Fiction
Pens of the Earth: Ten Years Gone
By Richard Salsbury I remember when all this was concrete. Well … and brick and stone and glass. But you get the idea – straight lines; beautiful, flat surfaces as far as the eye could [… read more ]
environmentalism
Social Issues
Pens of the Earth: Portsmouth 2030, A City Transformed
At the Pens of the Earth launch night, Nicholas Sebley from Extinction Rebellion talked about the possibilities and challenges of transforming Portsmouth into a new city by 2030. The way I see it, there are [… read more ]
Fiction
Pens of the Earth: A Year of Lily’s Sunflowers
By Annie Kirby On her sixteenth birthday, Lily Shah opens her front door and stands at the top of the steps leading down to the street. She can’t remember the last time she felt brave [… read more ]
Social Issues
Streets for People: How We Can Solve the Climate Crisis
Our society faces some profound challenges, argues Megan Howson of Portsmouth Friends of the Earth. Climate breakdown is the major issue now but there are also other pressing issues such as poor air quality, obesity, [… read more ]
Fiction
Pens of the Earth: The Street Party
By Christine Lawrence I’ve lived here for fifty years, brought my dear wife back here after we wed, watched children grow up and leave, saw them come back with their own little ones to visit [… read more ]
Social Issues
Pens of the Earth: Streets for People
At Pens of the Earth’s launch night Helen Salsbury talked about rethinking the way our streets are used, and not just assuming they should exist for motorised traffic. Reclaiming streets for people can have an [… read more ]
Social Issues
Pens of the Earth: Trees and the City
November sees the start of tree planting season, and the culmination of the Woodland Trust’s ‘Big Climate Fightback’ campaign which encourages everyone to pledge to plant a tree. But what might this mean in Portsmouth? [… read more ]
Fiction
Pens of the Earth: Drowning, Not Waving
By “SC” She was meandering along the shore between water and strand line – the littoral, the Queen’s land. The beauty of the evening bypassed her, eyes at her feet, not the horizon. I wouldn’t [… read more ]
Poetry
Pens of the Earth: Southsea but Plastic-free
by Alison Habens When the archaeologists of the future find the layers of flip-flop yoghurt pots our people left behind will they wonder what we wanted, how we got it, who we knew suntan bottle, [… read more ]
Fiction
Pens of the Earth: Fish of the Sea
by Eileen Phyall ‘Plastic free,’ he said scornfully. ‘Don’t be ridiculous. You’d put us back to the 1940s.’ ‘When there were no cars parked on this road and you played in the streets,’ Moira said. [… read more ]