It’s been a heavy week for these of us who need to protect life on earth. Somehow, the most recent, biggest hope for a livable future is within the fingers of 1 man—a senator, not even a king! Given how few Americans voted for him, it’s absurd that Joe Manchin has a lot nationwide affect. But while you issue within the scale of US energy and its historic and present accountability for the local weather disaster, it’s downright grotesque.

When Senator Ed Markey joined local weather activists outdoors of the Capitol on October 7, he said, “There’s no middle ground between a livable and an unlivable world.”

But there is a world in between—and we’re in it now. It’s a world the place all the things feels tenuous, like if you happen to contact something, it’d all crumble. It’s one the place you’re feeling uneasy planning months upfront, as a result of you’ll be able to’t image the long run. Today, arising with a 10-year plan feels ridiculous—like constructing a home on quicksand.

As we careen from disaster to disaster, it’s arduous not to wonder if the world is ending. But, for the one species with a report, for higher or worse, of deliberately altering the planet, that’s a cop-out. The actual query isn’t about what the world is doing, it’s about what we’re doing. It’s not whether or not the world is ending or starting. It’s whether or not we’re creating or destroying it. And the reply is, in fact, each.

The local weather disaster is a disaster of many issues: science, economics, politics, immigration. As the writer Amitav Ghosh stated, “the climate crisis is also a crisis of culture, and thus of the imagination.” To be clear, that doesn’t imply innovation or invention—we’ve acquired a great deal of concepts for photo voltaic panels and microgrids. While we now have all of those items, we don’t have an image of how they arrive collectively to construct a brand new world. For too lengthy, the local weather combat has been restricted to scientists and coverage specialists. While we’d like these expertise, we additionally want a lot extra. When I survey the sector, it’s clear that what we desperately want is extra artists.

We discuss rather a lot about constructing a “livable future,” however what does that basically imply? Not a lot for these of us barely surviving at present. Furthermore, I don’t desire a future that’s merely livable. I would like a good looking world. I’m sick of nightmares, and I’m able to dream once more.

I’d wish to introduce to everybody the idea of world-building. At its core, world-building is what it appears like: the method of making an imaginary world for a piece of fiction. It’s the follow of taking the concepts in your head, the sensations out of your creativeness, and permitting folks to see what you see, really feel what you’re feeling. It’s as a lot about creating new issues as it’s about destroying previous buildings and assumptions. It’s an artwork, not a science.

World-building is commonly considered the area of science fiction, however any work of fiction, and even nonfiction, requires it. You must construct the world as your character sees it, as a result of as each novelist is aware of, world-building is extra in regards to the characters than in regards to the surroundings. And so it’s in life: None of us experiences the world the identical method, so we stay in our personal little variations of it.

We want to use world-building to the planet we stay on. While artists could be probably the most completed at this, they will’t do it alone this time. We’re all going to must push our imaginations. Here’s one approach to begin: Close your eyes and consider the world as you see it. Remember that world-building begins with the principle character. (That’s you!) So ask your self: Who are you, and what do you stand for? And now, what do the folks round you stand for?

Picture your environment. Observe all the things that’s lovely and all the things that’s ugly, scary, unsure: the storms, the fires, the injustices, the screaming, the gnashing of enamel. As you take into account your environment—together with the legal guidelines of society and mores of tradition—be aware of how you’re feeling in them, the way you work together with them. Think about what you’ll be able to change and what you’ll be able to’t. Open your eyes. Breathe.

Now, shut your eyes and picture the world you need to stay in. You’re beginning with the identical foremost character. (Still you!) But perhaps the folks round you have got modified. What do they worth on this world? How do they deal with one another? What’s essential on this new world, and what isn’t? What does energy—not simply electrical energy—appear like? How does the air really feel in your pores and skin? What does it odor like? In my world, there’s laughter and lightness within the air, and it’s not weighed down with these noxious chemical substances that make my nostril burn. Memorize your model—each element, each sensation. You’ll have to hold coming again right here till you make it actual.

When you open your eyes, ask your self: Is there one thing from that world I can carry into this one? That’s your job now. If we’re going to make the world over, let’s do it proper. Let’s make a masterpiece.

This story initially appeared in The Nation and is republished right here as a part of Covering Climate Now, a world journalism collaboration strengthening protection of the local weather story.