Cli-Fi Imaginarium

We are #OverDystopia

In 2020, as dystopia spills into real life, it seems the world can’t get enough of blockbuster dystopian fiction, either from Hollywood or bestselling novels. But we are #OverDystopia.

Since lockdown started, a warm and friendly bunch from around the world have been meeting in quiet, creative rebellion. We are being bold, imagining a future we want, that thrives within planetary boundaries.

An experiment

Starting November 2025 for the following 5 sessions we’re going to be using prompts from NC State University’s Long View Project. The project interviews scientists and experts and then builds a world based on their interpretation of a positive future scenario.

What does that mean for upcoming cli-fi sessions?

You’ll know the prompt in advance. You can see we’ve selected them below.

Your task is to ideally have read the Future Scenario prompt before the session starts (should take no more than 10 minutes)

November 2025 – Dark Skies
February 2026 – Transportation
March 2026 – Energy
April 2026 – Wastewater
May 2026 – AI and Education

These are world building prompts. So during our session our task will be to myth-make within that world. In our group dreaming session we will have a discussion to explore the world in more detail.

New to writing? That’s ok too, you’re very welcome. Like we always say write it from the first person perspective and have a go at writing fragments about what that world looks like, tastes like, feels like.

Recently featured in Scottish tabloid: Peter Capaldi bewildered after accidentally joining Zoom meeting held by climate change group

And then national UK tabloid: Peter Capaldi: ‘Puzzled’ Doctor Who star accidentally joins wrong Zoom meeting

Here are our stories:

The ancient forest holds a special treat for young Hank

#Woodland Protection

4 min read Naomi Tilley

ECOCIDE! Coming Soon to a Cineplex Near You

In a future world that is stable and green, a Hollywood studio attempts to frighten the public with horror movie about Ecocide. It is so over the top

7 min read Peterson Toscano

A Gliding Companion

The sun caught his eye for a second, a bright splash of gold reflected on the truck’s solar panel. It was all around him, that light, dancing in shi

2 min read Mélissa (Lili) Ainseba

Turning Green in the Blue

Appreciating a kelp farm is more difficult than expected for this seaweed chef

#Seaweed farming

3 min read Allison Whitaker

Seaweed Seduction

“Fucking festival season! It’s bad enough we have to grow seaweed—why do we have to celebrate it?” From the next room, Grandpa Martem he

#Seaweed farming

10 min read Peterson Toscano

Original painting Patricia Fraser

He thought he could get away with ecocide until the forest took her own revenge.

10 min read Emma C Baker

They were far from ordinary heating pipes: they were alive.

#District Heating

6 min read Tim Kindberg

A city dweller’s is searching for mangoes that taste like those she ate while spending her school holidays in her ancestral village, she finds them

#Reduced Food Waste

8 min read Gunjan Singh

Celebrating zero hunger

Deri starts this momentous day gently.

#Reduced Food Waste

3 min read Sophia Cheng

Credit: Claus Jensen

Home is where the heat is

District Heating: When one man’s heating is taken out by an earthquake, the community rallies around to help him.

#District Heating

5 min read Clare Diston

Deep in an isolated moorland, a burnt-out group of activists receives a visitor.

14 min read Emma Brown

I’m Not Dead Yet!

A loner struggles to engage with his community again once the long reliable district heating unit fails.

#District Heating

6 min read Peterson Toscano

Building Bridges

Once she was alive, growing tall and thin, her body bending in the wind as though she could never break. She was like water, her leaves sounding like

6 min read Danielle-Lee McDaniel

Breaker Breaker, This Is Pocket Lemur

An emotional journey of a trucker as she tries to find a good noodle joint. (Existential crisis preferred but not mandatory).

29 min read Alex Finniss

Finding hope after the rains

#Tree Intercropping

3 min read Sophia Cheng

Reeds and Retribution

A stand-off at the communal pool escalates.

#Solar thermal water

4 min read Jacob Ashton

How to build a bog

Step 1: Take a lake. Surround it with plant life, like reeds or pine forest. The plants will thrive there, so close to the water. They will drink from

5 min read Clare Diston

The Eye of the Sand Storm

The hardest working member of the desert reforestation team finds something unexpected when she heads back to the passively refrigerated Base

8 min read Emma Brown

Dress Down Every Day

Clarisse sat idly at her desk, her bare feet resting on an empty chair, her hands behind her head, fingers interlaced. A fresh southerly breeze was bl

7 min read Douglas Hart

Gateway to the Gods

DNA ancestry testing reveals a surprising connection to peatlands.

7 min read Alex Turner

Reborn in the Shower

Who knew environmentalism could benefit from toxic masculinity?

#Solar thermal water

8 min read Alex Finniss

Photo by Allison Whittaker

The Forest at the End of the Lane

An unlikely alliance is forged in a forest garden.

#Tree Intercropping

5 min read Allison Whitaker

Image from Walters Art Museum

The Age of Concrete

An engineering student learns of the follies of the past and tries to help shape a better future.

#Alternative Cement

18 min read Douglas Hart

Building new hope

3 min read Hazel Morfett

Who needs economic incentive for environmental action when you can provide something much better.

#Solar thermal water

2 min read Alex Finniss

A medic in a remote location looking for alternative refrigeration solutions to save her medicines

4 min read Gunjan Singh

The Call of the Bog

Mia’s first scientific expedition to the bog turned out to be her last.

3 min read Lara da Rocha

The Girl Who Touched the Moon

The people of the city made a moon, out of a fine spherical mesh of LED lights. But this moon proved to have a mind of its own. It flew over the urban

4 min read Tim Kindberg

Photo by Noah Buscher on Unsplash

I Choose My Land

The farm is looking fine this morning. Standing up here, cup in hand, I can look down the slope and see the rows of my crops stretching down the hills

#Girls and Education

3 min read Clare Diston

Image by Emma Brown

Part 1 Marco was retired. He no longer needed his bristling beard to warm his chin on the squalling, slippery deck of his fishing boat. But he kept it

26 min read Emma Brown

Image by Emma Brown

A Better Concrete Jungle

An office-working urbanite experiences a changing approach to architecture, health and hospice care during an unexpected trip to the ‘new’ hospita

#Alternative Cement

12 min read Emma Brown

Composting on Valentine’s Day

People used to give rocks as a token of their love. To symbolise its immortality, apparently. A diamond trapped in a gold cage wedged tightly between

3 min read Emma Brown

Image credit: Hugo Clement

Up the Loft and Back in Time

William’s annual chore has always been to bring down the Christmas lights, as he leaves the warmth of the insulation he stumbles across an old piece o

#District Heating

3 min read Sophia Cheng

California Export

I squint and brace myself against the shocking kiss hello of sunshine. I step onto the deck and pause a second to let the warm embrace soak in. As my

3 min read Sheila Suarez de Flores

Sally’s Staying With Me

Peatlands are revered for their efficient carbon storage but Alex has other ideas

3 min read Sophia Cheng

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