4.8 Sophie Pavelle: Finding the Lost Species of Climate Change Britain
Welcome to series 4, episode 8 of the Prompted by Nature podcast! This week I’m thrilled to release my conversation with the lovely Sophie Pavelle, a Science Communicator, writer, and part of the Beaver Trust team. I came across Sophie a few years ago and have been wanting to get her on the podcast for a while. I love her creativity and the sense of fun that she brings to potentially challenging topics like climate change, environmental advocacy and wildlife and conservation issues. Sophie regularly works with past interviewee Nina Constable, who appears in series 2, episode 2, on the documentary Beavers without Borders in 2021 ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yK6qrCcVwacand ) more recently On the Edge, about making space for rivers in Great Britain ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJOpfHDuww8 )
Sophie is both humble and quick-witted and it was a joy to speak with her about her new book Forget-Me-Not, which explores the lesser-known species threatened by climate breakdown here in the UK. We discuss, amongst other topics:
Her connection with nature and doing it her way
Science communication and its connection to her creativity
The importance of knowing your own strengths
Sophie’s process of communicating complex topics and publications such as the state of nature paper
The power of personal voice and letting the words flow
Hope as a narrative technique
Individual species as gateway to wider climate issues
How she overcomes any creative blocks
In my eyes, Forget-Me-Not is a down-to-earth take on what can be very complex - not to mention scary! - subjects and I really feel that this is an important book in terms of the way in which Sophie makes these issues understandable to those of us who don’t necessarily know the ins and outs of how the natural world works as well as people new to the conversation and climate breakdown conversation. Sophie’s passion for nature and wildlife shines through and I really think you'll love both the book and this conversation.
Sophie is on social media @sophiepavs, where you can find links to all her work. Forget-Me-Not is available through Bloomsbury via your local bookshop, bookshop.org, hive.co.uk or you can ask you local library to order it in if they don’t already have it! Remember to support your indie bookshop, read the book and then post that all-important review on Amazon, which is a really good way of supporting writers without having to support a multinational conglomerate. I’ve popped direct links to these websites on the episode page on my website plus links to the documentaries I mentioned above.
As always, I’m @prompted.by.nature on Insta, @promptedxnature on Twitter and on my website www.promptedbynature.co.uk where you can find links to my substack newsletter, my buymeacoffee page, all episodes of the podcast, upcoming writing classes in Brighton and Hove, plus my own writing.
Remember to listen in to the writing prompt that follows this episode.
Happy listening and I’ll speak to you soon!
Helen x
