UnEarth Magazine

Solarpunk: Radical Optimism

Words by Van Lambie & Owain Williams Cyberpunk. The cyberpunk subgenre, once a fringe area of science fiction, has now become a haunting reality that we are rapidly approaching. The genesis of the movement lies with science fiction writers like Philip K. Dick in the 1960s, whose novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? was…
On the road: a personal history of cycle touring

Words and photography by Oliver Eastwood On April 22nd 1884, Thomas Stevens, a British-born American miner, set off by bicycle from San Francisco, California. Riding a penny-farthing and carrying little more than a pen and paper, a few spare items of clothing and a revolver, one might think he was heading out for a day…
New Horizons for Biodiversity Awareness

Words by Grace Brady I’ll be the first to admit the fish I have tattooed on my body are strange. Sunfish, moonfish, redfish, dragonfish – a chronicle of the weird and wonderful lives indelibly on my skin. The ocean sunfish (Mola mola) is one of the largest bony fish in the world, and I have…
In the Aftermath of Hurricane Ian: Stories from Southwest Florida

Words and photography by Katie Gretter Over winter break, I went with my family to Sanibel Island, just off the coast of Fort Myers in Southwest Florida. It’s a place we visit every year because my grandparents have had a house there since the 80s. I love the island for its parks, beaches, and wonderful…
ChatGTP & Rubik’s Cubes: AI & the Carbon Puzzle

Words by Clarissa Bell Ah yes, it’s the obligatory ChatGTP article – even in your beloved environmental university publication! With the artificial intelligence (AI) company OpenAI recently developing the language model ChatGTP, it has made countless headlines and sustained media interest through debates about potential mishaps in universities. However, since it blew up online, it…
Toilet Paper is a Load of Crap

Words by Angus Chambers I’m back with another taboo-busting semi-incomprehensible pep talk. It’s time we cut the crap: toilet roll is ineffective, expensive and terrible for the environment. In preparation for this article, I was brainstorming ideas with my flatmate. To our credit, we had a fairly interesting and earnest discussion about some genuine environmental…
A Way out: The case for eating invasive species

Words by Jennie Wang with art by Sofia Mona People’s voracious and seemingly insatiable appetites have eaten their way through species: Atlantic cod, bison and Pismo clams, to name a few depleting examples. Meanwhile, there are 4300 invasive types of wildlife in the United States alone, and globally, invasive species have caused over $1.3 trillion…
Space, scotland, and sustainability

Words and art by Samantha Hambleton Human curiosity has long been captured by space exploration, encouraging us to gaze beyond our own planet and investigate the vast and mystifying cosmos. However, as we venture out into space, it’s important that we consider the environmental and ethical implications of our actions. The rapid growth of space…
Concrete Desert to Green Oasis: The Need for More Green Spaces in Cities

Words by Holly Rodger The earth is soft under your feet as you watch strong oaks and conifers sway in the gentle breeze while clouds roll across the deep blue sky. Rays of sunlight filter through the canopies, throwing spots of warm light onto the earthy ground. Grey city streets and the tireless hum of…
The Call of the Wild: When Nature Pushes Back

Words by Mia Cammarota In 2012, my family and I were vacationing at Glacier National Park in Montana. I distinctly remember being told to enjoy the glaciers while they were still there because if I came back as an adult they would be gone. The doomsday tone of the park ranger alarmed me and while…
What makes a place vulnerable?

Words by Jadzia Allright Vulnerability describes the likelihood that something, someone, or someplace will be susceptible to the damaging effects of a hazard. There are many factors playing into aspects of vulnerability, such as physical hazards, social players, economic causes, and environmental factors. For example, the poor design and construction of buildings would leave a…
Ageing up in Academia: attending the BES conference as an undergraduate helper

Words by Bella Roberts with art by Jenna Bornstein “Europe’s largest and most welcoming conference dedicated to ecology” attracted over 1,200 ecologists from around the world to frosty Edinburgh, just before Christmas 2022. At the BES (British Ecological Society) annual conference, researchers and graduate students present their work in punchy 12-minute talks, discuss hot topics…
Activism to Acceptance: Music’s Narration of the Climate Movement

Words and art by Margaret Chingos What’s a song that you can’t help but sing along to? Don’t pretend you don’t have one. Everyone has their hype-up songs and cry-to songs and guilty-pleasure-breakup songs. We share these because music speaks to all of us. Music is beautiful because of this collective nature. It is deeply…
The Dark Side of ‘Plant’ Based Meats

Words by Ellie Thorson with art by Samantha Hambleton Having gained mainstream acceptance, popular fast-food menus like McDonalds, Burger King, and Taco Bell now all offer alternatives to traditional meats and poultry — plant-based food and drink options are more available than ever before. Current trends aimed at improving one’s personal environmental impact and health,…
Uncorking its Potential: cork as a modern-day sustainable material

The other day, I was sitting opposite my dear friend whilst having a coffee and she was talking about her partner’s new surfboard. I do not know much about surfboards other than they float and that they are used for water-based activities, such as surfing, but I was nodding along and the conversation was holding…
‘Now’ – A short story of the climate crisis

Words and art by Josie Porter Then The waves crash. The birds cluster, taking aim on the fish below the surface. The insects within the trees creak, and chirp, and all other sounds sing loud. The sun sets. A cacophony of noises clash in a thunderstorm of sound. The rocks take in the salty wash…
Banana leaves, Ulam, vapes and Malaysian kitchens

Words and art by Theo Verden The scene opens on a busy Malaysian fusion restaurant, Dusun, in Bangsar, Kuala Lumpur. The heat, tension, and business of the open-plan kitchen spills into the dining area.   *Crash* *Bang* *Pan sounds*     KITCHEN STAFF: “Dua nasi lemak dusun ayam, satu asam pedas udang galah. CEPAT CEPAT!” (“Two coconut rice…
In Defence of Thinking

Words and photo by John Kite Essays, academia, & thinking. The word ‘essay’, forewarned by a teacher or older sibling, struck a deep terror growing up – surmised in innocent minds only as unfathomable boredom and preposterous sacrifice of time, freedom, and soul to academia. Yet here we are, masters of the formula: contextual introduction,…
Not just bins: what is sustainability all about?

Words by Josie Porter Most people associate Sustainable Development (SD) with bins, single-use plastic, pollution, and our oceans. While these are indispensable aspects to SD, there is so much more to the concept. For this article, we’ll look more closely at one aspect of SD: development. Development is an odd word. The general definition you…
Open the Floodgates: Stopping the Drowning of Climate Crisis Stories!

Words by Niamh Malloy with image courtesy of SETA What do spiders on coffins, the Notre Dame, and the cast of Don’t Worry Darling have in common? We seem to care about them far more than we do about our planet, or at least the media does. Modern-day media plays a huge role in shaping…
the NIMBY: threat to green infrastructure

Words by Angus Chambers with image courtesy of Clemson University In his spare time, professional idiot Brendan Clarke-Smith serves the people of Bassetlaw as a Conservative Member of Parliament. As one of the fabled 2019 intake he has accused the National Trust of sharing ‘Cultural Marxist dogma’, decried the England football team for taking the…
Food for Community: The Tree, St Andrews

Words by Margaret Chingos When was the last time you truly felt connected to the food you buy? I will be the first to admit that when I walk into Tesco for my weekly veg, being confronted by a wall of uniform, plastic-wrapped produce makes me feel profoundly disconnected from the food systems that sustain…
Up shit’s creek: the murky reality of UK waters

Words by Lucy Jones with art by Theo Verden Remember pooh sticks, that game you would play as a kid where you would drop a stick into the river on one side of a bridge, then dash over to see it pass under the bridge on the other side? Nowadays, its name could be more…
A Forest of Thoughts: My Journey with Eco-Anxiety

Words and art by Heather Fortune I have always felt at home in forests. The moment I step foot beneath the cover of the canopy, I enter a different world. One without deadlines, without the troubles of everyday life. Foliage crunching underfoot is a comfort; the smell of the earth is soothing. I can breathe…
Native people, native trees, & the power of spiritual ecology

Words by Oliver Eastwood with art by Jenna Bornstein “We are one with the tree, partners with the tree, companions with the tree”, says Charlie Nelson, an Elder of Bigaawinashkoziibiing, Roseau River Anishinaabe First Nation in Manitoba, Canada. On the other side of the Atlantic, French Jesuit priest Pierre Teilhard de Chardin wrote of divinity…
Green lairds: Pricing out power

Words by Jennie Wang with art by Theo Verden Discourse surrounding land ownership in Scotland has been reignited in recent times with the rise of ‘green lairds’: wealthy, climate conscious individuals who purchase large plots of land in the Scottish Highlands with the goal of mitigating the effects of climate change. Surely this is a…
ESG Investing: Capitalism’s Answer to Climate Change and its Failures

Words by Rose Jones Capitalism has long been recognised as a driving force of global climate change and inequality. Historically, the most profitable decisions are those that are socially exploitative or impose harm to our natural environment, through increased consumption of natural resources, pollution, and destruction of biodiversity. Thus, company executives often refrain from making…
Regenerative, not Destructive

How an Agricultural Revolution Could Address Some of the Greatest Modern Problems Words by Bella Roberts with art by Samantha Hambleton The British countryside is swamped with regimented fields upon fields of wheat, cabbage, rapeseed, potatoes, sheep, and cattle; it doesn’t seem to trouble us that this is not how nature chose to organise its…
Futuristic Fungi: Is Fungi Furniture the Future of Interior Design?

Words by Ellie Thorson with art by Jenna Bornstein Many can say they are familiar with the term ‘fast fashion’; however, the idea of ‘fast furniture’ often flies under the carpet. According to the U.S Enviromental Protection Agency, more than 12 million tons of furniture is discarded and put into landfills annually. While many people…
THE RISE OF ECO ANXIETY IN THE YOUNG GENERATION

Understanding eco-anxiety: What is the growing phenomenon and who is it affecting? Words by Flora Hutchison with art by Jenna Bornstein By now you may have heard the term ‘eco-anxiety’ floating around. Eco-anxiety describes the fear of environmental doom, and while not yet viewed as a diagnosable disorder, it is becoming more widely recognised by…
Making Better Policy through Sustainability

Words by Jude Messler The unfortunate reality of the sustainability movement is that its true value often gets lost in alarmist language. It is indisputable that theories of sustainability are essential to addressing climate change. However, sustainability has broader value in its emphasis on human security and planning. In the United States, politicians often pursue…
Artivism

Words and art by Samantha Hambleton Artivism. Eco-art. Hippies with a paintbrush? To answer the question of ‘what the hell is artivism,’ I thought we could begin by first asking another (seemingly) simpler question: what is art? There are many different answers to this question. I once walked into an art museum in Munich to…
Environmental Surveillance: Can Our Rivers Make Our Public Health Policies?

Words by Clarissa Bell After the years of COVID-19 being front and centre of seemingly every news site, media reporting of public health is more frequent and prevalent than ever. As it should be! Of course, we should have knowledge about public health concerns and environmental risks that are being monitored. However, we don’t see…
A Renewed Indus Valley Civilization

Words by Janvi Poddar India: [Origin – Sanskrit] ‘River Indus’ India is a country that derives its name from the river that brought its first civilizations prosperity; it is a country shielded by the world’s mightiest mountain range in the north and a deep blue ocean in the south, a country that is home to…
A Deep Dive Into the New EU Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation

Words by Avery Reynolds In March 2018, the European Commission released a plan for financing sustainable growth. The regulation was created to channel private investments towards “climate-neutral, climate-resilient, resource-efficient and fair economy, as a complement to public money.” In the impact space right now, there is an issue of information and disclosures from government, private…
The Never-Ending Disaster: How Lower Income Countries will Continue to Suffer

Words by Jadzia Allright Although the recent news has been covering the ongoing floods in Pakistan, albeit not as much as it should have, it will not be long until it is out of the papers and fades from public consciousness. As the world we currently live in is rife with cataclysmic events, it will…
Angels in Wales: How Harbor Porpoise Protection Also Safeguards Rare Angelsharks in Cardigan Bay

Words by Grace Brady with art by Theo Verden With the awareness that biodiversity in the UK is declining at a rapid rate, governance and management strategies have been strongly employed to protect endemic species. Marine mammals, such as seals and dolphins, represent charismatic megafauna within UK waters, and they are also biologically significant to…
Enbridge Explained

While renewables are not exactly a panacea, especially in the short-term, developing reliable sources of renewable energy would help to alleviate the need for pipelines and is certainly a step forward in the right direction.
Fueling the Crisis: Renewable Energy Now!

Words by Maya Zealey Despite enduring hikes in the price of gas as recently as October, UK households are preparing for energy bills to increase a further 50% in the coming months. Last year, global fuel prices reached an all time high, with the wholesale price of gas quadrupling. The UK is particularly vulnerable because…
Why We Need to Start Taking Control of Our Pensions

With governments failing to take action, and corporations slowly beginning to make change, the people have the ability to put them under pressure.
Super Khan: London the Sustainability Metropolis

Words by Rose Jones The world is becoming increasingly urbanized. As of 2020, cities are now home to over half of the global population and contribute over 60% of global greenhouse gas emissions, despite only covering 2% of Earth’s surface. The climate crisis necessitates radical action in cities, responding pragmatically to the complex challenges that…
Reframing our Relationship with Nature: The Case of Urban Rewilding

Words by Simone van Nieuwkoop and art by Holly Brown In cities around the world, the nature of life has largely been shaped around human convenience. From busy highways to towering skyscrapers, cities tend to be viewed as human creations that have overpowered nature. This idea that cities are just human habitations, however, has come…
Whats (Really) Goin On: Marvin Gaye and the Complexity of Struggle

Words by Oliver Walter, with art by Theo Verden It’s an impressive album from perhaps the most enduring artist to come out of the turmoil of the 1960s and 70s, and its social message has been strikingly on point since it hit the airwaves. Marvin Gaye’s Whats Goin On is as wide as it is…
You’re Not Happy, Stop Buying Things

Words by John Kite When was the last time you bought something you didn’t need? This month? This week? This morning? We’re all trapped in the addictive cycle of buying, anticipating, unwrapping, and buying again, but like the realisation that you’ve been endlessly scrolling social media, once we see ‘through the looking glass’, we cringe…
How Consumers Have Changed the Sustainability Game

Words by Connor Durkin For decades, companies have tried to blame the climate crisis on consumers. However, according to The Carbon Majors Database, just twenty-five companies are responsible for fifty-one percent of global industrial greenhouse gas emissions, and one hundred companies are culpable for seventy-one percent. Consumers have historically prioritized cost over sustainability; however, this mindset…

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