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EcoHope Poetry & Creative Writing
Serviceberries in EcoHope garden. Image credit: Linden Thomas
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A swan, taking off in flight, included with inspiration from Mary Oliver's many poems about graceful, majestic swans. Image Credit: Linden Thomas
Because, a poem by Rosemary Wahtola Trommer (2024).
Braided Way Magazine.
This poem grapples with our smallness and lack of power to solve all the world's problems, and finds hope in nature's beauty.
Click here to read the poem!
The Serviceberry, an essay by Robin Wall Kimmerer
Emergence Magazine.
This creative essay, a shorter version of Robin Wall Kimmerer's book "The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World" inspires themes of nature connection, gratitude, joy, hope, and Indigenous teachings about reciprocity.
We are so grateful to have a serviceberry tree planted in our primary Eco-Hope garden on Dalhousie campus, and hope that through our care, gratitude and love, this tree can provide us and other species with delicious berries.
In our work, EcoHope strives to highlight Indigenous traditional knowledge and perspectives, as these perspectives are essential to countering eco-anxiety, and fostering hope, joy and connection to our natural world. We have more Indigenous EcoHope resources on this site.
Click here to read the essay.
Mary Oliver's poetry collections
Mary Oliver was a prolific and multiple-award winning poet, vividly evoking the complexity and beauty of nature, and the human relationship to nature.
Her poetry is inspiring, hope-filled, and joyful.
Click here to read a selection of her poems that are available for free online.
EcoHope Visual Art & Photography
Worried Earth Youth Climate Activist Photography Exhibit
One of the photos submitted by youth climate activists in the Worried Earth Exhibit. Image Credit: Linden Thomas
Along the fence to the side of the Henry Hicks Building, on the roof of the Wallace McCain Learning Commons, between the Indigenous Butterfly Garden and the Life Science Center's 3rd floor main entrance, you will find a series of photos and narratives that have been submitted by youth climate activists across Canada. The photos represent the activists' thoughts and feelings that arise in their work advocating for climate action and climate justice. If you walk by the exhibit, you can scan the QR codes on each photo, to read the narrative that accompanies it.
This project was put together with support from the New Frontiers in Research Fund - Exploration Program, the Dalhousie Art Gallery, NSCAD, and Dalhousie University. EcoHope team members Melanie Zurba and Kateryna Rudenko were also part of the group of individuals that made the project possible.
Check out the Worried Earth website for more information.
EcoHope Tile Workshop
Image Credit: Melanie Zurba
In 2024, EcoHope faculty team member Melanie Zurba and research assistant Antonella Mena hosted a tile workshop, where participants could create their own clay tile to be included in one of our gardens in the future. The event was a great way for participants to get together in community, have fun, and engage in creative expression!
Hope Punk Zine
Copy of Sust Zine 2.0 (1).pdfThis zine was created by a group of Sustainability students in 2023, with the aim of showcasing art, creative writing, resources and interview pieces under the theme of hope punk, which is a movement and literary genre under the umbrella of speculative fiction, acknowledging the hardships in the world while finding strength, energy, optimism and passion to "fight the good fight".
Warning: the pieces in the zine may cover triggering topics, use harsh language and may have colour combinations that are inaccessible to those with visual impairments.
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