Rehabilitating Earth: The Manchester student making climate change an accessible topic for all

Manchester Master’s student Toryn Whitehead is on a mission: Get people talking about climate change.

Assignments don’t come much bigger than that. But the 22-year-old seems to have found a very effective method of achieving his aim.

Toryn has set up a magazine called Rehabilitating Earth: A publication dedicated to fighting misinformation and educating people on climate change in a refreshingly accessible way. 

What began as a humble blog in September 2020 has now flourished into a site that’s opening up the conversation further and wider than Toryn had ever imagined.

Unlike other science publications, Rehabilitating Earth attempts to draw readers into the climate change debate by marrying science with art and literature.

“Climate change is this huge, huge issue that people say they care about but they’re not really doing anything because they don’t properly understand it,” Toryn told The Manc.

“I think a lot of discourse surrounding climate change is very sciency and doesn’t want the general person to get involved so I want to change that and try to take a different perspective in engaging people.

“I chose the title Rehabilitating Earth because climate change represents that the world is broken and heading for disaster and the magazine aims to provide information on how we can start to repair and move towards rehabilitating.“

Toryn now has a team of writers who regularly contribute to the magazine with articles and artistic pieces. 

Rehabilitating Earth has covered a range of topics including the acidification of oceans and issues surrounding fast fashion – and Toryn hopes the magazine’s articles will allow readers to learn something new whilst incentivising them to take action in their own lives.

Toryn is always looking for new writers who share his passion for climate change and hopes to diversify his staff so everyone can feel they have a voice in the climate change debate.

Moving forward, he plans to expand the magazine – with ambitions for a printed version. 

“I really like the idea of having the magazine as a platform for writers who don’t have any prior experience to get involved and to use it as a ladder to go up”, he stated.

Toryn aims to engage as many people as possible in conversations about climate change.

Alongside his magazine he has also started a ‘Climate 4 Kids’ initiative which aims to educate school children on the impacts of climate change. 

The initiative offers inspirational talks to school children of all ages and helps to break down some of the issues surrounding the topic into digestible chunks. 

“It’s great to get the children’s perspectives on the issues and listen to them,” Toryn said.

“It’s just fascinating to sit down with them and have a chat about what they do and don’t know. 

“My message to the kids is just to speak up and speak loud because your voice matters.”

Toryn is hosting a climate change poetry competition with one school in order to further his ambition of combining science with art.

He is also collaborating with Manchester based eco-friendly clothes company ‘Trouser Project’ to create some Rehabilitating Earth Merchandise and a short film about slow fashion. 

The magazine can be found on the Rehabilitating Earth website, alongside details of the Climate4kids initiative. 

Featured image: Toryn Whitehead