A Workshop Methodology for Eliciting Hopeful Climate Imaginaries

Beskrivelse

It is generally accepted that man-made climate change must be stopped with appropriate measures to mitigate climate crises. The predominant approach for climate action is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through alternative technologies. Since this may not suffice, additional societal changes are needed. However, the implicit narrative of renunciation hinders broad acceptance of this change. In consequence, a new positive climate narrative is needed to support collective behavioural shifts. One way to provide such a narrative is by analysing future imaginaries of communities that already embrace values like environmental care and the conscious handling of resources. Future imaginaries are shared visions that unconsciously influence social behaviour. But how can we elicit hopeful future imaginaries? This work presents a workshop methodology and case study conducted at Burning Man Projects’ Black Rock City 2024, a movement emphasising inclusion, decommodification and environmental stewardship. The basic assumption of the workshop methodology is that techniques like flow-writing and improvisational theatre with additional musical accompaniment help in eliciting the tacit knowledge of future imaginaries. Two workshops have been conducted: First, participants crafted stories about positive climate futures. The stories were clustered based on shared topics. The clusters served then as prompts for a second participatory performative play workshop. In addition, musical soundtracks for each cluster were generated to present the prompts. The session concluded with a collaborative analysis of the performances. The workshops revealed future scenarios and common sets of values, rules and behaviour patterns of the Burning Man community, offering insights into their future imaginaries.

Periode	27. maj 2025
Begivenhedstitel	The Social Impact of Climate Fiction: A Cross-Disciplinary Conference
Begivenhedstype	Konference
Placering	Odense, DanmarkVis på kort
Grad af anerkendelse	International