Emily Cunningham

cc: @Sarahmduckett @OwenWoodcock1 @SeanDonaghy0723 @RickNabb @emilycbates @erin_bridges_94 @haydenflanery @ConceivableFut @emilytrels @mmm_brie @LynnaOdel @wawagatheru @MattiasLehman @Luis__Marchese @not_kaylynn @flowerrfaridah @el_macs @x3Marcela_

Thanks Laura I've been involved in political and environmental activism for twenty years (gulp). There are times when I've kind of 'revved up' and been particularly active. And, as Emily said, those times were often connected to an available community. At university - the

People and Planet group, which made it possible for me to go to COP 6, which was at the Hague, and which initiated me into protesting generally. About 9 years ago, the existence of Sustainable Merton and a new Transition Towns group had a similar galvanizing effect. Most

recently, it's been Extinction Rebellion, both nationally and locally. There was a particular incident that I think inspired me to start really channelling my activism into my fiction. I've been a short story writer for a long time, but never managed to fuse those two passions.

But I went to an event called 'The People's Walk for Wildlife', organised by Chris Packham. And it started in a park, on a very soggy day, with a series of talks and performances. One of these was a rendition of 'Where have all the flowers gone?' by Billy Bragg.

But this one was altered to reflect the desperately denuded state of the British landscape. So, it started with wild flowers, but then continued with badgers, hedgerows, etc... And, quite honestly, it destroyed me. I couldn't even tell whether my face was soaked by the rain or my

own tears. It opened a kind of emotional floodgate for me. I'd only kind of allowed myself to understand the crisis on a very...intellectual and distanced level. I hadn't allowed myself to really *see* the devastation in front of me. The loss of sparrows, birdsong...