With global warming accelerating and the climate crisis becoming a pressing problem, young people all over the world who represent society’s future leaders are calling for governments to make decarbonization a reality, and for a change in people’s behavior. Under these circumstances, teenagers in Tokyo share their own thoughts and feelings on facing the climate crisis by way of poetry writing and a poetry reading event. The program comprises the following three stages.
Stage 1: All participants attend online lectures by experts on climate and environmental issues, and on poetry writing by poets. After that, each participant writes a poem on the climate crisis. On another day they present their poetry for a interactive discussion with the poets, after which they make further improvements to their work.
Step 2: Participants from Step 1 who wish to appear in the poetry reading event receive instruction from professional actors on reading poetry aloud and rehearse for the performance.
Step 3: Ten or so finalists for the poetry reading event read their work in front of an audience at a small recital hall in Tokyo. Afterwards there will be a post-event talk with commentators.