Sweat beads on hot skin
Insects buzz, records breaking
Strange October days.
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Posts Tagged ‘climate change’
Strange October Days
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2025, climate change, haiku, hottest on record, Thoughts on October 6, 2025| Leave a Comment »
Laughing Too
Posted in Science!, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2025, climate change, climate communication, comedy, creativity, humor, science, Thoughts on June 18, 2025| Leave a Comment »
First let me make clear that what I’m about to share is 100% not safe for work. Or delicate ears. I mean, yeah, there’s a lot of swearing. That said, the subject matter is one of those topics that almost requires strong language.
This series of videos pairs climate scientists with comedians who translate for us regular folks.
Again, there’s definitely swearing!
Here’s an article about what they’re doing and why with a link to the main site.
And here’s an example:
David Cross Meets Prof Michael Oppenheimer | NSFW – YouTube
Watch Emmy Award-winning comedian David Cross and Professor Michael Oppenheimer pretty much fix the climate crisis between them, in the first US pilot of the hit “Climate Science Translated” series. What’s the gist? Most Americans (74%) actually want more climate action from government. What no one wants is sky-high insurance bills, a home destroyed by extreme weather, or to pass on a ruined planet to their kids.
The films use humor (and profuse swearing) to translate the urgency of the problem, and bring it back down to Earth.
For more, check out the playlist. They even made PG versions, if that’s your thing!
And yes, climate change is something to cry about. But we can laugh too.
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Telling Stories for the Future
Posted in Other, Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2025, art, climate change, creativity, storytelling, Writers, writing on February 22, 2025| Leave a Comment »
“To care about climate change, you only have to be one thing, a human living on Planet Earth.”
— Katharine Hayhoe
(I submit that other animals and any Earth-bound aliens also qualify, but “humans” is a good place to start.)
If you are a creator concerned with the livability of the planet, this guide from This Is Planet Ed may be useful. It’s designed for works aimed largely at younger audiences, but the ideas apply across the board.
A Toolkit For Climate Storytelling
Whether you want to develop a whole show, a story line, or embed climate solutions in your character’s world, this guide offers ideas, strategies, and tips to help.
Because as my landing page reminds us:
“Children already know that dragons exist. Fairy tales tell children the dragons can be killed.”
— G.K. Chesterton
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To a Future of Promise and Ingenuity
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2025, #ChooseYourFuture, books, climate, climate change, climate fiction, creativity, environment, free fiction, green futures, inspiration, Writers on January 23, 2025| Leave a Comment »
Perhaps you remember me mentioning the submission call for this year’s Grist climate collection. Folks submitted (1200 of them!), editors did their editing thing, and now we have a brand new collection of free climate stories for 2025!
Here’s the full collection, including twelve new stories with the goal of looking “beyond the current moment to picture what could be.”
Imagine 2200 climate fiction contest: The 2025 collection – Grist
Welcome to the 2025 Imagine 2200: Climate Fiction for Future Ancestors collection. For four years, this contest has celebrated stories that invite us to imagine the future we want — futures in which climate solutions flourish and we all thrive. These stories have never pretended the path will be easy — some of the most compelling Imagine stories showcase the struggle as well as the successes — but they all offer the promise that through the transformative power of radical imagining, we can envision a better world and work toward making it our reality.
Yes, please!
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The 2025 NRDC Climate Storytelling Fellowship
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2024, climate, climate change, creativity, environment, fellowship, funny futures, green futures, technology, Writers, writing on October 13, 2024| Leave a Comment »
I don’t write screenplays, but perhaps you do? If so, consider this new grant from The Black List, the NRDC’s (Natural Resources Defense Council) Rewrite the Future program, The Redford Center, The CAA Foundation, and NBCUniversal.
That’s a lot of organizations getting behind climate storytelling. If you want in, here’s how!
2025 NRDC Climate Storytelling Fellowship | The Black List
We need it all–the bleak and the inspirational, the fantasies, dramas, comedies, and rom-coms. It is the power and privilege of writers to show us how climate change is transforming our world, and to help us find a path to salvation. This program aims to support well told stories with climate themes that entertain viewers and allow them to engage with the range of emotions caused by the climate crisis.
Application deadline is December 05, 2024.
Even if you aren’t into screenplays or don’t want to navigate The Black List sign up/apply for a fee waiver process, you may want to check out the list of Writer’s Resources at the bottom of the description page.
Examples include the Sustainability Onscreen Tipsheet and The Last Laugh: Comedy in the Age of Climate Change.
Because whatever else happens, the future needs laughter.
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Is There a Word for This?
Posted in Other, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2024, climate change, language, safety first!, Thoughts, weather on October 8, 2024| Leave a Comment »
Is there a word like interregnum (“between two reigns”) that means “between two storms”?
If there is, I don’t know it, so for now I’m going with “intertempestas.” I’m also hoping that as Hurricane Helene recedes into the past and Milton looms in the future, the good people of Florida stay safe and recovery across the Southeast goes well.
Milton: The latest local update from the NPR Network
Extreme weather 101: Your guide to staying prepared and informed
Hurricane Helene: Where to donate money for relief efforts
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Obviously!
Posted in Science!, Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2024, climate change, creativity, environment, genre fiction, innovation, inspiration, Kim Stanley Robinson, science fiction, technology, Thoughts, writing on September 16, 2024| Leave a Comment »
Today’s question of the day:
BBC World Service – The Climate Question, Can Science Fiction help us fight climate change?
The acclaimed US sci-fi author Kim Stanley Robinson is also a star in the world of climate activism because his work often features climate change – on Earth and beyond. Robinson has been a guest speaker at the COP climate summit, and novels such as The Ministry For The Future and The Mars Trilogy are admired by everyone from Barack Obama to former UN climate chief Christiana Figueres.
Now, the answer to this question seems fairly self-evident to me. I see innovation as a conversation, in a way, between what is and what we can imagine will be. And fiction is excellent at helping us imagine new and better worlds.
Other examples of sci-fi ideas made real:
Ten Inventions Inspired by Science Fiction | Smithsonian
6 scientific innovations inspired by science fiction
10 ‘Star Trek’ Technologies That Actually Came True | HowStuffWorks
Look around you. What are our technological and social capabilities? What are our needs? And what do you think we’ll invent next?
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Here We Go Again, Again
Posted in Other, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2024, climate change, tools on July 31, 2024| Leave a Comment »
Aaaaaand, it’s back. Smoke from fires out west is making its way to us here on the East Coast. From the archives, let me again share this handy map with smoke forecasts.
Because, well, you know. We’re probably going to need it again.
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Climate Futures Contest
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2024, cli-fi, climate change, creativity, genre fiction, hope, Thoughts, Writers, writing, writing contest on June 1, 2024| 1 Comment »
Are you the sort of writer who can imagine a better future? Do you care about the climate? This may be the contest for you!
Imagine 2200 climate fiction contest 2024: Submit your story | Grist
Imagine 2200 is an invitation to writers from all over the globe to imagine a future in which solutions to the climate crisis flourish and help bring about radical improvements to our world. We dare you to dream anew…
In 2,500 to 5,000 words, show us the world you dream of building…
There is no cost to enter. Submissions close June 24, 2024, 11:59 p.m. U.S. Pacific Time.
Here’s an example of a climate positive / “hey, maybe we will get out of this alive“ story:
Fishy by Alice Towey – Clarkesworld Magazine
I enjoyed it. Because I too dare to dream.
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Forget the Sugar
Posted in Other, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2024, adaptation, climate change, Thoughts on February 22, 2024| Leave a Comment »
One of our neighbors is installing a home generator. Our area has relatively stable power but events like the Great Power Out-ening of 2022 do tend to stick with you, and they have had it.
Now they’ll be equipped for a future of ice storms and high winds and general grief from the joys of climate change.
We do have a portable generator, but in case of another long-term outage event it’s nice to know that we can pop next door for a cup of electrons.
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