The Climate Crisis and OutoftheBox

People may feel overwhelmed and powerless by the climate crisis. This can result in fear and disengagement. OutoftheBox is a movement to bring change through story and play in a way that empowers people as they discover their own wisdom and enables them to see things in a new way. This may involve challenge and an invitation to ‘turn things upside down’ - the way we view our world and our lives, our values and our actions.

Our stories present opportunities for people to grapple with existential questions and dangers like climate change. They can be used in a school, a faith setting, a care home, a workplace or a community group of any kind. There are a number of stories that are particularly helpful for people as they seek to engage with environmental issues.

There are many possible stories (and the opportunities for play that follow) that might be shared with groups wishing to explore this theme during Cop27.  A story such as The Starfish challenges conventional ideas about leadership and responsibility in this area.  I wonder who that person who threw the starfish reminds you of?  The River reminds us that a return to our senses may be necessary before we can fully understand the impact of climate change.  The Donkey takes a playfully serious look at the structures that get in the way of change.  We’re sure you’ll find many more ways into this topic with the OOB approach and stories as we focus our minds on Cop 27.

With Harvest Festivals still fresh in children’s minds, storytellers in Church settings and Church schools might consider sharing the story of Creation followed by our new story Enough.  The Leader and the Waves could also follow Creation, challenging our notions of wisdom, power and responsibility.  Perhaps the story Beautiful Things has something to say about what happens when people have to leave a home ravaged by climate change?  I’m sure you’ll find many ways to stimulate discussion and further enquiry into this topic through OutoftheBox!

“The climate crisis is something at the front of the minds of even the youngest children. And the older ones know so much more than me!”

“It must be so frightening to grow up thinking that you don’t have a future. I remember worrying about getting a job, but how do you cope with the fear that everything could be swept away? I know young people who are involved in climate action and feel that there is no future. But they have decided they are are going to try to live well and help others in the face of looming disaster - volunteering at food hubs, community kitchens and running free shops. They feel that keeping hold of hope, even if it is just building community from the grass roots and enabling shalom to spread, is vital. How do we help children hope?”  

“I have had lots of wondering about the climate crisis and how to live sustainably when telling the Mustard Seed, the River, Donkey (good for climate change activists comments!) Something So Precious, Precious Things, the Acorn and Journey Through the Woods. I haven’t told the Leader and the Waves yet, but I am sure it would create discussion about rising sea levels.”  

“I told the Creation story to a school, class by class, and they all wondered about the climate crisis. But perhaps they know that is something I give them space to talk about. It’s amazing how many children are vegans - there was lots of discussion among older children about how we are to care for animals.”
Victoria Goodman - OutoftheBox storyteller working in Cambridge in schools and churches.

“I told the creation story at the beginning of this term and not one child commented on how the world is today and Climate Change - I was aghast but kept it to myself. They did wonder about being made in the image of God. I will do something with the children following Cop27 using the creation story again. Perhaps by laying out the Creation story and then throwing a piece of plastic into the sea or adding some toy cars - and seeing where the play leads.”  OutoftheBox storyteller working in schools

A recent addition to the collection is a story called Enough, which draws inspiration from several sources: the voices of indigenous peoples offered in botanist Robin Wall Kimmerer’s book ‘Braiding Sweetgrass’ (Wall Kimmerer 2014), and explorer Simon Reeves’ investigation of the decline in fish stocks available to poll-and-line fishermen fishing in the Indian Ocean. Source from BBC.
Working from these tales and recalling this injunction from St Augustine of Hippo; ‘Find out how much God has given you and take from it what you need; the remainder is needed by others’ a new story has evolved to be added to the growing collection of OutoftheBox stories. 

The purpose of OutoftheBox is wellbeing for everything and every person (whether human or not) and this is brought about by love in action. The final words should come from the Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg who has said she will skip next month’s Cop27 talks in Egypt. “The Cops are mainly used as an opportunity for leaders and people in power to get attention, using many different kinds of greenwashing,” she said. The Cop conferences, she added, “are not really meant to change the whole system”, but instead encourage gradual progress.
“So as it is, the Cops are not really working, unless of course we use them as an opportunity to mobilise.”
Source from the Guardian

This blog was written by Judy Yeomans (an OutoftheBox Trainer and member of the Story Development Team)