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Ecowriting for Sustainable Futures: Nature Poetry and Ecopoetry
By Jermaine Thompson with Rebecca Woodard and Kristine M. Schutz
Document: Column
Introductory Paragraph: Nature poetry focuses on the natural world as a primary topic, inspiration, or setting. Reading nature poetry allows young people to examine the symbolic representations of plants, trees, animals, people, etc., which can support them in their thinking about ecological problems and change their attitudes too (Jamilova & Nuritdinova, 2024). Writing nature poetry can also connect youth with the natural world and foster space for creativity, play, and emotional exploration (Aravani & Daskolia, 2026). It can even offer young people a space to effectively communicate about risks and drivers of environmental degradation in their communities (Makwanya & Dick, 2014). A subgenre of nature poetry is ecopoetry, which Shoptaw (2016) suggests is both “environmental,” or focused on the non-human natural world, and “environmentalist,” meaning it advocates in some way for environmental protection (p. 395). It is a form of nature poetry with a specific focus on moving beyond observation and explicitly exploring interconnectedness. Studies have documented how reading and writing ecopoetry can be both cognitively and effectively engaging for children (Taking & Asrifran, 2025), supporting them to challenge human domination over nature (Deszcz-Tryhubczak & van Bergen, 2021), develop interdisciplinary understandings of sustainability and climate change (Walshe, 2017), cultivate their transnational imaginations through explorations of rootedness and mobility across space and place (Shahwan, 2024), and also “illuminate vital aspects of cultural identity,” including racial and ethnic identities (Alfuhayd, 2025).
DOI: https://doi.org/10.33600/IRCJ.54.3.2026.53
Page Numbers: 53-60
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