Art involves the imagination, and if we believe that revolutions are possible, we have to
be able to imagine different modes of being, different ways of existing in society,
different social relations.
— Angela Y. Davis

The transformation needed to confront climate change demands an unprecedented cooperative shift in human behavior. Yet in recent decades, climate communication has generated overwhelming evidence but little action, leaving people drowning in acronyms, statistics, and jargon that seeks to move the brain; to create meaningful and transformative change, climate communication must move beyond the brain and strike the heart. This conviction led us to co-found Climate Futures Studio, not from a strategic plan, but from a late-night conversation among friends in art, science, and climate communication regarding the prophetic vision of Octavia Butler’s Parable of the Sower. Together we confronted a shared truth: the evidence of the crisis was grim, and the futures most often imagined for us were nearly all dystopias scripted by fossil fue corporations, extractive industries, and political elites, presented as inevitable. Climate Futures Studio emerged from a shared refusal of surrender. We wanted climate communication that moved beyond statistics and acronyms toward a practice that engages smell, sound, texture, memory, and emotion, communication that feels as much as it informs. We set out to create spaces where knowledge systems long excluded could lead the way, and where art, science, and storytelling could become tools for building a future worth running toward, together. We asked instead: What if we get it right? What would it mean to run toward the future, not away from it? What if climate justice narratives centered Indigenous, Black, Brown, queer, trans, disabled, and other frontline communities – the very people who have been calling for change all along?

Climate Futures Studio was thus formed as a youth-led cultural organizing initiative that centers the perspectives and expertise of historically excluded communities to strengthen narrative power in the climate justice movement by shaping our collective imagination toward optimistic climate futures. Using storytelling as a tool for grassroots organizing, we create participatory exhibitions, workshops, and public conversations around climate justice. Climate Storytelling 2075, our flagship six-month program, supports emerging artists, scientists, and storytellers to envision and design climate futures through the lens of their lived experiences, paired with training in science communication, mentorship, peer learning, and public engagement. The Studio brings together interdisciplinary cohorts working across multidisciplinary and multimedia forms, translating climate science into creative works that are emotionally resonant and publicly accessible. Each cohort receives critique from leading cultural and climate voices while participating in guided lecture series with social activists, scientists, and artists. As an annual collective anthology, each art piece tackles different issues, yet together they form an ecosystem of thought, offering a multi-vocal, interconnected map of possible futures. Grounding both frontline wisdom and climate science, our collective imagination is shared in exhibition spaces, online platforms, and public forums to support cultural and systemic change, moving people from information to imagination, and from imagination to action.

Learn more at the Climate Futures Studio website.