Through experiences ranging from responding to the immediate realities of the climate crisis to working with young people, engaging in community action, and reconnecting with nature at a slower pace, Cara Thompson explores what poetry can offer in a time of ecological urgency. This blog captures what she has learned so far: that poetry can be a powerful tool for awareness and connection, that nature is best understood collectively, and that anyone can find their place within it.
1. The Climate Crisis Is Closer Than You Think (Hurricane Melissa)
Just over a month into my tenure as Nottingham Nature Poet Laureate, Jamaica was hit by a catastrophic hurricane: Hurricane Melissa. As a poet descended from Jamaican migrants, it was both a wake-up call, and a call to action. 
Here in the “West” we often hear about the climate crisis in abstract terms, as distant catastrophes we won’t see or feel (largely because of climate change’s disproportionate impact on the Global South. But seeing the devastation on an island many members of my family still call home, and hearing their first-hand accounts of just how life-altering the hurricane was, has made the nature of my laureateship feel all the more urgent.
I know this is a heavy place to begin, but it matters. The climate crisis is here. The question we must ask ourselves is: what do we plan to do about it?
While a poem cannot stop a hurricane, poetry and writing are still a way of showing up — of making sense of the causes and impact of climate change, and utilising our voice for the planet we all call home. In the wake of Hurricane Melissa, I joined a coalition of creatives and community organisers in Nottingham that will be creating a brand new platform to highlight the importance of global justice, particularly for those within the global majority. We will be announcing this amazing project soon, so watch this space.
During this time, I also wrote a poem in response to the disaster called “Melissa”, which you can listen to here.
Jamaica, like many nations in the Global South disproportionately affected by climate change, is still recovering from Hurricane Melissa. If you’d like to show your support, you can find a donation link here.
2. Young People Can Save the Planet — We Just Need to Listen (Solstice Nature Prize Workshops / Keeping It Wild)
One of the best parts of being Nature Poet Laureate is working with young people across the city and hearing what they have to say about the planet (spoiler: they’re way ahead of us).
The very first event I took part in as Nature Poet Laureate was leading the Solstice Writing Workshop at Attenborough Nature Reserve with Writing East Midlands for 14-17 year olds. In true British fashion, it was absolutely pouring with rain (a reminder that I’ll need to get used to being at the mercy of the elements in this role!) and I genuinely wondered if anyone would show up. 
But they came: and they brought their enthusiasm, creativity, and incredible knowledge with them. Responding to natural artefacts from around the reserve, these writers explored themes of climate change, equality, respect for nature, and the many perspectives that shape our relationship with the environment. They even taught me a thing or two (for example, did you guys know epaulette sharks can stay on land for up to two hours and walk on their fins? Wild.).
Additionally, I have now begun working with Nottingham Wildlife Trust’s incredible youth-led nature group Keeping It Wild, who dedicate their free time to preserving wildlife and green spaces across Nottinghamshire. Over the next few months, I’ll be writing and creating with them at their gorgeous home base of Woodthorpe Meadow, and I can’t wait to share all the knowledge they have to give us.
During my first visit with Keeping it Wild, one young writer shared this fantastic Chico Mendes:
“Environmentalism without class struggle is just gardening.” To hear the next generation speak with such awareness of what a true green movement needs will make anyone feel like the planet is in good hands. We just need to listen.
3. If Nature Can Slow Down, So Can We (Wasafiri Workshops)
Slowing down has always been a bit of challenge for me. In an age of constant information and access, it can become harder and harder to truly switch off, and before you know it, you’re too busy to slow down and smell the roses. 
For that reason, as part of my tenure as Wasafiri’s Writer in Residence, I created the online workshop series Slow Poetry Writing as Hibernation. Running from winter to spring, these monthly sessions explore how nature slows down through the seasons — and how we might learn a thing or two from this slowness as writers and as natural beings.
The first online workshop took place in February, which is the last stretch of winter here in the UK. Despite this, writers from across the world joined the online session, gathering at the same moment to write, reflect, and slow down together.I was blown away by the thoughtfulness and intention everyone brought to the space. For those two hours, it truly felt like time slowed down – just like nature does.
I’ll be leading the next two Slow Poetry workshops online this March, and if you’d like to join us, you’d be very welcome. To find out more and book your place, visit the Wasafiri website here.
4. You Can’t Know Your Place in the World Until You See the Stars (Arvon Retreat / Constellations Showcase)
But that changed when I attended an Arvon Retreat with my Nottingham based poetry collective, GOBS. We travelled to The Hurst with mentors Vanessa Kasule and Antony Anaxagorou to spend 5 days away from our daily lives, just writing, connecting, and immersing ourselves in The Hurst’s beautiful grounds.
The experience was transformative, not only for the company and the creativity, but for what the night time would bring. On one night, a group of us stood silently with our heads pointed up at the night sky, which was so clear that we could see the constellations. I even saw shooting stars for the first time! In the awe of that moment, I began to realise something: how can any of us understand our place in the world if we can no longer see the stars?
Those nights looking up at the galaxy inspired the name of the poetry showcase we ended up co-producing in the aftermath of our retreat: Constellations. At this same event, I launched my debut pamphlet, Bring It to the Altar, and I have no doubt that the wonder of those nights at the Arvon helped bring my pamphlet into being.
If you get the chance, take a moment to try and notice the stars tonight (and if you’d like a copy of Bring It to the Altar, you can find it on my SumUp store here.)
5. It Feels Amazing to Get Your Hands Dirty (Community Tree Planting Day / Rewild Yourself / NatureWell Training)
In December of last year, I got to take part in my first tree-planting day with Voice for Nature… and I absolutely loved it.
As someone whose gardening experience is limited to watering very sad-looking house plants at university, I arrived nervous, convinced I’d be absolutely useless, or somehow do something wrong, especially among so many experienced green fingered-volunteers.
Instead, everyone was welcoming, and it was so inspiring to see people of all ages and backgrounds taking time out of their day to do something nurturing for the planet.
One volunteer encouraged me to try planting without gloves so I could really feel the soil and focus on the process. So I ditched my gloves, and I was surprised by how great it felt to really get stuck in there and get my hands dirty. Before long I had found a flow, as the landscape became full of young trees.
By the end of the day, we had planted tons of trees — and perhaps the roots of a few new friendships too.
Thanks to the connections I made on that planting day, I was able to apply for an incredible opportunity: to train as a Nature Facilitator with the NatureWell Academy to build my confidence leading workshops in the wild. I’m already two-thirds of the way through the training, and I’ve already learned so much about what nature can do for our wellbeing, our sense of self, of each other, and of the planet, and joined an incredible community of fellow nature facilitators in training along the way. I’m so excited to bring those skills into my creative work as Nature Poet Laureate.
6. Nature Doesn’t Need Experts — It Needs Community (Vilnius / Growing Words Programme / Laureate Library Tour)
One of the most exciting opportunities I’ve had so far as Nature Poet Laureate was travelling to Vilnius City of Literature in Lithuania, to represent Nottingham at the ‘Literature, City, Nature’ conference. I got the chance to be one of many writers and community leaders from Cities of Literature who gathered from around the world to share how they’re using literature to reimagine and nurture nature in their communities.
Despite the many languages, cultures, and experiences in the room, we shared an incredible piece of common ground: a belief that writing can transform how we engage with the world around us. This experience really showed me the incredible potential that nature has to break down the boundaries and differences that often feel like they define us. Nature may be wild, but it is not unfamiliar. We belong to it. We are it.
7. If I Can Be a Nature Poet, So Can You.
Something I’ve not been shy about during my laureateship is how new nature poetry and nature activity in general feels for me, but if there’s anything I hope this Nature Poet Laureate Diary can prove, it is that every perspective on nature has value.
That’s why I’m so excited to work on the Growing Words programme this year. Through outdoor workshops, performances, and anthologies, I’ll be spending this year collaborating with youth and community groups across Nottingham to bring together as many voices as possible to share their relationship with the natural world. This year, I’ve already had the honour of supporting Simon Armitage at the sold out Nottingham leg of his Laureate Library Tour, where writers and audience members from across the city came together to celebrate the natural world. I also had the honour of leading a workshop, serving as a judge, and announcing the incredible winners of Writing East Midland’s Solstice Nature Writing Prize for 8-25 year olds, which had over 800 applications nationwide!
It’s experiences like these that show me how increasingly relevant nature poetry is becoming, and how unifying it can be as an umbrella for us to share our unique experiences.
While I may be the Nature Poet Laureate, the Nature Poet Laureate programme is an offering and a reminder that anybody can be a nature poet. If you would like to get involved in the Nature Poet Laureate programme this year, check out the Nature Poet Laureate page on Nottingham City of Literature’s website to join me!
To end this Nature Poet Laureate diary, I would like to share the Nature Poet Laureate Manifesto: a 10 point mission statement of what this programme means to me, and how I hope to create with everyone who comes into contact with nature poetry through it.
The Nature Poet Laureate Manifesto 
- Anyone can be a nature poet. Anyone.
- To create nature poetry, we must remember that we are also nature’s creations.
- To dismantle the barriers to nature and poetry, we must have the courage to face them.
- To plant the seeds for nature and poetry, we must nurture our grassroots communities.
- To grow green fingers, we must spend less time pointing them at each other.
- It’s never too late to start caring about nature; nature is full of fresh starts.
- Poetry can be made sustainably, for the natural world and for those within it.
- Nature and poetry have room for us all.
- There is no greater common ground than the ground we all stand on.
- When in doubt, remember the earth beneath your feet, It has never let you down.