Straight time in the (post)apocalypse: Imagining climate futures through speculative method

Whether the future offers the arrival of environmental catastrophe or the worsening of an already existing climate crisis, articulations of (post)apocalyptic environmentalism rely on straight time. In the discourses of climate change, straight temporalities unfold linearly, working hard to universalise the future and place the world along a singular timeline. Sticking with moments of uncertainty and frustration, this article examines how marginal futures disrupt and unsettle the dominance of (post)apocalyptic environmentalism. Drawing from 20 speculative arts interviews undertaken with Extinction Rebellion UK, I show that activists anticipate a future otherwise, even as they cannot fully articulate what such a future would look like. The future arises here not as located out there ahead, but as a surplus that is affective and anticipatory.