The Squad Announces Two Climate Commissions

Being a virtual organisation, the main components of the Writing Squad’s carbon footprint are travel and our use of email, social media, Zoom and webspace. The Climate and Me stems from an idea suggested by Squad writer Lauren Vevers: that rather than contribute to an offset scheme, we should use the equivalent to commission a Squad writer to respond to the issues of climate change and climate justice.

We thought it such a good idea we decided to commission two. Billie Collins and Louise Page will each receive £1000 to research and make a new piece.

Squad Director Steve Dearden says, “Lauren’s idea provided us with a brilliant alternative to climate offset schemes which have been so discredited, it creates an annual commission for Squad writers and embeds responding creatively to the climate crisis into our work.”

Billie says, “I’m creating an online text game loosely inspired by a fire that broke out on the Neston reed bed in March 2022. I’m both excited and nervous to experiment with interactive fiction – a form of storytelling that is completely new to me. I’m curious as to how it can be used to explore our relationship with wild spaces and the consequences of our behaviour within them. In making this piece, I want to ask not only why someone would cause deliberate damage to the environment, but also how human beings have become so detached from it that such acts are possible.”

Louise says, “This commission will allow me to explore how disabled people will be affected by the Climate Emergency , and more importantly imagine ways that we can maintain (or gain) our autonomy during it, and what support we will need to do that. I will be making a comic illustrated with embroidery to look at these themes. Writing has always been my method to process the world, including my place in it as a disabled person; but embroidery is a relatively new addition to my arsenal. I find that combining words and images is the ultimate way to create stories and fantasise about new futures, especially when I use embroidery, which is a long, repetitive, task to take on, leaving plenty of time to think about the topic of your work in an almost meditative state.”

We plan to share the new pieces by Billie and Louise late Spring of 2025. In a sister programme, The Climate and Us, a team of Squad writers will devise, fundraise for and deliver a project supported by Squad Core Team members Stevie Ronnie and Steve Dearden. The purpose is not just to create more work responding to the climate crisis, but to develop Squad writers’ producing and project management skills.