Pete Harvey
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peterharveydigital.bsky.social
Pete Harvey
@peterharveydigital.bsky.social
Literary Linguist, exploring narrative, memory and climate fiction.
Digital Producer, specialising in adult education and public engagement.
Worried human, trying to navigate the Climate Emergency.
Pinned
Do you have ten minutes to help my research?

I'm looking for volunteers to complete a survey about reading. You don't have to be a bookworm - and I explain more about my research questions at the end.

If you can take part or share it would be much appreciated.

nquire.org.uk/mission/reme...
nQuire – Remembering literary descriptions
Do different readers remember literary texts in different ways?
nquire.org.uk
"Attention to the local and specific helps people process how social and environmental violence are intimately linked. Arts activism, working directly with people’s lived experiences of change, can offer ... alternatives to spectacular climate soundbites."

theconversation.com/apocalyptic-...
Apocalyptic images of melting glaciers and sinking islands won’t help anyone imagine a better future
How activists and artists across the world are challenging popular, generalised climate memes, such as those of melting and sinking.
theconversation.com
November 13, 2025 at 3:41 PM
How can narratives contextualise climate predictions?

‘climate storylines [...] should always come in packs: collections of narratives that together reflect the uncertainty of what could happen in a specific region or for a particular type of climatic event’

aeon.co/essays/today...
Today’s complex climate models aren’t equivalent to reality | Aeon Essays
The immense complexity of the climate makes it impossible to model accurately. Instead we must use uncertainty to our advantage
aeon.co
November 12, 2025 at 2:22 PM
Really exciting - we need more undergraduate degrees like this:
Very excited to take up this role at @sussex.ac.uk & look forward to working with colleagues & students to help amplify the hugely important work the University is doing on climate, nature and environmental sustainability eg the very first undergraduate degree in climate justice starting in 2026 💚
We are delighted to announce the appointment of Dr Caroline Lucas, former leader of the Green Party and MP for Brighton Pavilion, as the University's first Professor of Practice in Environmental Sustainability at the Sussex School for Progressive Futures (SSPF).
November 7, 2025 at 10:56 AM
Another great Zooniverse project:
October 22, 2025 at 2:26 PM
This is a great project on language and sustainable materials. Do sign up to take part if you can!
October 3, 2025 at 11:49 AM
It was a privilege today to present my work on how Annie Proulx’s Barkskins might help us understand the climate crisis, and what online reviews can tell us about conceptualising environmental destruction. Thanks to all the panellists for inspiring papers.

humaniora.ucu.edu.ua/en/events/in...
October 2, 2025 at 4:16 PM
Reposted by Pete Harvey
“We are facing a planetary emergency. The breach of the Ocean Acidification boundary is a stark scientific warning and a moral call to action. Without healthy oceans, peace, prosperity & stability are at risk everywhere. We must act now...to safeguard this life-support system for future generations"
Seven of nine planetary boundaries now breached – ocean acidification joins the danger zone
24.09.2025 - A new report from the Planetary Boundaries Science Lab at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) reveals that 7 of the 9 critical Earth system boundaries have now been b...
www.pik-potsdam.de
September 25, 2025 at 6:16 AM
Note to politicians: Physics doesn't care whether or not extra CO2 emissions break manifesto promises: www.theguardian.com/business/202...
Ed Miliband looking into more North Sea drilling despite Labour pledge
Exclusive: Energy secretary examining ways to allow oil and gas exploration without breaking manifesto promise
www.theguardian.com
September 25, 2025 at 7:01 AM
Reposted by Pete Harvey
“To be a good scientist, I have to take emotions out of work. Still, I would say looking at this data, when I allow myself to connect to it emotionally, then I am afraid. This really scares me”

- Dr. Levke Caesar, co-lead of Planetary Boundaries Science Lab
World’s oceans fail key health check as acidity crosses critical threshold for marine life
Scientists call for renewed global effort to curb fossil fuels as seven of nine planetary boundaries now transgressed
www.theguardian.com
September 25, 2025 at 4:26 AM
Reposted by Pete Harvey
Another great post from @bnerlich.bsky.social on the metaphors of geoengineering.

#linguistics #ecolinguistics @granthamcsf.bsky.social
September 13, 2025 at 10:31 AM
Reposted by Pete Harvey
Check out my column on why stories have a crucial role to play in helping us face up to the eco-crisis and showing us ways through what is coming.

www.edp24.co.uk/news/2539857...
Ragnarök and Our Need to Be Inspired by Stories in Our Modern Eco-Crisis
Ragnarök and Our Need to Be Inspired by Stories in Our Modern Eco-Crisis
www.edp24.co.uk
September 7, 2025 at 4:45 PM
“In its 2007 edition, the Oxford Junior Dictionary, widely used in classrooms in the United Kingdom, removed dozens of entries related to the natural world, including “acorn,” “bluebell,” and “magpie,””
"Since 1800, there’s been a sharp decline in nature-related words in English language books. It closely matches a simulation of nature–human interactions." A new piece in @grist.org by Kate Yoder, with some #ecolinguistics input from @repoole.bsky.social grist.org/language/nat...
The words we use to talk about nature are disappearing. Here’s why that matters.
We’ll need to do more than ‘touch grass’ to revive them.
grist.org
September 7, 2025 at 8:00 AM
Solastalgia: "the distress that is produced by environmental change impacting on people while they are directly connected to their home environment”

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
This was the hottest summer on record. If it happens again next year, Britain’s ecosystems won’t cope | Lucy Jones
A future of extreme heatwaves, drought and collapsing habitats awaits if we continue to ignore the danger signs, says author Lucy Jones
www.theguardian.com
September 3, 2025 at 12:28 PM
"[Contrast] this really rich life that you find in literature and in academia, and the platitudes of politics. In literature there is an experimentation with genres and with cultures and with languages, and so you get this sense of complexity.”

Lea Ypi, via

www.theguardian.com/books/2025/a...
‘Literature can be a form of resistance’: Lea Ypi talks to Elif Shafak about writing in the age of demagogues
The Albanian author of Free and the Turkish novelist discuss the rise of populism, censorship – and how today’s conflicts all come from the unresolved trauma of the past
www.theguardian.com
September 3, 2025 at 9:37 AM
Reposted by Pete Harvey
This October, I’m curating a strand of the Off the Shelf festival called Human/Nature. I’m very excited to be talking to @tonyjuniper.bsky.social on 18th about his book ‘Just Earth: How a Fairer World will Save the Planet’. Details👇

offtheshelf.org.uk/events/just-...

@sheffielduni.bsky.social
Tony Juniper CBE is Chair of the British Government’s official conservation agency Natural England and a Fellow with the University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership. His books include the award-winning What Has Nature Ever Done For Us?
offtheshelf.org.uk
August 17, 2025 at 10:44 AM
Anyone citing The Overstory by Richard Powers and Flight Behaviour by Barbara Kingsolver as inspiration is going straight to the top of my reading list:

www.theguardian.com/books/2025/a...
Blue sky thinking: why we need positive climate novels
Environmental fiction is booming – but can it move beyond dystopia to a brighter vision of the future?
www.theguardian.com
August 17, 2025 at 9:16 AM
"The stories we tell about our future are not merely reflections of our hopes and fears; they are the architects of the world we are shaping."

Interesting reflections on the climate crisis and the importance of thrutopias:
"The #climate crisis is not something we’ll ‘solve’ in any simple, singular way, it’s something we’ll have to navigate, together, for the long haul."

A joint essay, with Sam Bowen, on why we need stories to help us through what's here and what's to come.

thebeautifultruth.org/world/climat...
How ancient myths are stories of climate change — The Beautiful Truth
Ancient myths weren’t just entertainment; they were survival guides. They now are the blueprint to navigate the climate crisis.
thebeautifultruth.org
August 12, 2025 at 3:40 PM
Why language matters when talking about climate change:
This framing is misleading.

It's super important that we recognise that there's no 'new normal' until we stop burning fossil fuels - it just keeps getting worse & worse!

As the scientists quoted in the article say "today’s high temperatures are likely to be average by 2050, & cool by 2100"
‘Profound concern’ as scientists say extreme heat ‘now the norm’ in UK
Frequency of heatwaves and flooding raises fears over health, infrastructure and how society functions
www.theguardian.com
July 14, 2025 at 10:06 AM
Back at my desk after #PALA2025 with a full notebook and so many new ideas. Thank you to the Aston team for hosting us, and to everyone for your inspiration and support - can't wait for ‪@pala2026.bsky.social‬
July 14, 2025 at 8:10 AM
"New polling data... provides further evidence of the climate silent majority, with many British people backing net zero goals but just one in 10 saying they regularly share their climate views."

www.theguardian.com/environment/...
Thousands meet their MPs to show huge demand for climate action
Mass lobby in Westminster kicked off with giant image on white cliffs of Dover stating ‘89% of people want climate action’
www.theguardian.com
July 9, 2025 at 8:44 AM
Too many people in power or with platforms “have not yet understood that we’re in a war of language – and a war of the truth – about the climate”

Luisa Neubauer, from: www.theguardian.com/environment/...
‘A war of the truth’: Europe’s heatwaves are failing to spur support for climate action
Voters may feel hotter summers are ‘too much’ but they appear to tolerate roll-back of policies to stop global heating
www.theguardian.com
July 5, 2025 at 7:34 AM
If you're worried about the current 'grim' news from climate scientists, it only takes two minutes to email your MP and let them know.
Our new paper updating key metrics in the IPCC is now out, and the news is grim:

⬆️ Human induced warming now at 1.36C
⬆️ Rate of warming now 0.27C / decade
⬆️ Sharp increase in Earth's energy imbalance
⬇️ Remaining 1.5C carbon budget only 130 GtCO2

essd.copernicus.org/...
Indicators of Global Climate Change 2024: annual update of key indicators of the state of the climate system and human influence
Abstract. In a rapidly changing climate, evidence-based decision-making benefits from up-to-date and timely information. Here we compile monitoring datasets (published at https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15639576; Smith et al., 2025a) to produce updated estimates for key indicators of the state of the climate system: net emissions of greenhouse gases and short-lived climate forcers, greenhouse gas concentrations, radiative forcing, the Earth's energy imbalance, surface temperature changes, warming attributed to human activities, the remaining carbon budget, and estimates of global temperature extremes. This year, we additionally include indicators for sea-level rise and land precipitation change. We follow methods as closely as possible to those used in the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report (AR6) Working Group One report. The indicators show that human activities are increasing the Earth's energy imbalance and driving faster sea-level rise compared to the AR6 assessment. For the 2015–2024 decade average, observed warming relative to 1850–1900 was 1.24 [1.11 to 1.35] °C, of which 1.22 [1.0 to 1.5] °C was human-induced. The 2024-observed best estimate of global surface temperature (1.52 °C) is well above the best estimate of human-caused warming (1.36 °C). However, the 2024 observed warming can still be regarded as a typical year, considering the human-induced warming level and the state of internal variability associated with the phase of El Niño and Atlantic variability. Human-induced warming has been increasing at a rate that is unprecedented in the instrumental record, reaching 0.27 [0.2–0.4] °C per decade over 2015–2024. This high rate of warming is caused by a combination of greenhouse gas emissions being at an all-time high of 53.6±5.2 Gt CO2e yr−1 over the last decade (2014–2023), as well as reductions in the strength of aerosol cooling. Despite this, there is evidence that the rate of increase in CO2 emissions over the last decade has slowed compared to the 2000s, and depending on societal choices, a continued series of these annual updates over the critical 2020s decade could track decreases or increases in the rate of the climatic changes presented here.
essd.copernicus.org
June 19, 2025 at 7:49 AM
"We should remember that fish are wildlife, not “seafood”. They are not put on Earth for our consumption. They do not exist in “stocks”, but in populations and ecosystems. There is no such thing as “underexploited” or “underfished” "

#Ecostylistics
June 13, 2025 at 11:20 AM
Reposted by Pete Harvey
Our future may depend on the humanities wonkhe.com/blogs/our-fu...
Our future may depend on the humanities
For Peter Sutoris, the humanities hold the key to understanding and responding to the many civilisational crises we face
wonkhe.com
May 24, 2025 at 7:59 PM
Reposted by Pete Harvey
What we should fear is that this cloud will clear.

We desperately need rain.

Please @metoffice.bsky.social do step up and help raise awareness of the reality.

The wrong use of language is dangerous.

#languagematters
When you open the curtains on Saturday morning, some may be disappointed to see grey skies ☁️

Fear not, this cloud will gradually clear during the day to allow lots more sunshine by the afternoon ☀️
May 17, 2025 at 9:29 AM