Turning backwards forwards: your story of change
In the previous step, you came up with stepping stones to your envisioned future, working backwards from your goal.
Now, it’s time to flip that timeline around and bring it to life as a forward-moving story, weaving the stepping stones into a plausible storyline of how one event led to another.
Your story doesn’t need to be perfect or overly detailed. The goal is just to connect today’s world to your envisioned future world in a way that makes sense to you.
Develop your story
1. Work your way forward
Take the timeline or list of events that you wrote down in your backcasting exercise and use them to build your story. Start from the beginning (the present) and imagine how each milestone unfolded and how it might lead to the next. For example:
- Did a small grassroots movement grow into a nationwide campaign?
- Did a political breakthrough inspire a wave of new policies and actions?
- Did cultural shifts spark widespread changes in behaviours, attitudes or values?
As you write, feel free to adjust or add details to make the story richer or more exciting. The ending of your story should be similar to the vision you wrote down in step 4.4.
2. Bring your story to life
Think about how people felt, what motivated them and how they worked together to overcome challenges. Use descriptive language to make your story vivid and engaging.
Tips for crafting your story
- Try to ensure that each step or event connects logically to the next.
- Your story doesn’t need to be bound by your backcasting exercise – feel free to replace some ideas or events, or add new ones that make the storyline more compelling.
- There’s no need to make it perfect – focus on telling a story that feels meaningful and inspiring to you.
Once you have created your story, save a copy to your device. This ensures you have your work safely stored as you will need it for reference in the following steps.
Share your story
Share your story and discuss with other learners in the Comments section. If you have created an image or other media, you can upload it to the Padlet.Please note, by selecting this link you will be taken to a page containing content provided by a third party website.
Climate Action: Tackling the Climate Crisis for a Better World
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