Why read stories about the future when you can design your own?

That's how Wild Stories was born.

When I sat down to read to a group of 11 year olds a couple of years ago, I didn’t think it would lead to Wild Stories.

It was just supposed to be a school project combining two of my favorite things (nature and creative writing), trying to find a way to fight against climate change without having to be a scientist. I wanted to show that we have plenty of science already, we need something else. Stories - but not just any stories.

How many times have we seen news articles about climate change and nature loss that just make us want to curl up in a ball under the bed and never come back out? We read the statistics and the doom stories and, while they may be true, they only succeed in making us give up before we’ve even started.

But when people are told hopeful stories of the future, they want to make that future a reality. It’s the antidote to inaction. The group of 11 year olds that I did that initial project with didn’t know much about the concept of rewilding before we read a story about it, but afterwards they were excited – reading didn’t just teach them about nature, it made them care about it.

They had ideas, too. They didn’t just want to read about the world around them, they wanted to write about it. Why read stories about the future when you can design your own?

That’s how Wild Stories was born.

Wild Stories is a climate hope organization, built from this love of hopeful stories, with the goal of getting more young people to write the world they want to see. Our first writing workshop on Monday the 30^th of October combines writing and outdoor activities to connect the young people involved with the natural places close to them and the natural future that might seem much more distant.

Young people are going to be the ones living in a world affected by climate change, one way or another, so it’s hugely important that they get to create these stories of hope. If they can see a positive future written down, then maybe it can start to be made a reality.

Because a wild world is possible. We just need a little bit of imagination.