Environmental Writing for Climate Week NYC 2026
September 20–27, 2027


Description of the project:

Environmental Writing for Climate Week NYC 2026 is a self-guided, open writing initiative that invites participants to observe and write about the environment — natural and urban — in their immediate surroundings. Over the course of one week, participants can join for one day, several days, or all seven days, from New York City or anywhere else.

Each session consists of spending a short period of time outdoors and paying close attention to a specific environmental event, such as wind, heat, rain, air, movement, animal or plant life, or material surfaces. Participants then produce a brief text based on direct observation.

In addition to observation, participants are encouraged to ask questions that emerge from what they notice: Why is this happening? What has changed? What is not immediately clear? These questions do not need to be resolved. Participants may choose to pursue these questions further through additional research or leave them open as part of the writing.

You may participate in this initiative individually or with family, friends, or members of your community.  

If you do not write in English, please use your native or preferred language.  

The project focuses on writing grounded in lived environmental experience. By combining attention, description, and questioning, this practice creates a more intentional and reflective engagement with the immediate environment. It opens a way to consider broader questions about environment and climate change as they are experienced locally, through direct encounter rather than abstraction.

Participants are invited to submit their writing. Selected contributions will be compiled into a digital PDF booklet, released in October 2026.

Links for registration and submission:

REGISTER. Please register your interest so we know how many people are planning to participate.

SUBMIT. Please submit all your writing at once as a .docx or .pdf file by October 1. For each piece, include the date and place where the observation and writing took place. 

Photos: You may include one photo per day with your submission. You may include photos of yourself and members of your community writing outdoors. Please submit no more than 8 photographs in total.

Permission to publish: By submitting your writing and photographs, you grant the project organizers permission to edit, reproduce, publish, and distribute them in the project’s digital booklet, website, social media, promotional materials, and other related public materials. You retain ownership of your original work. Submission does not guarantee publication, and selected contributions may be lightly edited for clarity, grammar, length, and formatting. Contributors will be credited by name unless they request to remain anonymous.

How to participate:

  1. Choose one day or several days between September 20–27, 2027.
  2. Go outside.
  3. Observe one environmental event for 10–20 minutes. You may take photos to help yourself write or edit. You may include one photo per day with your submission.
  4. Write 200–500 words (recommended). Please write from your direct observation and experience. The piece should focus on a specific place, time, and environmental condition. Please include the date, time of the day if important, and place. 
  5. Reflect on the questions that emerge. What did you notice? What changed? What is not immediately clear? You may ask questions about what you observe—for example, why a particular event is happening, how it might be explained scientifically, how local people understand it, or how it affects you personally. You may choose to research these questions or leave them open.
  6. Send your pieces by October 1.
  7. Selected pieces will be included in a digital PDF booklet and shared publicly.

Accessibility and alternative participation:

Participants are welcome to adapt the exercise to their abilities and environment.

  • You do not have to go outside. You may observe from a window, balcony, doorway, or indoor space.
  • You may choose a shorter observation time, such as 5–10 minutes, if needed.
  • You may submit a shorter text than 200 words if that makes participation possible.
  • You may focus on any environmental condition available to you, including light, air, sound, temperature, movement, plants, animals, water, or material surfaces.
  • If writing is difficult, you may use voice-to-text, speech-to-text, or another assistive tool to produce a written submission.

 Writing tips:

  • Start with your senses. What do you see, hear, feel, smell? Stay with what is immediately perceptible.
  • Be specific. Focus on one place, one moment, one condition. Avoid general descriptions.
  • Notice change. What shifts during your observation? Light, movement, sound, temperature?
  • Stay with what is happening. Describe the event as it unfolds, rather than summarizing it.
  • Let questions emerge. If something is unclear or surprising, note it. You do not need to resolve it.
  • Avoid general statements. Instead of “it is windy, ” describe how the wind moves through things.
  • Keep the scale small. A few precise details are stronger than a broad description.
  • Write simply. Use clear, direct language. No need for elaborate phrasing.
  • Do not worry about being “creative.” The goal is attention and description, not perfection of style.