Finding hope, resilience and imagining ways forward through climate fiction

This article explores the potential for climate fiction to function as a powerful medium of climate change communication. After briefly introducing climate fiction (colloquially known as ‘cli-fi’), I draw reflexively on past teaching experiences to argue for this potential in two main ways. First, I demonstrate how fictional climate storytelling can deepen understanding and engagement with climate science by connecting this abstract knowledge to everyday lived realities. Second, I consider how climate fiction opens pedagogically rich ways of exploring complex emotional responses to living in the climate crisis. The creative works discussed in the article each serve to illuminate the power of speculative climate fiction to engage students and wider publics in processes of imagining more sustainable, resilient, climate-friendly and just ways forward.