Letters to the Earth: A Photography Challenge
** This photography challenge is sponsored by and in collaboration with Vivobarefoot Kids. **
Letters to the Earth is a global campaign to raise awareness about climate change. We want to help bring your messages to life and share them with people around the world. We’re co-hosting a photography challenge with Vivobarefoot Kids to raise awareness for the Letters to the Earth campaign, as well as the climate crisis in general. All the info you need to be a part of this is below. We hope you’ll join us!
Image credit: @swissmountainlife
Forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair.”
Khalil Gibran
Image credit: @dimples.and.the.blonde
How the Letters to the Earth campaign began
In the early spring of 2019, a small group of women came together around a kitchen table to talk about the increasingly dire news of climate and ecological collapse. They were inspired to bring that news to the forefront of the public conversation and get people thinking and talking about the state of our planet.
In collaboration with Culture Declares Emergency, the British public was invited to put pen to paper and write a creative response to our planet regarding climate change. The invitation was open to interpretation and open to all. Within a month, thousands of letters poured in from all over the world – from 4-year-olds to great grandparents, artists, scientists, nurses. The Letters to the Earth campaign took off!
Now in 2021, Letters to the Earth continues to be a huge success, thanks to the efforts of the coordinators and the support of Climate 2025, a small team of educators, creatives, and publicists, and people like YOU with a voice and a passion for change.
Image credit: @kristcx
The power of a letter
Writing a letter to the Earth can be a simple and powerful way to deepen our connection with the natural world and the people we are sharing it with. Writing a letter is an opportunity to bring out all your fears, your frustrations, and your love, to process what is happening to the world, and to create something new and beautiful and powerful.
A letter can express your hopes or fears for the future. What future do you want for your children? What do you want to say to the government policymakers about their decisions for the Earth? How can you thank the Earth? What is your love letter to the Earth?
The letters that came in were powerful. They were beautiful and haunting, inspiring and heart-breaking. They expressed love, anger, gratitude, humor, awe, despair, and hope. And most importantly, they all send the message that it’s time for change.
Image credit: @sara_mccarty
How the Letters are used
In 2019, batches of Letters to the Earth were sent to over 50 venues and community spaces worldwide. They organized their own readings on a day of joint action. Some venues opened their doors free of charge to the public, others live-streamed and others took to the streets to read the letters aloud. High-profile readers alongside young people and local communities were involved in the presentation of these letters.
Musicians such as Yoko Ono, journalists such as Rebecca Solnit, and poets such as Kae Tempest contributed their words. Actors such as Andrew Scott, Paapa Essiedu, Alex Lawther, and Emma Thompson read letters at live events and on camera.
The campaign facilitated hundreds of cultural organizations and artists to Declare Climate & Ecological Emergency as part of Culture Declares Emergency; the first sector to ‘Declare’ globally.
This November at the next UN Climate Summit, decisions will be made that will determine the rest of our lives and the lives of generations to come. Now is the time to act to let our world leaders know that we need an answer to climate change and action now.
A select number of Letters to the Earth will be read at the Summit to showcase a diversity of voices and experiences so as to raise awareness of the climate and ecological emergency and stimulate the will to act.
Image credit: @wildstokefam
A letter in photo form
This year, we want to encourage and inspire you to take action and write your own letter to the Earth. A letter to the Earth can be written to or from anything – another species, a person, or a moment in time. It could be the Earth, the future, a person in a position of power, the sea, or an animal. You can submit your letters to http://www.letterstotheearth.com and add your voice to the campaign
And it doesn’t have to be a physical letter…how about a photo?
The Run Wild My Child community is filled with photographers, artists, storytellers, musicians, and creatives. We want to see (and share) your IMAGES inspired by this campaign. We hope that your photos will serve as a visual way to inspire others to write letters.
If a pen is mightier than the sword and if a picture is worth 1,000 words, just think of how powerful your image will be.
Together we can encourage even more participants to write their own letter and tell their story.
Feature image credit: @usalongtheway
Image credit: @meghavelaarphoto
Letters to the Earth photography challenge
We are so excited to be pairing up with Vivobarefoot Kids to host a Letters to the Earth photography challenge on Instagram.
Starting today, September 8, 2021, we will be featuring your images representing your interpretation of a Letter to the Earth. All you need to do is post a photo that visually shows your message to our planet. You can be as creative as you want! We only ask that your kids be wearing Vivobarefoot shoes or be BAREFOOT in the images.
In order to participate in the challenge (with a chance to win prizes listed below), all you have to do is:
- Post your image to Instagram
- Be sure you’re following and tag@vivobarefoot.kids, @runwildmychild and @letterstotheearth_
- Use the hashtags #letterstotheearth and #barefootletters
That’s it! We will close the challenge on October 8, 2021 and work with Vivobarefoot Kids to select winners. Grand prize winner will receive Vivobarefoot shoes for the whole family (up to 5 pairs) and a copy of the Letters to the Earth book, which includes a collection of letters. Select runners-up will win a copy of the Run Wild My Child Earth Day Action Guide. Winners can be worldwide.
Feature image credit: @roaminggonzalez
Image credit: @sara_mccarty
About Vivobarefoot
We are thrilled to once again be working with Vivobarefoot as a co-host of this photo challenge. Vivobarefoot is a B-Corp-certified footwear brand that aims to reconnect people and the planet. They believe that human health depends on the health of our planet and we are proud to partner with a company that shares our mission of connecting kids to nature in a sustainable way.
You can find Vivobarefoot online in the following locations:
Instagram: @Vivobarefoot and @Vivobarefoot.kids
Website: http://www.vivobarefoot.com
Image credit: @dimples.and.the.blonde
We can’t wait to see your messages for a better future.
What do you have to say?
** This photography challenge is sponsored by and in collaboration with Vivobarefoot Kids. **
