The Power of Place-Based Storytelling: Imagining Climate Possibilities in Your Community with Autumn Leiker

In this episode of Climate Shifted, host Eva Frye speaks with Autumn Leiker, a designer and climate artivist based in Santa Fe, New Mexico. While many climate stories are doom-and-gloom, Autumn decided to ask their community a different question: considering the realities of the climate crisis, what world do you actually want to live in? This simple but powerful question became Into the Unknown Together, a beautiful anthology of stories, recipes, and art from the people of New Mexico. This work is powerful because when we get out of the limiting fear mindset and into creative ideation, when we imagine the world we do want, we actually start to build it. 

Autumn had never published a book or run a contest before—but they showed that any of us can create something meaningful in our own communities.

Discover why listening matters more than telling, how stories are humanity's most powerful tool for creating change, and the practical steps any of us can take to inspire climate imagination in our own communities. Because when we tell new stories about our climate future, we imagine the pathways for living into them.

FULL TRANSCRIPT HERE

Key Topics Covered

The Power of Place-Based, Community Storytelling

• Why stories are humanity's tool for creating change and new worlds
• How climate stories can move beyond apocalyptic doom to inspire imagination
• Making abstract climate issues personally relevant through place-based narratives
• The role of artists and storytellers as "new world midwives"

Building Climate Imagination

• Moving from "what we don't want" to "what we do want" in climate futures
• Why utopian thinking isn't the goal—complex, realistic visions are
• Balancing grief and joy in climate work
• Processing the full spectrum of climate emotions through creative expression

Community-Centered Approach

• How Autumn approached their project as an anthropologist and listener
• The importance of amplifying local voices rather than imposing outside ideas
• Creating space for diverse perspectives and first-time contributors
• Building projects that reflect the actual ecology and culture of a place

Practical Project Building

• How to start a community storytelling project from scratch
• Navigating grants, outreach, and building without institutional backing
• The power of commissioning alongside open submissions
• Making projects accessible and beautiful to draw people in

Standout Quotes

"We are the storytelling animal... Everything is a story that someone has imagined, so the world that we're living in today and all the systems that we are living in, for better or worse, they are all something that someone imagined at some point."

"When writers create new stories, they open up pathways that we can also live into... it is how we can create new worlds."

"If we don't try to start imagining what we do want and then how to get there, then it's never going to happen."

"Being on the right side of history doesn't necessarily mean we're going to make it... but I want to be on the right side of things, and I want to help others engage with that as well."

"I so want more people to do this. Please take the idea, do whatever you want with it, change it, do it in your communities."

Featured Resources

Autumn's Project:

• Into the Unknown Together - Climate anthology for and by the people of New Mexico
• Autumn's Portfolio - Design and climate storytelling work

Influences & Inspiration:

• Adrienne Maree Brown - Visionary fiction author and activist who inspired the project
• Jamie Figueroa's "Prophecies of Possibility" for Emergence Magazine
• Anonymous Was A Woman Environmental Art Grant - Funded the project

Essential Reading Mentioned:

• Ursula K. Le Guin - Science fiction author who explored creating new worlds and systems
• Robin Wall Kimmerer - Blends science with indigenous wisdom (highly recommended in audiobook)