[Josh]

Hi everyone! I’m Josh (he/him), and I’m the director of the Climate Imaginarium! I have a background in climate justice, community engagement, nonprofit administration, and the arts. I’ve spent over a decade as a climate justice organizer in New York and New England, and over a decade managing productions in theater, film, music, art, writing, dance, radio, media, and more. I managed a nonprofit community center in New York City during the pandemic, and I recently completed a graduate program in Climate and Society, where I researched climate science, public policy, urban design, environmental journalism, and human rights law. Looking forward to meeting you all!

[Ben Mylius]

Thanks Josh, and hi all! My name’s Ben; I teach Environmental Political Theory at Columbia and convene the Climate Imaginations Network. Excited to see what we can dream up together on here!

[Anand Pandian]

Hi all, my name is Anand, I teach anthropology at Johns Hopkins University with a special interest in speculative storytelling, and I’m really excited for this imaginarium!

[Haley Crim]

Hi!

I’m Haley Crim (she/her) and I’m the Climate Engagement and Capacity-building Coordinator at NOAA. I build resources and convene networks to advance communication, education, workforce development, and public engagement for the just transition. I’m so excited to meet and work with you all!

[Kathryn Wheeler]

Hey everyone!

This is such an amazing idea! I am a local news reporter for the Red Hook Daily Catch in Red Hook, New York (Hudson Valley). I am formerly a youth outdoor educator, and 7th grade english teacher, and have recently pivoted into reporting. I am a photojournalist as well as writer and am so excited to be here!

[Michele Minnick]

Hi all. I’m Michele, and am an artist and producer making and curating art works (including theatre, performance art, dance, and visual art) that deal with climate change and environmental justice in different ways.

I’m very excited about the Imaginarium! Unfortunately, I’m unable to attend on Friday, as I teach during that time. I’m wondering if a recording of the session will be shared.

Thanks!

[Susan Kaye Quinn]

Hey everyone! Exciting to see this roll out!

My background is in science and engineering (a range of degrees including environmental engineering, PhD studying aerosol formation and climate change, post-doc at NCAR, National Center for Atmospheric Research), but I’ve since become a speculative fiction author: novels, short stories, most recently screenwriting.

I’ve been a full-time writer for a dozen years, but for the last five, I’ve been exploring different ways to tell story — eschewing the Hero’s Journey, shifting the narrative from “extreme individualism” to collaboration, developing a “New Mythos” (h/t PJ Manney) to counter the destructive old mythos that shape our unsustainable reality.

Since 2020, I’ve focused on near-future climate storytelling, trying to shine a light on the path forward, imagineering a way out of the polycrisis. I’ve published novels and short stories to that effect (plus a recent non-fiction piece in DreamForge magazine about hopepunk). My current project is a TV pilot about a group of climate activists in a near-future (2041) Houston, trying to heal the world while healing the quiet catastrophes of their personal lives.

One of my deep wells of hope — the things that keep me going — is seeing initiatives like this popping up, all over, in a range of forms. So many of us are not willing to sit around, waiting for the apocalypse to wipe the slate clean, before we find ways to fix the world. We’re doing our part, with our skills, in our places, to rewrite the future into one we want to live in.

I’m excited to be in this generative space with all of you.

[Chantal Bilodeau]

Hi everyone, I’m Chantal, playwright and Artistic Director of the NYC-based Arts & Climate Initiative. Our mission is to use storytelling and live performance to foster dialogue about our global climate crisis, create an empowering vision of the future, and inspire people to take action. Looking forward to getting to know everyone!

[Jay Lingaraj]

Hello all, I’m Lingaraj, an environmental social scientist consulting with the World Bank on climate change adaptation issues in developing countries. I also like to dabble in ethnographic filmmaking. Thanks for initiating this forum.

[Unknown Member]

Hi! I’m Tobi, an undergrad at Johns Hopkins studying Behavioral Biology, HSMT, and Writing Seminars. I’m interested in a lot of interdisciplinary work, but one of the ecologically oriented topics I’m interested in is interspecies collaboration!

[Juanita Rockwell]

Hi all! I’m a writer, theatermaker, educator, and meditator based in Baltimore.

I explore the ways that playing with different forms and structures creates or disrupts our experience of story, whether it’s a story we create for others, a story we tell ourselves, or a story that has taken residence inside us, unbidden. We can spin a story, or it can spin us, so I’m always curious about who or what benefits from the way a story is told – and where that leads us.

Looking forward to the November 10 workshop!

[Tory Stephens]

Hi Everyone,

I’m Tory, one of the organizers of this space. So glad this is starting to take shape. I’m in the climate storytelling space, and manage a project at Grist Magazine called Imagine 2200: Climate Fiction for Future Ancestors.

I advocate and help publish climate fiction that focuses on building a better future. My advocate that we (society) need less dystopian narratives and instead focus on stories that imagine a better world, one that is free from colonialism, extraction, and oppression. I believe our imagination and the stories we tell are a necessary tool in our toolbox of climate solutions. If we can’t imagine a just and equitable future for all, we won’t have a just and equitable future.

I look forward to engaging with all of you and helping bring more people into this space!

[Carri Beer]

Hello! I am an architect, permaculture designer, and herb-crafter based in Baltimore. My focus for 25 years has been on low-impact, natural, earth-love beautiful buildings and landscapes. I have recently self-published “The Radical ReWILDing of the Suburban Lawn” and “A Homeowner’s Field Guide to Radical, Regenerative Retrofits.” I have also been intermittently writing climate future fiction essays based on my sensual experiences and imaginings within the built and natural environment. I am stepping a bit out of my comfort zone to push these ideas further, but I am looking forward to it!

[Jonas Johnson]

Hey ya’ll! I’m Jonas, and I’m pretty new to the idea of climate writing—but I’ve been a long-time lover of sci-fi speculation, dystopian critiques, and utopian dreams. I’m a 3rd year anthropology PhD student at Hopkins and the current coordinator here at the EDC. I’m really interested in learning how to tell compelling stories as an ethnographer—and how to draw out and capture climate imaginaries that are implicit, repressed in the narratives of my interlocutors (mostly, rural conservative Americans, who even blinded by denialism are experiencing changes that are impossible to explain). I’ve really been loving clicking thru the Imaginarium’s “Library” (a tab on this group page)… the cover drawings alone are absolutely stunning… https://www.are.na/climate-imaginarium/public-library-for-climate-futures/

are.na

Public Library for Climate Futures — Are.na

A public library and communal repository for climate fiction stories of all mediums, genres, and modalities. Curated by the Climate Imaginarium.

[Nicky Christensen]

Hi! I do communications with the Planetary Health Alliance (now based at Johns Hopkins University). One of our journeys is the Constellation Project, designed to promote imagination, creativity, conversation, and spirituality that could help set us on a different path. https://planetaryhealthalliance.org/history-of-the-constellation-project

I also have romantic ties to the largest Danish youth involvement project at the intersection of literature, art, and climate, which convened 600 youth and unveiled a book a couple weeks ago: https://www.instagram.com/ordforbindelse/

I’m looking forward to learning more, and I hope to join you for the first hour on Friday.