Michael Rosen leads Hot Poets in climate change education programme
A new UK-wide creative education programme has been launched, aiming to inspire and inform the next generation of climate actionists through poetry and spoken word.
Hot Poets Ignite has matched over 20 poets with prestigious climate scientists to develop and deliver a creative climate education programme which aims to reach over one million children and teachers. The ambitious goal involves a national schools programme and a National Poetry Day 2026 takeover, where all education resources, distributed to a quarter of the UK’s schools, will be created by Hot Poets under the theme of ‘WONDER’.
Each poet, including Michael Rosen, has produced an original children’s poem, with the collection covering a wide range of environmental topics, from wind energy and whale poo, to citizen science and cycling. Rosen’s poem, ‘Overheard in Space’, brings the Earth and Moon into conversation about all the strange and wonderful things happening on the planet.
The poets, who have been trained by Michael Rosen, will be dispatched to schools across the UK to deliver climate education in classrooms.
Overheard in Space by Michael Rosen
Creating a sense of wonder
Michael Rosen said: “Global heating is the single biggest threat facing mankind, yet climate education in this country is woefully inadequate. Children need to be equipped with knowledge and skills but they also need to be inspired, and to feel a sense of agency and excitement about the future they will shape. I would like to see positive examples of climate action woven throughout the curriculum and am proud to be an ambassador for Hot Poets Ignite which seeks to do exactly that.”
Hot Poets Co-Director, Liv Torc said: “The aim is to ignite a sense of wonder about our natural world and the urgent need to protect it, individually and collectively. This is an exercise in changing the story, from all that is wrong, to all that is still to play for. Who better to help re-write the story, than poets and storytellers?”.
Educational resources
All of the poems have been brought together in a special edition book titled ‘Wonder. Thunder. Blunder’ along with the option to book a Hot Poet for schools, or get access to exclusive Michael Rosen teaching content.
To find out more, get a copy of the new collection or apply for a school visit by the Hot Poets, visit hotpoets.org.
The project is funded by Arts Council England, with digital elements supported by The Space,
The poems, alongside teaching resources developed in collaboration with Oxford University’s Climate Research Network and UCL’s Centre for Climate Change and Sustainability Education, will form the basis of a poetry-centred, cross-curricular schools offer that includes ‘poets in school’ workshops, digital CPDs and video lessons led by Michael Rosen, and a range of supporting materials drawing on science and real world examples of world-shaping innovations and action.
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