The Climate Parables

The Climate Parables is a live event series with a bold mission: shift public imagination toward climate optimism.

Back Pocket designed the experience to blur the boundaries between fiction and nonfiction, science and art, journalism and narrative. With multimedia performances, live music, expert panels, and audience interaction, the Climate Parables invites people to envision futures where climate resilience is not only possible, but likely.

“What could possibly go right?”

Challenges

Inspire optimism in the face of panic: The central challenge was to inspire optimism in expert audiences who are well aware of the climate crisis. Back Pocket was tasked with designing a future that centered solutions and progress.

Designing a scaleable experience: The clients needed a format that could be remixed for different venues, conferences, and cities. This meant developing an event that was not just powerful in the moment, but sustainable and portable in form.

Solution

Open with fiction close with reality: Back Pocket designed the event to begin in a fictive future. The first half of the program featured parables that centered science-backed climate solutions. The second half of the show featured experts who talked about the “science behind the fiction”. We also created a “Solutions Gallery” which featured natural artifacts from leading carbon removal companies.

Creative Development:  is where the storytelling magic happened. The team read and reread each speculative piece, hired actors and animators, created the musical score, and worked closely with leading science fiction authors to preserve their voice while adapting the stories for a live audience.

Modular Production: Each piece of the production was designed to stand alone or work seamlessly into a larger event. By creating stories that each had their own score, animation and actor the pieces of the Climate Parables can travel to new cities and conferences.

Results

Creative Success: The Climate Parables premiered in 2023 at the iconic Saint Joseph’s Art Society in SF, where it received an INNovator Award for Best Event. Based on this positive reception, the event was brought to the American Geophysical Union Conference (AGU) later. Audiences report feeling energized, curious, and optimistic about their climate futures.

Commercial Success: Back Pocket was commissioned to expand the series, write new parables, and tour cities across the country, including  at the Kennedy Center and as a featured event at the Aspen Ideas Festival 2025. 

Reflection

With its blend of live storytelling, science, and speculative design, The Climate Parables has proven that emotional resonance and ecological urgency don’t have to be at odds. By inviting audiences into possibility rather than paralysis, it offered not just a performance, but a new way to imagine our collective future.