Imagine what the world looks like if we “get it right.” What's our vision for the future and what can we commit to? The possibilities are endless with climate futurism!
Estimated reading time: 10 minutes
At the beginning of every year, we pick a word or two that we hope will define what the calendar has in store for us. 2025 is the year of harvest. We started Soapbox Project unofficially in 2018, officially in 2020, and then as a non-profit in 2024. Talk about rebirth!
From 2018 to 2021ish, it felt like sorting through the seeds and deciding what type of grower we wanted to be. Were we gardeners with a quirky little garden? A farmer with all sorts of fancy devices to measure hundreds of thousands of acres? A secret third thing?
From 2021 to 2023, we got the land ready. This would be a garden not just of fruits, vegetables, and “useful things,” but also flowers, because they're beautiful. This would be a community garden where everyone's contributions have a role, yet there is an overall expectation for how we work with each other.
In 2024, we gardened the hell out of our garden. It was backbreaking work. We planned, sowed our seeds, and laughed and cried and hurt ourselves and healed ourselves. In 2025, we'll see the fruits (and veggies and flowers) of our labor.
The harvest does not happen without a clear vision for what's ahead, or climate futurism, if you want a fancy twist.
Here’s what we’ll cover step-by-step:
Imagine what the world looks like if we “get it right.” What's our vision for the future and what can we commit to? The possibilities are endless with climate futurism! ✨
🎯 Action step 1 of 4: READ — Let's start by looking at a few articles together.
Our favorite news partner, Grist, released their "Imagine 2200: Climate Fiction for Future Ancestors" contest winners. We love this contest so much—radical imagination is one of our core competencies at Soapbox, and Grist's annual contest helps readers and writers alike practice this skill.
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. - Grist
The following prompts will help you connect with yourself, others, spirit, and systems. Choose one and give this conversation a life in the world outside of the interweb.
💡 Prompt: What do YOU think 2200 will look like in a world where we get it right? What is lost, and what can be gained? What resonates with you about this story?
"Visioning is an uncovering of potential. It’s revealing what is already there and trying to become, if only we believe in it. What we allow ourselves to imagine, what dreams spring from unlikely relationships, is the beginning of the future. Visioning is not easy. We are born into other people’s visions for us and for the world. Our ability to dream of something different, to name longing, to articulate a vision and commit to it, directly correlates to the likelihood that we will experience it, that it will be realized. It’s the way we bring about change for ourselves, and for the world. When we are besieged by visions that do not match our longing, some of which are sinister, it’s unlikely that we’ll stumble into freedom."
💡 Prompt: Take 5 minutes by yourself to write on: What visions of the world are we born into? What do you long for? What commitments can you make in 2025 to heal yourself, others, and systems? You're encouraged to bring this up as a group journaling activity.
Let’s dive deeper into the educational aspect of climate futurism: what it is, how we can nurture it, and why it matters.
🏁 Checkpoint: This is the end of action step 1 of 4: READ.
🎯 Action step 2 of 4: LISTEN — we'll watch a short video or listen to a podcast to further expand on our topic.
Futurism refers to art that imagines the future. “It originated with an Italian art movement in the early 20th century that celebrated modernity and technological advances like aviation and cinematography. Contemporary fiction that embraces the idea often envision worlds that center justice and cultural identities alongside technology” (Grist).
Climate futurism incorporates the exploration of environmental solutions into this movement. Here is also a futurism glossary put together by Grist, who just released their newest collection of climate fiction stories!
The two options below will help you expand your climate futurism repertoire!
Jane McGonigal is our patron saint of self-efficacy, and you may remember watching her TED talk in a 2023 action pack on that topic.
Her two books Superbetter and Imaginable rewired our brains and made us realize that radical imagination must be a core competency of anyone participating in Soapbox. (Borrow them from your library!)
The premise is: "There are real benefits to intentionally and carefully imagining futures that frighten you. This can help you do the important work of getting ready for anything — even things you’d rather not experience."
Radical imagination builds creativity, resilience, and capacity for discomfort, and we must add mental time travel to our list of skills as humans doing our best to save ourselves on this burning planet that we love.
Our favorite climate futurism/solarpunk content comes from Andrewism's YouTube channel. You could pretty much select any video on his channel and have your brain pleasantly rewired.
You’ll learn that:
Over one weekend, Roberts and a group of others transformed an abandoned block in Dallas into a vibrant block with sidewalk gardens, bike paths, outdoor seating, historic lights, and more. Guerilla bottom-up place-making, as he calls it, helps people execute the changes they want to see in the places they inhabit. Communities are able to come together, imagine collectively, and tell their stories about their environment and their future. We seem to face insurmountable challenges, but as we rethink the stories we’ve been told and forge new ones, with a renewed sense of resilient imagination, I believe we’ll find many new paths to overcome our obstacles. Imagination is a fundamental component of our humanity; we just need to cultivate it. We can create what-if spaces for why-not action, and we can do it today.
🏁 Checkpoint: This is the end of action step 2 of 4: LISTEN.
🎯 Action step 3 of 4: ACT — Now it's time to do something. Let's go!
To get from the present moment to our future visions, we need a map to help guide us. At Soapbox, our favorite map is an annual tradition we love to call Better World Bingo! You can find all the instructions here.
If you're struggling with what to put on your bingo board, here are 8 systemic changes you can add:
1. Move your money!
Take baby steps if needed by opening a new bank account using Mighty Deposits to find a bank aligned with your values. Think of every dollar you could invest in your community instead of, say, fossil fuels. You can use Carbon Collective for your investments (eg., roll over your 401(k), get your employer to open a green 401(k), use their CCSO ETF or Green Bonds fund).
2. Engage locally.
Write to your city council member, submit a public comment, or actually talk in person with your local representative at Soapbox!
3. Mend your clothes.
Plan a field trip with your friends to stitch up those crotch holes, you know? Save money and save the clothes you love AND support local tailors.
4. Swap a plane trip for a train trip.
https://www.instagram.com/niviachanta/reel/DEd4aQRvKln/
Our founder, Nivi, loved her Amtrak up the West Coast on New Years Eve and she can’t wait to make it an annual tradition!
5. Host a plant-based dinner party.
Animal agriculture is one of the greatest drivers of deforestation, methane emissions, and all sorts of other crisis factors. Though, you don't need to be a perfect vegan to make a huge difference (and have a lot of fun).
6. Join your local buy-nothing group.
This one's a bit tricky because of Mark Phuckerberg's shenanigans and most Buy Nothing groups being on Facebook (with not-great adoption for the app), but Buy Nothing is AWESOME! (Freecycle is another alternative)
7. Make Ecosia your default search engine.
It plants trees for searches! If you are stressed out about AI weaning its way into every single Google product without consent, Ecosia is an easy switch.
8. Cancel your Amazon prime account.
Notice how this isn't the same as "never buy from Amazon again." I canceled my Amazon Prime account a few years ago and never looked back, but I can buy stuff on there if I'm really in a pinch. Don't give Jeff your money when you don't need to!
The fun doesn’t stop here! You can also..
Better World Bingo is an activity best done with friends, so we highly recommend having some besties over this month to host a Better World Bingo night.
🏁 Checkpoint: This is the end of action step 3 of 4: ACT.
Before we go any further, it's time for you to pledge your commitment. It takes less than 30 seconds to pledge and we can bother you about it in a friendly way, so we can hold each other accountable. Pledge here!
🎯 Action step 4 of 4: REFLECT — what can you commit to? What fresh perspectives can we look at?
Imagining a better world extends beyond our actions—it embodies how we think, feel, and reflect. Earlier in 2025, activist and artist Alixa Garcia spoke about the power of imagination, wonder, and creativity to our membership community. Here is her untitled poem:
The storms are here
thunderous and demanding
quiet and unsettling
so let us build a nest in the center of it all
out of the fallen trees and branches
the world we inherited cut down
Let us make a temple
out of the discarded and mundane
so all things can return to their sacredness
and we, the co-creators of a world on fire
can become reverent once again
As you reflect, ask yourself:
Remember, you are a co-creator of our world—by showing up and being present, it’s enough to create the future you envision!
🏁 Checkpoint: This is the end of action step 4 of 4: REFLECT.
Check out our membership community for more resources like free weekly events with social justice experts, sustainable product discounts, pre-written email templates, a social impact job board, and in-person hangouts with new friends. Thanks for taking action with Soapbox Project!
Get our free bite-sized climate action plans before you go!