\u201cI\u2019ll believe it when I see it\u201d is something cynics like to say.<\/p>\n
Willy Wonka famously reversed that. In Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971), his philosophy is: you\u2019ll see it if you believe it.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve never forgotten that film. The adults in the story – greedy parents, cynical reporters and bureaucrats – are literal-minded. The children are driven by whims and indulgences. Only young Charlie, who maintains his sense of wonder and hope, passes Wonka\u2019s test. He\u2019s rewarded not just for virtue, but for a capacity to see beyond the immediate.<\/p>\n
Wonka\u2019s world is built on an inverted logic, that we must imagine something before it can exist in reality. <\/p>\n
A concept called \u2018imagination activism\u2019, coined by Phoebe Tickell, applies the same idea to tackling the climate crisis. The problem isn\u2019t a lack of solutions<\/a>, it\u2019s the absence of a creative, collective vision for what a better future looks like.<\/p>\n Imagination as climate infrastructure<\/p>\n Humans are naturally sceptical and prone to following the herd. Evolution has wired us to question sudden threats and to copy the behaviour of those around us. Both strategies once kept us alive. But today, the same instincts can make us slow to act on climate change.<\/p>\n Imagination activism works with these tendencies rather than against them. When we witness others believing in and actively working towards a world we all want – one with clean air, seas we can swim in, thriving nature, and cheap, clean energy<\/a> – the herd follows, and we turn our paralysis into curiosity.<\/p>\n Thinkers like Phoebe Tickell bring this to life. She argues that cultivating our imaginations to visualise what\u2019s possible is not a luxury; it is essential.<\/p>\n Tickell describes imagination as a \u201cmuscle that\u2019s been atrophied\u201d by extractive systems such as education, capitalism and media. Her work focuses on rebuilding that capacity by collaborating with organisations or communities to shift the internal culture towards one that values creativity and long-term vision over short-term efficiency.<\/p>\n She emphasises the importance of expanding who gets to imagine. The ability to dream should not be reserved for a select few but should be accessible to all. It is what she calls \u201cimagination justice\u201d. <\/p>\n When the only stories we hear about climate are stories of collapse, it is no surprise that people retreat into despair. <\/p>\n Envisioning offers us a different pathway, acting as if a better outcome is achievable, even before we can see it. <\/p>\n Dreaming in Rio<\/p>\n Art is perhaps the most powerful tool for expanding that sense of possibility.<\/p>\n Back in 2014, artist Olafur Eliasson<\/a> brought large blocks of ice from Greenland<\/a> to public squares in cities like Paris and London to make climate change tangible and experiential. The exhibit then appeared at UN conferences in the subsequent years – popular because it wasn’t just a spectacle, it confronted people with both urgency and opportunity.<\/p>\n