About Voices from the Future

The collection of stories you find in this package are based on the experiences and insights of survivors of extreme weather events in the U.S. and around the world. This project, both in its perspective and execution, represents the belief that narrative storytelling and personal experience offers a particularly powerful form of engagement. While data-driven evidence gathering and analysis is critical to an understanding of the challenges that the planet and humans face as a result of climate change, this report is predicated on the belief that personal stories have the potential to touch a wide cross-section of readers and constructively influence thinking and behavior.

The sample of nearly three dozen voices, drawn from a diversity of personal circumstances, geography and weather events, is intended to provide a sufficient sample to reach some reasonable conclusions about likely futures and possible responses. The creators of this material hope that the collection is a useful resource for other researchers seeking to make sense of the challenges ahead.

Steven Beschloss originally conceived of and directed the project. He is a professor of practice at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication, director of ASU’s Narrative Storytelling Initiative, and leads Narratives work for the Julie Ann Wrigley Global Futures Laboratory.

Kelly Vaughn Kramer is the project’s lead editor and a contributing writer. Journalist Kirsi-Marja Hayrinen-Beschloss is the lead writer, particularly in the collection of stories from international locations. Additional contributing writers include Robin Tricoles and Kayla Frost.

Voices from the Future is a project supported by the Julie Ann Wrigley Global Futures Laboratory.