We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Susan Cope a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Susan, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

My middle grade/young adult novel, What on Earth?, is the creation closest to my heart. Years in television news, where I saw everything from an open-pit mine three miles across, to lush forests suddenly yielding to clear-cut stubble, to pavement so hot it melted the soles of my shoes, alerted me to the devastation humans have brought on the environment, ourselves, and every other living thing.

Years in the classroom, as well as becoming a mother myself, showed me the other side. Adolescents may be a challenge to their parents, but their radiant energy, their leaping intelligence, are compelling reasons for me to do what I can to reorient any and everyone to the threat, as well as the promise, of the future.

What on Earth?, like the Wizard of Oz., begins in the world of here and now. This yields to possible future worlds–both the worst and best. If we keep on as we are, the future is terrifying, downright apocalyptic. If we change our ways, the future won’t be perfect, but the world will heal, as will all its inhabitants, Every one of us, starting with the very young, has power, power to see and change the world.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Recently, I met up with a friend who has followed the same path she was traveling decades ago. She was a talented potter; she still is. One change I note: she gives a substantial amount of her work to a successful charity which feeds the hungry. I admired her beliefs then, and admire them even more now.

On reflection, I realize my path has been more like a braid. My need to work, my need to explore new worlds, and my need to tend to loved ones are braided in a way which has seemed sometimes like a tangle, but in fact makes for strength and ends in purpose.

The seeds of What on Earth? were planted years ago, when I worked in network news. At first hand, I experienced clear-cut forests, open mines, wild fires, blacktop so hot it melted the soles of my shoes, extreme weather events and a volcanic eruption. I’m one of few who survived a secondary but impressive eruption of Mount St. Helen from a helicopter tossed like a toy inside the crater.

Later, I realized that my survival was dependent on forces larger than a volcano: global climate change means all life is at risk. I despaired. What on Earth? was born from that despair. How could we let that happen in the first place, and how could we continue along a clear path of destruction? Could we change the story?

Urgent and terrifying as I found this threat, motherhood and a second career in the classroom delayed What on Earth? Through my daughter, I came to know the springing joy, the luminous intelligence of young life. At school, my students slipped me a backstage pass to the world of adolescents. Their spirit, their brilliance, gave me a sense of optimism. Also a sense of how much we have to lose.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

Many years ago, on the first Earth Day, I believed we were sure to wake up, to clean up our mess. I did a few things to mend my wasteful ways and clean up after others, I attended a few demonstrations, I wrote a few letters.

Nothing changed. I became cynical.

Traveling for television news, I saw devastation. I saw humans at their worst. When the first space shuttle was to land, I was handed a wonderful insight. And it was not about the inventiveness and persistance of humanity. Weather had moved the landing spot to White Sands, in New Mexico, A sand storm had us all sheltering in mobile homes. I found myself seated next to an astronaut, Eugene Cernan. With emotion, he told me about the profound feeling of standing on the moon and looking back at earth. He was in awe at its beauty.

What I realized was that we live in the Garden of Eden; it is our home. We have taken it for granted. We have used it as a dump. We have placed greed, not nurture, as our priority. But cynicism and despair, are useless dead ends. Activism is the only possible way back. In my case, writing a novel , What on Earth?, set in a time of climate change, is action, as well as a call to action to middle school and young adult readers.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

Writing is its own reward, as well as a light to share with others. Sometimes it’s both. I stumbled on a letter I’d written to my grandmother years ago: a vivid reminder of who we both were, what mattered to us both, and what we meant to one another.

In the moment, writing is a way to process or discover my thoughts. These are secret, private pleasures.
Choosing the right word or phrase, eliminating all but the most essential, editing and refining, are like rubbing sticks together until there is a spark.

When I can create a spark, then cause it to jump to another, that is satisfaction. What on Earth?, my novel about climate change, is my shower of sparks: its mission, to set many a young mind alight with hope and purpose for the future.

Contact Info:

• Website: susancope.com
• Instagram: susancopewrites
• Facebook: What on Earth?

Image Credits
Susan Cope portraits: Maggie Taplin