is important that we feel the behaviour is approved of by people who matter to us and also that we are capable of carrying it out and it will have an effect. So knowing that recycling is a good thing is not enough. What really matters are social norms (i.e. those around us recycle and would disapprove of those who don’t) and ability to carry out the behaviour (i.e. recycling facilities are available, and it will make a difference to amount of waste).

You can use this insight to find ways not just to raise awareness, but to promote pro-environmental social norms and show readers how actions make a difference. So it is enough often just to show social approval of green behaviours or disapproval of harmful behaviours, or simply a positive role model.

Common mistakes

Focusing on problems not solutions

Many writers still focus on problems not solutions. For example we had numerous entries on rain forest destruction for our writing competitions which is an issue everyone must surely be aware of, so raising awareness won’t necessarily help. What might help would be showing the link between rain forest destruction and meat, especially beef, or talking about where to source wood. If you want to change behaviour, it is not enough to show the consequences, you must also show solutions that the reader is likely to be able to engage with – few readers will be able to become eco-warriors and tie themselves to trees in Indonesia!

Preaching to the converted

It’s important to engage everyone in the fight to tackle climate change, and some people will switch off the moment environmental issues are raised. But most green solutions have numerous other benefits so the good news is that you can promote them subtly without mentioning their sustainability credentials at all. For example, seasonal food is much cheaper and healthy; washing clothes less often saves water, energy, money, time and extends the lifespan of fabric etc. Low resource products such as dry shampoo save money, time, energy, water, make hair easier to style, can be used anywhere – you don’t even need to mention the environmental credentials (93% of the carbon footprint of washing hair is in the hot water used).

Avoid preachiness and Info-dumping

The novel Habitat Man illustrates some of the techniques of writing to promote a cause.

‘Habitat Man’ is a fictional account of Tim, who finding himself fifty, single and in a job he hates, begins a quest to find love and meaning. As a result of a life-coaching session, Tim finds new purpose when he starts the Green Garden Project, which gives free advice on how to turn gardens into habitats for wildlife. His first client is the beautiful Lori and her teenage son Ethan, who loves wildlife just to kill it (along with all potential suitors). When digging for a pond for another client, Tim is shocked to find he’s inadvertently dug up the bones of the famed guerrilla knitter who mysteriously disappeared thirty years ago after achieving notoriety for covering a statue of a colonial imperialist with a knitted shroud. The conspiracy theories that surrounded her disappearance lead to this becoming news. Tim finds himself a key witness in an inquest to determine what really happened – was it really a natural death?

The book celebrates real local projects/organisations such as the Front Garden project, Transition group, guerrilla gardeners, Green Garden Consultancy, Natural Death Centre and others. Through Tim’s journey to confront the secrets from his past and his interaction with a wealth of characters, readers learn about seasonal/low carbon food, how to create habitats for wildlife, home composting, composting toilets, green funerals, roof gardens, green fashion, how to effectively campaign for green policies, the sharing economy, the merits of costing for nature (triple bottom line) accounting and others.

Many scenes take place in back gardens, but each garden has something to keep the reader hooked beyond the advice on wildlife gardening:

In the scenes with the wizard, Tim promotes the idea of a pond to attract frogs and bats, but the reader turns the pages in anticipation of some fun magic or wizardry.
In the scenes with the love interest, Lori, the readers are kept engaged by seeing the romance play out. For example, listen to the 4 minute clip below:

In ‘the Polyamorist’ Tim talks about home composting, but the reader is waiting for Dawn the polyamorist to make a move. Below is a short extract about home composting.

I was conscious of her eyes on me as I dug out the compost and put it in a pile. I hoped I didn’t have builder’s bum. I straightened up and lifted my arms in the air to stretch out. Dawn’s eye strayed to a patch of hairy stomach that had appeared as my shirt lifted in the stretch. I felt myself blushing and bent over the bin again. I prayed fervently she didn’t plan to stand there watching me work.

‘Okay, cheers, hun. I’ll be upstairs. Shout when you’re done.’

Thankfully, she headed inside. Lugging the top level of food scraps and grass cuttings over to the paving slabs took a while. I took the opportunity to shovel out the rich fertile compost from the bottom of the bin, and pile it up round the back of her hedges, plants and trees. Once it was empty, I dragged it over to the paved area and shovelled the top bits back in. Taking out the compost and putting it back would do it good, creating pockets of oxygen that would help the process along. I noticed some lovely reddish-brown, wriggly worms left on the ground and popped them in. Job done! I peered in the compost bin satisfied, and amazed, as always, by the chemistry that translates grass cuttings and food waste into rich, earthy soil that nourishes the garden. And it was all down to the humble earthworm…

This following audio clip begins after Tim has sorted out a composting bin for his new client Dawn.

In Daisy, the Feng Shui gardener’s garden, the mystery of the body in the garden keeps the reader’s interest. Having a body enables a coffin and a burial, enabling the promotion of green funerals. An inquest into the death provides a natural opportunity for a witness from the Natural Death Centre to talk about greener options. But the ‘telling’ of the facts in the court room scene wasn’t as inspiring for readers as when the actual natural burial was ‘shown.’ Several readers wrote to me afterwards saying that scene inspired them to change their will to request a natural burial. The clip below is from the natural burial scene read by Prof Dave Goulson, founder of the Bumblebee Conservation Trust, and author of books such as The Garden Jungle: Gardening to Save the Planet.

You can see research on the impacts the novel had on readers here.

Another example is the play ‘Murder in the Citizens’ Jury‘

Eight people in a Citizens’ Jury, discussing the most important challenge in the history of humanity – how to save ourselves from the looming climate crisis. Exciting new solutions are proposed, each with their own champions and detractors. What they decide will affect us all. But they all have their own issues to deal with, and one of them has a hidden agenda. Who is the assassin and who are they there to kill?

Afterwards the audience are invited to choose (if they wish) their favourite climate solution, and to help the Director of of Public Prosecutions with the moral dilemma of whether to prosecute the killer. If he does, it will shut down Citizens’ Juries which he believes are the magic bullet to help us make decisions that will avert climate change.

This is a classic locked room murder, and the setting offers a realistic opportunity to debate key climate polices, while being entertained by the drama and mystery, as the following short video illustrates. This is from the first performance by an amateur theatre group, and is currently available to stage free of royalties.

You can find out more about the reviews, audience feedback and how it engaged them in climate polices here.

Examples of Green Stories Winners

Visco, by David Fell, was the 2020 Green Stories prize winner. This story imagines a giant music festival which allows free access to those who need care and their carers. It’s a great success and those attending love it so much, no one wants to go home when the music stops. So they don’t and a new kind of society emerges. David brings to this novel all the knowledge he has gained in his years working as a sustainability consultant, and packages it with engaging characters and an exciting plot. It’s not packaged as ‘climate fiction’ but in it are visions of what a flourishing society centred round care might look like and how it could come about.

Fairhaven was a winner of the 2023 Green Stories novel prize. It traces the lives of a group of innovators, engineers, and visionaries as they struggle against the odds to bring climate solutions to Southeast Asia and to the world. Vital to their quest is the re-imagining of our planet: not from the point of view of humankind, but from the point of view of the ocean. The story was co-written by engineer Steve Willis who thought a story might enable policy makers to imagine the solutions more vividly than dry reports. Initial drafts were too technical, but by partnering with writer Jan Lee, the result is an exciting and inspiring vision of bold actions that will help steer us towards a sustainable future.