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“Poetry helps shift some of the really dominant ways we think about the environment, particularly in the west” says environmental scientist and poet Riley Faulds. With the practice of ‘life-writing’ Riley shares how he approaches the writing process, as well as how this can have an impact on the way we all appreciate and interact with the natural world, drawing from his studies of World Literatures at Oxford. He discusses tackling the tendency in the west to view the world through the lens of dualism, human versus non-human, as well as how to get inspired with our own experience with nature. Recorded live at Oxford’s Right Here Right Now Global Climate Summit 2025.
Riley’s recommended reading:
– Evelyn Araluen, ‘Dropbear’
– Elfie Shiosaki, ‘Homecoming’
– Alice Oswald, ‘Falling Awake’
– Alice Oswald, ‘Woods etc.’
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Created by TEDxLondon
Executive produced by Josie Colter
Produced by Ben Beheshty
Curated by Deesha Chandra
Hosted by Maryam Pasha and Ben Hurst
Communications by Tara Cooper and Issey Gladston
00:00 Introduction
00:45 Understanding life writing
01:19 Exploring non-human perspectives in poetry
02:16 Influential nature writers and their works
02:56 Challenge to de-centre the human in writing
04:44 The role of Indigenous perspectives in poetry
05:31 Notable poets and their contributions
06:15 Conclusion
[00:00:00] Introduction
[00:00:00] Ben Hurst: Welcome to Climate Quickies Bite-sized nuggets of Climate Goodness. From our TEDx London experts in under 10 minutes
[00:00:10] Maryam Pasha: in this week’s climate, curious, we are getting poetic with a self-proclaimed [00:00:15] environmental scientist in the streets and a poet in the sheets that is notebook. Riley Folds inviting us into the world of life writing.
[00:00:24] Maryam Pasha: Riley’s love for creative writing on the topic of nature was inspired by his upbringing on the [00:00:30] west coast of Australia. Let’s head over to Riley now to get a glimpse into his writing process and learn how to pick up a pen and get inspired to start your own life writing practices too. Stay curious.[00:00:45]
[00:00:45] Understanding life writing
[00:00:45] Riley Faulds: Life writing is any form of writing any literary genre that is about. People’s lives. And so memoir, biography, autobiography, auto fiction, and forms of poetry that are about a person’s life or some, some aspect [00:01:00] of that comes under the umbrella of life writing. And yeah, there are many different forms of it.
[00:01:05] Riley Faulds: And my particular interest is in experimental life writing and life writing of the environment and thinking about. Particularly that first word life [00:01:15] and what, what can we, um, allow that to encapsulate beyond the human as well?
[00:01:19] Exploring non-human perspectives in poetry
[00:01:19] Riley Faulds: I write poems about, about. You know, non-human life worlds and experience thinking about, you know, what it, what it’s like to be something that’s non-human, even non-living, thinking about ecology through, through poetry and what, what specifically the, the, the forms and styles, um, of poetry specifically allows for the, the way that we think about the environment for shifting some of the really dominant ways that.
[00:01:46] Riley Faulds: We think about it, particularly in the West, um, and being able to kind of break up our language for it and find new ways to think and then therefore act. Um, when it comes to climate, when it comes to, to all kinds of environment, inflected issues and, [00:02:00] and moments, there is a lot of value to the kinds of writing narratives, poetry that, that center the human that.
[00:02:06] Riley Faulds: And very unashamedly about a person’s experience with the environment. With nature. There’s a lot of of nature writing, particularly in this [00:02:15] country that’s along those lines.
[00:02:16] Influential nature writers and their works
[00:02:16] Riley Faulds: People who have a fixation, a fascination with could be wild places like Robert McFarlane’s book Wild Places, or Helen McDonald’s, HS for Hawke, or a classic Ja Bakers the Peregrine.
[00:02:27] Riley Faulds: These are some kind of really canon [00:02:30] works of nature writing, which on different levels of the spectrum of. Being about their own experience of nature. And then on the other hand, thinking about how to kind of distance their perspective and center the perspectives of [00:02:45] say the Peregrine Falcon and trying to like reach towards what it would be like to be a falcon.
[00:02:50] Riley Faulds: What. That experience is like, which is the core problem with the way that we think about nature.
[00:02:56] Challenge to de-centre the human in writing
[00:02:56] Riley Faulds: Um, one of the core problems, there’s plenty of problems in the West. We have this enlightenment, post-enlightenment idea that there’s a dualism, there’s human and there’s non-human. Those things are completely separate.
[00:03:06] Riley Faulds: The mind is separate from nature, and that’s the way it is when in reality, so many other different ways of thinking about the world, indigenous [00:03:15] epistemologies and ontologies of ways of being, um, that. We are just one part of these incredibly complex, diverse, and interesting ecologies. And the way to think about that is not to center the human, it’s to push yourself to one side [00:03:30] and be thinking, actually, how are we part of this kind of complex network?
[00:03:35] Riley Faulds: And that’s a really hard thing to do because language is an inherently human tool. And. To use language to do these things. You’re gonna be coming up [00:03:45] against cultural ways of thinking about these things that are really deeply embedded, and also to break away from those. How do you do that? Without using the word I or he or she or they, or how do you think about what it’s like to be [00:04:00] moss in a way that’s gonna decenter the human in a useful way?
[00:04:04] Riley Faulds: And life writing in particular is kind of the, the anthropocentric genre, the absolute, you know, most, most human centered genre. It has to be, but I think there’s so much [00:04:15] capacity within it. You know, if that’s the center of a problematic way of thinking, then that’s a place where you can start, uh, that will have.
[00:04:22] Riley Faulds: Quite a lot of impact in, in terms of rejigging those things.[00:04:30]
[00:04:31] Riley Faulds: It’s like, it’s a real privilege to be able to write some of the kinds of poetry I write, which is, you know, how do I represent this really beautiful and interesting and complex landscape by sitting outside for two hours and looking at the sky?
[00:04:44] The role of Indigenous perspectives in poetry
[00:04:44] Riley Faulds: You know, I’ve been back looking, reading, reading a lot of Australian poetry, a couple of First Nations poets in Australia who are just.
[00:04:51] Riley Faulds: Some of the most exciting, beautiful writers I think in the world today. Evelyn Araluen is one that I always recommend to people. Her book Dropbear, if you can [00:05:00] get your hands on that. It shows like the full spectrum of what poetry can do, and there’s really beautiful family stories and stories of being on country to very, very powerful, strong, assertive.
[00:05:13] Riley Faulds: Critiques of [00:05:15] colonialism and capitalism and all these things that are contributing to these crises, including the climate crisis, and that coming from an indigenous perspective is something that is not fully understandable by non-indigenous people. But is this like amazing worldview that you can. Kind of [00:05:30] encounter.
[00:05:30] Riley Faulds: She’s amazing.
[00:05:31] Notable poets and their contributions
[00:05:31] Riley Faulds: Elfie Shiosaki is a noir poet from my part of the world as well who writes really, really beautifully in a way that I think is accessible to anyone who can sit and see these family stories playing out alongside stories of country, of the environment. And I think it’s just beautiful writing Full stop both of her books, but also I think does kind of give the blueprint for some of the ways that.
[00:05:52] Riley Faulds: Anyone can be writing about about these things. Alice Oswald is very well known British poet who does that accuracy, [00:06:00] spontaneity, and mystery thing, as well as anyone I’ve ever encountered just has a, a turn of phrase that I would never have considered myself, and I just captures the feeling of being in water or being in a forest or being.
[00:06:14] Riley Faulds: In front of a [00:06:15] file.
[00:06:15] Conclusion
[00:06:15] Ben Hurst: Thanks for listening to this quickie.
[00:06:17] Maryam Pasha: This episode was created by our superstar podcast team at TEDxLondon. Until next time,
[00:06:22] Ben Hurst: stay curious.
