There are a lot of misconceptions about environmental writing, but Guest Judge Anna Farro Henderson is here to guide you as we launch into our Environmental Writing Competition this May. “I am looking for writing that makes me aware of community and wonder. I want to learn something new about the world. I am curious about you, the writer,” she shared.
How can writers humanize environmental science and advocacy to empower readers? Read on to hear what Anna Farro Henderson looks for in a winning piece.
You’re a climate scientist and former advisor who has written fiction, nonfiction, and environmental policy. What is your approach to these different forms of creative work? How do your writing habits change depending on what genre you’re working on?
Whether I am drafting talking points for a Senator or writing a story about robots managing a forest, I start with pen and paper. My ideas and words flow when I write by hand. When I think I am done—or when I get stuck—I go for a walk. Without trying, thoughts rise up: questions, new ideas, lines of dialogue.
I set myself up for writing by having reference material on hand. For environmental policy, I look at the precise wording of laws, programs, processes, and grant applications. This can also be generative. In creative nonfiction, for an essay about a research expedition to the Juneau Icefield, I set out my field notebooks, the letters I received from friends and family, photographs, and the book I had carried with me (Pilgrim at Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard). For fiction, I might have a reference map and slips of paper where I have jotted down ideas, but mostly I am working from the magical ether, which is inside me but seems to be part of a much larger shared reservoir of human imagination.
In your new book Core Samples, you draw upon your fieldwork on lake mud, your experiences working on environmental regulations, and your personal stories of motherhood. What challenges did you face in fusing all of these elements together, and what lessons about writing would you like to share that you learned from the process?
The act of fusing science, political work, art, and motherhood made writing Core Samples a playful venture. The culture of academic and political work demanded that I fully give myself over: it raised questions about my dedication if I talked about my art practice or family responsibilities. As a field geologist, I was often surrounded by men. As the chief water advisor to the Governor of Minnesota, I worked with an all-male environmental subcabinet. Sometimes I faced bias. Sometimes I was invisible. I had to prove myself over and over. It got tiring. It could be really lonely.
It made me nervous to approach writing about science and political work through intimate and personal reflection. I was saying things aloud that I felt I was not supposed to say aloud. I wrote about my work in Congress through the lens of a diary I kept while pumping milk for my baby. In the essay, “How to Pee Standing Up,” I used the experience of being the only woman on a drill rig in Ghana for two months to write about science research.
After years of silencing myself and not mentioning my children or my female body, it was such a relief to center writing about science and politics on issues like access to a bathroom or a lactation room. We are physical beings—animals—and it’s important to share our physical experiences.
Having worked in both science and politics, what’s your view on how environmental writing can be a bridge to raising public awareness and making difficult topics more accessible to audiences?
We are living in a time when trust in science and in experts is low. Too many people feel outside of science and outside the political process. Yet we know that the discoveries and knowledge that come from science lead to life-saving medicines and the technologies that power our lives. We know we face environmental crises. My hypothesis in writing Core Samples was that by humanizing science and environmental policy, I could make them more accessible to the reader. The public doesn’t usually hear about the Governor eating ice cream cake with his hands or having holes in socks, but maybe if they do, they could see themselves speaking up and being a part of the political system. The public doesn’t hear about when the research expedition faced lightning, or crossed paths with a moose mom and baby, or worked well past dark to collect samples. Instead of seeing science as crisp facts or diagrams in a textbook, readers are let in on the messy and uncertain process of discovery. Readers see science come to life.
What advice do you have for young writers who want to use their writing and personal experiences to advocate for social and political causes?
Take care of yourself while writing
When we care a lot about an issue, it can be a challenge to communicate effectively. People often have a lot of anger and frustration about social and political causes. While emotions can infuse writing and create a connection with a reader, they can also push readers away. Even readers who share your values don’t want to be talked at. Readers don’t follow directions; they decide what to think for themselves. To process your feelings, it can be helpful to keep a journal for venting and exploring. Writing can be therapeutic, but it is not therapy. Take care of yourself.
Defamiliarize
Readers have strong opinions about many environmental topics, and the environment, generally. To reach readers, find ways to make a topic new. How can you help the reader see an issue from a different perspective? Can you make them feel awe and excitement and not just doom and gloom? Emily Dickinson said, “Tell the truth but tell it slant.” Can you do that with an interesting structure? Your unique perspective? Specific details? An unfamiliar angle?
Be clear about your audience
Think about your audience. What concerns do they face in their daily lives and communities? How can your writing connect with their lives and challenges? Write to a specific audience. The tone and voice of your writing should be addressed to your audience. Look at your verbs. Look at your vocabulary. Will these resonate with your audience? Your audience can be a person or a group, but you cannot write for everyone at the same time.
Edit
Read your work aloud. Have someone else read it. Experiment and be playful. Have fun. If your reader is confused or doesn’t get it, don’t be disappointed. They may not be able to tell you how to edit and improve the writing, but they can tell you what is not working. Don’t expect effective writing to come from dashing off words in one sitting. Writing is an adventure of the mind, and sometimes adventures are hard. All adventures take time.
"Writing is an adventure of the mind, and sometimes adventures are hard. All adventures take time."
What are you looking for in a winning entry? Any other advice for the writers, especially those who are new to environmental writing?
I want to feel something when I read—this cannot come from being told what I should feel. It comes from specific details and the writer’s authentic perspective.
I am looking for writing that makes me aware of community and wonder. I want to learn something new about the world. I am curious about you, the writer. I want to know what compels you. I want to see how the environment fits into the broader story of who you are and the communities you are a part of.
You might need to spend time researching. You can call experts or people working in the area you write about. Spend time editing, and read your work aloud. It can be fun to find other writers to exchange work with. Write from a place of love and care even when you address issues of concern and great frustration. By this, I mean: humanize yourself and others.
About the Guest Judge: Anna Farro Henderson is a PhD climate scientist who worked as an advisor in the U.S. Senate and to Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton. Her book, “Core Samples: A Climate Scientist’s Experiments in Politics and Motherhood,” came out with University of Minnesota Press in October 2024. Her publications have appeared in River Teeth, The Kenyon Review, and The Normal School, among others (she previously published as E.A. Farro). She has been a recipient of Minnesota State Art Board grants, an Everwood Farmstead residency, and the Terrain.org’s 2023 fiction contest, among others. She teaches at The Loft Literary Center. She is online at www.annafarrohenderson.com.