Why We Are Here
The Climateverse origin and purpose
The Climateverse started out of my own personal frustration with current news.
We have all the solutions needed for climate mitigation and enough resources to take care of everyone’s material needs—So why on a collective level aren’t we making different choices?
The IPCC, the UN Secretary-General, countless scientists, activists and some leaders have been ringing the alarm bell for so long. But collectively, *we haven’t been audacious enough to embrace a faster pace of change. But whether by design or disaster, big changes are already on the horizon—already facing us yesterday.
*While I use the collective “we” of course I know that there are special interests in oil and gas, billionaire tech oligarchs and others who are mostly to blame.
And I also understand that “revolution” isn’t some singular, discrete event as movies and popular culture would have us believe. But how do we animate a general population, overwhelmed by the grim pictures we paint, and even more overwhelmed by the struggle to meet their material needs amid a global cost of living crisis?
How do we work to shatter the illusion of powerlessness, the manufactured inevitability that tells us this is the only way to operate? That capitalism (somewhat reformed) is the only path to progress? That patriarchal neoliberalism is the only thing standing in the way between us and absolute tyranny/anarchy? That this is truly the best of all possible worlds?
How do we stretch our conceptions of what’s possible, to hold to as our vision. as our guiding star towards a better future?
The truth is, the world never worked very well for most of us: racialized, female, queer, disabled, non-anglophone, or Global South dwelling people.
And yes, the next many years will be difficult.
But life is already difficult. Let’s at least find ways to work through present and coming difficulties to chart a path to futures that, in some ways, can be better than any period in human history.
Let’s embrace play and storytelling, and yes, tested methods of futures and foresight, to navigate uncertainty, prepare for multiple scenarios and prepare to salvage/establish our desired futures through the melee.
I’ve gotten a bit off course now…
The Climateverse started out of my own personal frustrations with current news, and one day I was inspired to write a different story than the one being sold/told.
And then I started to see the possibilities for different stories everywhere, and I thought, there must be some other people who could use this too: as inspiration, as practice, as template even, for imagining and creating different futures.
And that’s where you come in!
Welcome to a journey where we will play, and stretch our imaginations, research and explore potential scenarios.
Forget “feasible” and “reasonable.”
And yet, this isn’t about some utopic fantasy. We will stay rooted in all that is still very possible, all that we can still save, and chart our paths away from business-as-usual to embrace all the possibilities on the horizon. I invite you to envision better futures, back-cast to get from here to there, and hold onto glimmers or signals of change present today.
Moving forward, I’ll be playing with this new format where we alternate between stories and newsletter-style posts like this one, taking you along a journey into your own Climateverse. I’d love your feedback on how this sits with you.
(And yes, that means that you can expect a new story to hit your inbox next week!)
Most importantly, I’d love for this experience here to be an exchange, a conversation, so I’d love to hear from you: what brought you to the Climateverse, and what are you hoping to get out of this journey? [Please leave a comment or reply directly to this email]
Latest Updates
We were recently profiled as part of this Alliance2030 project, invited by our friends at the Youth Harbour, to share youth narratives about climate action. Check out the video, and follow us on social to catch all our video newscasts (YouTube coming soon).
Last week, I was featured on the Futures Hub podcast, where I got to share more detail about the journey and process of building out The Climateverse. Listen to our engaging conversation about “Activism through Alternate Realities.”
As usual, if you or someone you know is working at an organization or initiative that aligns with our values, send them our way, we’d love to partner on a story!
I’m so grateful for all of your support so far, and I’m really excited and confident to get into a consistent rhythm of storytelling. Please share widely, and bring all your friends into The Climateverse with us!
Talk soon! xoxo