CALL FOR PROPOSALS: Environmental Futures and Storytelling
15–16 January 2027 | BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus

We have no shortage of scientific evidence on climate change. But do we have enough groundwork for climate action? The science has been clear for decades. We know what is happening, we know many of its consequences, and we know that human activity is driving global warming. Yet translating this knowledge into political action, public engagement and changes in everyday life remains remarkably uneven.

So perhaps the question is not only what we know, but how we talk about what we know. Does language shape how we act?

Consider what happens when fossil fuels are described not simply as sources of emissions, but as “molecules of freedom”. Or when a river is understood not merely as a resource for development, but as a living, sacred lifeworld. Different ways of narrating the same environmental reality can make very different futures appear possible, desirable or even legitimate.

This is where our upcoming interdisciplinary conference, Environmental Futures and Storytelling, begins.

The conference welcomes contributions under three interconnected themes:
• Imagining Environmental Futures
• Policy & Environmental Governance
• Storytelling as Environmental Method

Abstract submission: Submit a 500-word abstract + brief bio to envfutures@gmail.com

Abstract deadline: 30 September 2026