Climate Manifesto
2025
THE PEN INTERNATIONAL MANIFESTO ON THE DEFENCE OF NATURE
The PEN Charter states that literature knows no frontiers and, as true as this is to art, it is also true of nature. A river, a bird, or a molecule of oxygen does not know to stop at a checkpoint or border. Nor is it in nature’s—human and non-human— welfare for such walls to exist.
In the role of witness, writers are at the bedrock of important knowledge. At PEN we defend, honour, and protect those who write, often in peril, about the destruction of our planet, and about the necessity of repairing that which can yet be repaired.
PEN believes in the importance of literature and imagination in protecting nature. We know a poet gives us a rose, but also gives the rose to itself. We ask, can we love without the pristine mirror of the moon?
As writers and poets, we mourn the harmful acts to nature—our greatest muse.
PEOPLE OF PEN
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1. Acknowledge that what is said of language can also be said of nature: The limits of our nature are the limits of our world.
2. Recognize that, at the beginning, there was nature, and then human beings emerged. We are here to engage with nature, not to destroy it—because in doing so, we destroy the very essence of our own existence.
3. Understand that nature encompasses all beings, from a single grain of sand to distant stars. We are neither older than them nor can we claim that we will outlive them.
4. Write, read and act with the awareness that the perspectives of civilizations around the world must evolve toward a more harmonious way of life—a life nurtured by nature, not one that exploits it; a life that respects the complexity of nature, rather than one that harms it.
5. Aspire to keep nature as a living inspiration, not something relegated to the past, long gone and lost.
6. Desire to live as free beings within nature, not as its superior. True freedom and equality arise from recognizing that humans are an integral part of nature.
7. Demand justice in all aspects of existence, meaning that nature must be treated with fairness and respect.
8. Defend nature against the harmful actions of individuals, corporations, or governments.
9. Value freedom, peace, and nature with a shared language, for they are interconnected and reflect one another.
10. Call for the freedom of nature.