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June 2026: storytelling for a better world

Each month, we break down our topic into four weekly modules. Catch up on previous editions here.​

This week's module: ACT

• ✅ DREAM | go forth and find slices of utopia​
• ✅ LEARN | what IS good storytelling? what are the stories we need?​
• 🎯 ACT | actions you can take asap to feed your imagination to build a better future
• REFLECT | Art, poetry, and commitments

Estimated reading time: 3 minutes

Here's what we'll learn today Reader

Okay so my confession is I almost forgot I needed to write and send this Changeletter today. I walked in a forest for fifteen mintues which ended at a saltwater pool overlooking a beach. Can you believe that sentence?! And it's a COMMUNITY POOL with $6 entry.

This is the exact example of better stories that feed our imagination.

So, without further ado, let's get into it. How can we tell better stories?

AKA how can we MORE INTERESTING?

For starters, come to our summer vision boarding hangout online tomorrow.​

Your bite-sized action plan Reader

Your mission is to feed your imagination and create something new. Don't be boring xoxo

Hack: how not to be boring? CREATE SOMETHING OF YOUR OWN.

The most interesting people according to me and science and the Pope, probably?, are creative people.

As you've heard me rant for years, we're in a crisis of imagination. If we can't imagine the future we want, we won't get it, especially because there are evil bill****ires and trill****ires imagining what THEY want. And they are getting it.

So, here are your actions to not be boring this week, and to tell better stories:

1. ​Join our summer vision boarding activity tomorrow online!​
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2. Stop using C***GPT, Cl**de, G*mini, and conversational chatbots for non-technical tasks. I heard a comparison about how it's like a drug you take one hit of and can't live without, and I think that's true. Every time you outsource your brain, it gets mushier, and MORE BORING.
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   If you can't do this (some people's jobs mandate it), or if you disagree with me on the premise of this action (I don't know your life), that's fine. It's a hot topic! The real action here, no matter how you get there, is to use your imagination and your lovely creative brain, and not let a robot feed you its simpering, dickless ideas.
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3. Submit a 100 word drabble to Grist. "A drabble is a 100-word piece of fiction — in this case, offering a tiny glimpse of what a clean, green, just future might look like. Please send us your visions for our climate future, in drabble form, at lookingforward@grist.org"
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   ​Here's a recent example. (Look how short it is!! You can do it!)​
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   ​“For one thing, it’s illegal,” your little brother’s chiding voice chirps at you.​“Don’t be stupid,” you shoot back. “It’s not illegal to have it, it’s illegal to make it. Or sell it. I just found it on the ground!”​“Well, anyway, you shouldn’t touch it. It causes cancer.”​“I’m not going to eat it,” you say, rolling your eyes. “I just want to take it home and look at it under my microscope. It’s like a piece of history.”​Your brother shrugs and continues up the hill. You follow, pocketing your treasure — a thin, shiny, blue piece of plastic.​
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   ​As a bonus, submit your short FUN climate fiction/screenplay/pilot to this contest and win a thousand bucks. ​
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4. Buy a solarpunk book from your local bookstore. My favorite one, as you probably know by now, is Monk and Robot by Becky Chambers. But here's a solarpunk starter pack that's all ages and media! It also includes what solarpunk is if you're new here, but it's essentially the opposite of dystopia in my opinion.​
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5. Get the Good Newspaper delivered to you every month. A key part of storytelling is that we NEED BETTER STORIES. Stories are the setup for self-fulfilling prophecies. So, get you a good prophecy! I get this physical newspaper every month and it's become a big part of my mental health infrastructure. They share good news that we don't hear because of algorithmic/ragebait-driven media. Like solar providing more energy than coal for the first time in the USA.​
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6. Think about the default stories you buy into on a daily basis. Some examples: cars are freedom / hard work = more money / the world needs to be paved / we need superheroes to save us / anything worth doing must be difficult / everything has a monetary value etc.
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   One thing I can't unsee once I see it: how often car violence is used as a plot driver in stories. Or how people say "car accident" when there's nothing accidental about road design and the likelihood of crashes.
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   Aaaand talk to your friends about this! Storytelling is fundamentally about relationships and conversations. Go have both.
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   What's your default story you can't unsee?

Love and brighter futures,

Nivi

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