Create Our Future
Join us in creatively changing culture around climate through art and storytelling
“Art moves humanity forward. When you create art, there’s a possibility for creating empathy in other people. That’s really what it’s all about. …”
Stephanie Beatriz
Calling all creatives to participate in our Create Our Future Workshops!
The future hasn’t happened yet, so let’s not sit around and wait for an undesirable future to unfold. Let’s create the future we want.
You are invited to join our online TV/OTT* series screenwriting workshops to boost solving the climate crisis to the top of everyone’s to-do list. As climate scientist Dr. Katharine Hayhoe says, “No one does anything unless it feels important. And if no one is talking about it, how important can it be?” That’s why we’re pushing the climate conversation to the front of people’s minds by working with creative people to weave hopeful climate solutions into their crafts.
The Create Our Future workshops aim to transform climate anxiety into joy and purpose and help reshape our culture. By shifting unhelpful doom narratives toward to comedy, intrigue, and action, we can envision a bright future.
*OTT (Over The Top streaming services such as Netflix, Amazon Prime Vido, Hulu, etc.)
Artists, Writers, and Participants Needed!
We are gathering interested instructors and participants to start meeting online in early 2023. Whether an expert or a novice, we’ll find the perfect role for you. Just let us know what you want to get out of collaborating with us.
If you are a professional consultant, please let us know on the “Apply to be an Instructor” button what it would take to have the pleasure of working with you.
Each week we will learn from industry professionals about TV screenwriting. This workshop will be an inclusive and supportive community that will nurture members to share their personal art forms.
Storytellers play a huge role in saving humanity
No pressure, but it may be up to today’s storytellers (aka you) to help shift the narrative from doom and gloom to solutions and optimism. Stories have always shaped society, and they can shift a person’s perspective in a way that no other medium can. The future hasn’t happened. There’s still time to choose and create the future we want. It’s time to explore collective culture climate solutions with a binge-worthy series bursting with relatable, diverse, and colorful characters.
Compelling stories connect us to diverse characters, make us experience the world through a new lens, and make us feel. Neuroscience indicates that emotions are a signal to the brain that whatever we are experiencing is important. So, the brain carefully stores emotionally-charged information in deeper parts such as the cerebellum, which improves information processing and makes it easier to retrieve the data later. The more we relate to a narrative, the more likely we will be able to recall the information presented in a story and improve the odds that we will act on the information shared.
What’s at Stake
I’m sure you realize that if we continue on the fossil fuel trajectory that we’re on, the world will be 6.5 °F warmer in just 78 years. For perspective, the last time the Earth endured such a significant temperature change was the Ice Age, which was 5-9 °F cooler. People talk about saving the Earth, but let’s be real. The Earth has been here for 4.5 billion years, whereas Homo sapiens for a mere 200,000 years. The Earth will continue. The question is, will we?
The changes that will happen within our children’s lifetimes are frightening and unimaginable if we don’t change course. The newly passed Inflation Reduction Act is encouraging for sure! But all of these policies still need to be enacted by people—and people will be more engaged in carrying out this work if they feel motivated to do so. Policies don’t change hearts and motivate people to act. Stories do.
Director’s Note
Personal actions are wonderful, but we need policies, incentives, industry, AND personal actions to work together simultaneously. We need a cultural shift. And there’s really nothing that can achieve that cultural tipping point other than really, really great stories. A flood of them. Now.
Normalizing “We Culture” amidst our pervasive “Me Culture”
It’s true. I’m extraordinarily indebted to the entertainment industry who fueled my spirits during dark pandemic years with their incredible stories, characters, and humor that continue to lift me (us) up as we assimilate into the post-pandemic world.
But I am not just a super fan extolling my praise, I also have a sincere request to them and whomever else feels up to the challenge: please help save us (yes, humanity) from ourselves by helping to normalize “we culture” themes into your next hit TV series, film, poem, or post.
Why? Our prevalent “me culture” where our comfort and (real or perceived) individual freedoms are more important than the greater good of society needs to shift before we can make headway in pulling together and halt the climate crisis. As one of my heroes Bill McKibben often states, “Individuals need to be less individual.” That simple statement is complex in a culture like ours where the highest goal is often some form of “personal freedom.” But truly, we only have one Earth with finite resources and Americans are responsible for more climate emissions than any other country on Earth.
After decades in the environmental education field, it’s obvious to me that facts aren’t bringing down emissions fast enough. We need stories because, “Stories are memory aids, instruction manuals and moral compasses.” (Aleks Krotoski)
Our Vision
We All Need Food and Water is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit aiming to change our culture surrounding climate.
Thinking about problems and discussing them is the first step in solving them.
However, here is the disconnect: only 39% of adults discuss it at least occasionally. We believe that people’s words become their actions. As a result, we want to bring climate change solutions into daily conversations by whatever means possible.
Other ways to be involved
All We Can Save (Discussion) Circles
Questions? Read more about Circles→ https://www.allwecansave.earth/circles
EJECTED—The Story that Solves the Climate Crisis
FICTIONAL, YET REAL LIFE SOLUTIONS
Although this book is fiction, the climate solutions presented therein are real and based on solid and international scientific research. In addition, the framework for the book’s solutions is built upon the world’s leading resources for climate solutions such as Project Drawdown’s Table of Solutions and Climate Interactive’s climate model.