Making Changelings: harking to the sensitive children

Motherhood, in different forms, has been my gateway back into climate activism and ecologically-engaged performance. Not through a sense of generational guilt – people of all ages are entwined in the same system – but through contact with a particular kind of young person. You could call them the sensitive children: the young people who observe phenomena closely and feel them deeply, perhaps too closely and deeply for everyday survival. Greta Thunberg has highlighted the role of her autism in keeping her gaze fixed on the hard realities of climate breakdown; beyond this, the wider mysterious landscape of neurodiversity brings perspectives we urgently need to harness. As a storyteller, together with Adderstone collaborator Gemma McDermott, I am exploring: how do we stand as good enough mothers to young people transfixed by the coming and present storms? What can we learn from them, and how can we help them create spaces of shared power and platforms from which to speak? This personal essay will stand as a companion to our performance CHANGELINGS which will be available as a recording to readers.