If hope is a muscle, then how do I build it?

Apr 10, 2026

Tory Stephens, a climate storyteller and cultural worker who founded Imagine 2200 at Grist, brings hopeful climate fiction to the fore. He discusses dreaming plausible futures, centering culture and spiritual practice in worldbuilding, thrutopia as a route map, and how storytelling trains collective hope and justice.

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INSIGHT

Culture Must Survive Future Worldbuilding

Climate fiction often strips culture from futures, producing homogenized characters and uniforms instead of lived cultural detail.
Tory Stephens argues future worlds should retain distinct foodways, clothing, music, and private rituals to make characters believable and rooted.

ANECDOTE

How Deep South Stories Shifted Tory Into Climate Work

Tory moved from fundraising for people with HIV/AIDS to climate work after hearing stories from the Deep South linking health harms to fossil fuel pollution.
Reading frontline interviews of a woman with 30 years without consistent healthcare pushed him to focus on climate justice.

ADVICE

Use Fiction To Show The Futures You Want

Use speculative fiction to imagine desired futures, not only disasters, so people can see implementable solutions and feel motivated.
Tory recommends publishing hopeful climate stories to reach readers who ignore news but engage emotionally with fiction.

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Autumn is hosting another show and you're gonna love it!

In the Season Four premiere of the Climate Changed podcast, Autumn talks with Tory Stephens, a storyteller, cultural worker, and climate justice advocate.

They explore the transformative power of climate fiction and its role in helping us envision the future. Tory discusses his groundbreaking work at Grist, where he founded Imagine 2200, an initiative that asks a simple yet radical question: What if we wrote stories not about what we fear but about what we hope to create? The discussion dives into how imagination connects with responsibility, how storytelling serves as a profound form of spiritual leadership, and why envisioning a new reality is essential for climate justice.

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TRANSCRIPT

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Resources & Concepts Mentioned:

Thrutopia: Coined by philosopher Rupert Read and popularized by author Manda Scott through the Thrutopia Masterclass, a Thrutopian narrative threads the needle between utopia and dystopia. It focuses on writing grounded, plausible, and inspiring route maps that show exactly how we navigate through our current struggles to reach a future we’d be proud to leave behind.

Bloodchild by Octavia E. Butler: Autumn quotes the legendary science fiction author—who was the first African American woman to reach mainstream success in the genre—and her collection Bloodchild and Other Stories, reflecting on how sci-fi stimulates necessary imagination and creativity.

North Woods by Daniel Mason: A novel mentioned by Nicole Diroff from The BTS Center’s Summer Fiction Book Club, highlighting how fiction can make the natural landscape the main character.

Humans of New York: The iconic photoblog that Tory credits with changing his perspective early in his career, teaching him the unparalleled power of human-centric storytelling over dry statistics.

Visionary Fiction: A framework of world-building and storytelling that Autumn Brown and her sister use in their writing retreats, which actively wrestles with the sacred and reclaims spiritual practices.

Dream Seeds: A term favored by Grist and Imagine 2200 to describe stories that plant concrete, hopeful visions of how society could be organized completely differently.

Eve Mosher & Creating Your Story of Tomorrow: An adult education facilitator guide and video created by renowned environmental artist Eve Mosher, available on the BTS Center’s Leadership Commons.

“Seven Sisters” by Susan Kaye Quinn; 3rd place winner of the 2022 Imagine 2200 contest.

The Case of the Missing Lake by Colby Devitt; published in November 2025 by Imagine 2200.

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/torystephens

Bluesky: @torystephens.bsky.social

Imagine 2200 (Grist): About Imagine 2200: Climate Fiction

Read the Collections:

Thank Yous: We want to extend our deepest gratitude to everyone who made this episode possible:

Tory Stephens, for sharing his incredible vision, imagination, and wisdom with us.

Peterson Toscano, producer of Climate Changed, for producing this episode and for providing the wonderful grounding for this episode.

The BTS Center team, for your ongoing support and for providing the resources and platform that make this podcast possible.

A podcast by The BTS Center exploring some of the most pressing questions about faith, life, and climate change.

Produced by Peterson Toscano, the podcast features acclaimed guests such as Brian McLaren, Elizabeth Rush, Craig Santos Perez, and many more.