Deep Listening of Climate Imaginaries - Opportunities for GenAI in Communicating Climate Futures

Synopsis : The use of storytelling, art, and multimedia communications is seen as vital in understanding and communicating environmental crises and reimagining responses to climate change. Climate imaginaries serve as important tools in understanding and communicating the current environmental crises from various perspectives, and in helping to reimagine better futures.

However, we’re accustomed to seeing dominant ways of imagining the future, like ‘business as usual’ (projected future), ‘technology will fix everything’ (technocratic future), or ‘we are doomed’ (collapse future). These visions can leave communities feeling that action is meaningless. How can we empower communities to imagine the future differently, on their own terms?

The advent of generative AI has significantly increased the accessibility of representation tools to the broader public. What are the opportunities for generative AI in supporting Deep Listening of climate futures - enhancing communities' capacity to listen to scientific data and institutions' capacity to listen to communities' climate imaginaries?