This piece originally appeared at ASU News.
What might a world without oil look like? How will human societies cope with massive changes in the Earth’s climate? How will we adapt to survive the future? And how can storytelling and art — alongside science and technology — help us confront the challenge of climate change?
These questions motivate a series of essays, stories and imaginative speculations on climate futures published by the digital magazine Matter.
The series features an expansive, inspiring essay by novelist, critic and activist Margaret Atwood, alongside short “climate fiction” stories from speculative fiction authors Paolo Bacigalupi, Charlie Jane Anders, and Bruce Sterling, and essays from Choire Sicha, co-founder of The Awl, Ed Finn, director of ASU’s Center for Science and the Imagination, and others.
Several of the authors featured in the collection have deep connections or ongoing collaborations with ASU. Atwood was the inaugural lecturer for the Imagination and Climate Futures Initiative, which explores how imagination merged with science can shape our response to climate change and create solutions to climate challenges. Bacigalupi will deliver the second annual Imagination and Climate Futures lecture on Sept. 17. Anders and Sterling are contributors to Project Hieroglyph, which teams up science fiction authors with scientists, engineers and other experts to create ambitious, hopeful, technically-grounded visions of the near future.
To read the full series, visit Matter.
Image courtesy of Jean Malek.