Climate and the Imagination
As climate change alters the very fabric of our world, it also transforms how we imagine and conceptualise the future. In the context of the environmental humanities and its societal impact, our focus on “Climate and the Imagination” aims to bridge scientific, cultural, and social realms, enabling us to explore how people interpret, narrate, and respond to the changing climate.
Imagination becomes a powerful tool in envisioning the dire consequences and hopeful possibilities for our planet, fostering critical engagement with the material world and how we understand it. The “Climate and the Imagination" community fosters collaborations between UU staff, students, and societal partners. We support co-created and sustainable projects structured around the themes outlined below.
Data-driven Imagination
This subtheme is rooted in the use of advanced technologies and scientific knowledge to predict and imagine the future of a climate-affected planet. Through climate modeling, weather forecasting, disaster mapping, and other related processes, data-driven imagination harnesses technology to create predictive scenarios. This involves not only scientific predictions but also the potential for technological solutions and interventions, offering insights into what a climate-changed world might look like. Understanding these predictions helps us prepare for the socio-environmental transformations that may occur, while also raising questions about whose futures are being imagined and whose are left out.
Storytelling
The storytelling subtheme explores how literary, artistic, and cultural narratives represent a climate-altered world. This includes fictional and non-fictional accounts that depict the effects of climate change, from dystopian futures to more hopeful visions of adaptation, resilience and ecological representation. These narratives shape public perception, influence policy, and inspire collective action. They also highlight how inequalities are embedded within these stories—who tells the stories, who listens, and how these narratives reflect broader social and political power dynamics.