Storytelling in a risky and unpredictable future of civilizational shift

In these crossroads of human history and the increasingly likely collapse of globalized western civilization, what are the narratives for biodiversity and ecosystems, and all the things that support or undermine them? For societies and power dynamics? For economic and political systems? For mindsets and paradigms? And in particular, for human agency in destabilized climate trajectories of the future - from Hothouse Earth to the rapidly weakening AMOC?

Our evolutionary history as social primate storytellers has seemed to rely more on individual hero's journey narratives, and less on kinship collaboratives. But increasingly, our ability to stretch across cultures and tap into myths, science, traditional knowledge and civilizational uprising narratives allows us to infer epochal stories from myths and archaeological records, and to create new stories that bridge grim scientific realities with uplifting and energizing narratives about agency, determination, focus, collaboration, and ideally, triumph even in dark times. We will need these narratives to take us into a more purposeful future.

In this paper, we will use a variety of current events and projects. These include our own work -- in The Climate Restorers (2025) global documentary series, in the Global Restoration Collaborative, in driving co-creation of planetary and societal futures, and in supporting world governments to govern more proactively and wisely in high-risk events like AMOC collapse -- as well as insights from others' new thinking about future civilizations, not least Luke Kemp's 2025 book "Goliath's Curse: the History and Future of Societal Collapse." 

Political and cultural tribalism, inequality, disinformation, AI and autocracy are all poisons rooted deeply in the messy landscape we inhabit as scientists and humans co-creating a future civilization – one which centres Nature, and each other, in our systems and mindsets.  Our purpose is to bring these harsh realities to this conference to help stake the stark moral imperatives of our time as humans, scientists, stewards, and storytellers. 

If discussion time allows, we will engage the audience in co-creating narrative arcs which can build agency across cultures and ideologies at the same time as building courage, risk foresight, resilience, ecosystem and climate restoration, and social reconnection.