Description

Shadow and Light: The Sustainability Project

In this timely and thought-provoking poetry collection, Stuart explores the complex terrain of sustainability through a powerful dual lens of shadow and light.

Written in response to a performance invitation at Wirral MakeFest 2024, these poems emerged in a creative burst that captures both the urgency of our environmental crisis and the persistent hope for renewal. Like the yin-yang symbol that inspired its structure, the collection acknowledges darkness while embracing light.

What You’ll Find Inside:

Part I: The Shadow Side confronts uncomfortable truths about climate collapse, greenwashing, exploitation, and our complex relationship with consumption. From the haunting “Climate Collapse” to the reflective “UNESCO World Heritage Status,” these poems don’t shy away from difficult realities.

Photo Interlude features Stuart’s own photography, creating visual connections to the themes explored in the text—from Liverpool’s skyline to the reclaimed Port Sunlight River Park.

Part II: The Light Side illuminates paths forward through poems like “The Four Domains,” “No Poverty,” and “The Greening of Coal Country,” celebrating initiatives that transform landscapes and communities.

Throughout, Stuart weaves personal observation with global perspective, referencing the UN Sustainability Goals, UNESCO sites, and local transformations like Port Sunlight River Park—once a landfill, now a thriving natural space.

This collection invites readers to reflect on our relationship with the planet while offering glimpses of what might be possible when we commit to change. As the final poem suggests, “Everything is possible, it takes a single step… to begin the journey of hope.”