Searching for Hopeful Climate Futures in the Present

Where can we look for hopeful climate futures, when the global picture seems dominated by inaction or backsliding? While influential nations and international bodies seem adrift, absent, or flatfooted in the face of an accelerating climate emergency, vigorous action is happening at local and regional levels, propelled by coalitions of advocates, researchers, community leaders, and everyday people.

In this conversation on the new book Climate Imagination: Dispatches from Hopeful Futures, we will talk with writers and thinkers from different regions to learn not only about hopeful climate stories and imaginaries but also local resources and efforts on the ground.

Edited by Joey Eschrich and Ed Finn of the Center for Science and the Imagination at Arizona State University, the book presents speculative fiction, essays, and artworks that explore possible futures shaped by climate action, grounded in real science and the complexities of actual physical and human geographies around the world. Contributors represent 17 different countries from Mexico, Germany, and Sri Lanka to Nigeria, China, Norway, Brazil, and more.

Speakers

• Manjana Milkoreit, postdoctoral researcher, University of Oslo; author of Mindmade Politics: The Cognitive Roots of International Climate Governance
• Yudhanjaya Wijeratne, speculative fiction author, data scientist, and journalist
• Vandana Singh, speculative fiction author and professor of environment, society, and sustainability, Framingham State University; author of Teaching Climate Change: Science, Stories, Justice
• Ed Finn, co-editor, Climate Imagination; co-director, Center for Science and the Imagination, Arizona State University
• Joey Eschrich, co-editor, Climate Imagination; managing editor, Center for Science and the Imagination, Arizona State University