“Hope depends on our actions.”
— Joi Lee, Earthrise Studio

At this year’s What Design Can Do event in Amsterdam, a room gathered for the Earthrise Panel: The Story Is Ours, a timely conversation exploring the power, and responsibility, of storytelling in the climate movement.

Moderated by Joi Lee, Head of Editorial at Earthrise Studio, the panel featured Anne-Marie Hoeve, joint editor at Imagine5, and Abdel Mandili, documentary filmmaker and founder of People’s Planet Project. Together, they offered a thoughtful and necessary conversation on how narrative shapes not just our understanding of the climate crisis, but our capacity to act on it.

Joi opened with a reflection on how far climate communication has come in the past five years. “Climate denialism is no longer the main challenge,” she noted. “Instead, the question is: how do we bring more people in, and move them to action, and with empathy?

At Earthrise Studio, their answer lies in reframing the central narrative that humans are separate from nature. Through multimedia storytelling and design, they aim to foster a sense of reconnection, with each other and the living world. “It’s about reminding people of the potential of human nature,” Joi said. “We’re not here to run away from it, but to come together and co-create the future we want to see.

Earthrise’s work, she explained, is built on a simple but radical premise: that changing stories can change the systems we live in. “We want to tell stories that remind us of our connection to each other, and to the planet. And through that, remind people of their potential and power to enact the future we want to see.”

For Anne-Marie Hoeve, the shift starts with understanding how people engage. “For a long time, we thought if you just presented enough facts and stats, that would be enough,” she shared. “But now we know that while information is essential, it’s not enough to drive change. We need to speak to the emotional brain, to identity, values, and the stories people live by.

She pointed to a cultural sea change in how storytelling is being embraced, even by unexpected audiences. “A few years ago, there was a sense that to talk about climate, it had to be through a documentary or a Greenpeace campaign. But now we’re seeing climate stories embedded in popular culture – like Don’t Look Up, or even in books where each chapter is framed around human emotions. There’s an understanding that emotional resonance is key.”

At Imagine5, this means telling stories that inspire action and amplify voices driving positive change. It’s about finding a balance: acknowledging the dire realities of the climate crisis without succumbing to doom and paralysis. “Fear is not always the greatest springboard for action,” Anne-Marie said. “We need stories that help people imagine what’s possible.

She also emphasised the power of individual action as a driver of systemic change. “It only takes about 25% of a population to create what’s known as a ‘social tipping point’, the point where ideas move from the margins to the mainstream, and change becomes inevitable”, she explained. “Storytelling can help us reach that tipping point”. 

For Abdel Mandili, stories do more than inspire, they can provide concrete tools for justice. Through People’s Planet Project, he works with Indigenous communities in the Amazon, Papua New Guinea, and Indonesia, training them to use filmmaking and drone technology to document environmental destruction. These stories, grounded in ancestral knowledge and lived experience, become vital evidence in legal cases against deforestation and land grabs.

Storytelling isn’t the end of the process,” Abdel explained. “It’s part of a continuum, from emotional resonance to tangible outcomes. Communities are using stories as testimony, to reclaim their rights and protect their lands.”

What began as a small initiative has now grown into an international network, with Indigenous communities using film as both a storytelling and legal tool. “We’re teaching people how to storyboard, how to film, how to use drones,” Abdel said. “They use this not just for public awareness, but also in litigation, to prove historical ties to land, to monitor deforestation, and to hold corporations accountable.

Yet reaching wider audiences remains an ongoing challenge, especially in today’s fragmented, often polarised social media landscape.

Anne-Marie noted that even mentioning ‘climate’ can trigger algorithmic suppression on some platforms. “We need to learn to talk about climate without only talking about climate,” she said. That means connecting the issue to people’s existing interests: beauty, food, fashion, community, and finding entry points beyond the ‘eco-bubble.’

She shared the example of a renowned climate scientist, who engages audiences on topics like clean beauty, using them as subtle bridges into deeper climate conversations. “It’s about meeting people where they are, instead of trying to pull them into the climate corner”.

Joi echoed this, while voicing frustration with the algorithm’s role in shaping public discourse. “Where the audience is, is often where the algorithm has led them,” she observed. “We need to think about how we can collectively guide people somewhere else, not just chase them.”

She also highlighted Earthrise’s own pivot toward broader, more human-centered narratives. “We’ve found that stories about connection, community, and human nature resonate more than abstract climate content”, she said. “It’s about grounding the conversation in shared human experience”. 

As the session drew to a close, the panelists reflected on what is still missing in climate storytelling.

Anne-Marie called for stories that make the transition to sustainable living feel aspirational, joyful, and deeply human. “There is so much to be gained, for our health, our communities, our sense of meaning,” she said. “Climate action shouldn’t be framed only as sacrifice.

Abdel emphasised the importance of supporting diverse voices, especially Indigenous filmmakers, in shaping these narratives. “We need more representation,” he said. “And we need to recognise the knowledge stored in languages, in traditions, in ways of being that connect us to place.”

He also pointed to the role of intergenerational storytelling. “When we teach Indigenous youth to use film, they’re also preserving languages and cultural knowledge,” he said. “That’s a powerful form of resistance, and resilience.”

In the end, perhaps the most powerful call to the room was to embrace the messiness of the journey ahead. “The best storytelling reflects that complexity,” Joi concluded. “It’s not about moralising or binaries, it’s about truthfully capturing how change really happens.

If the story is ours, then so too is the responsibility, and the invitation, to tell it well.

Words by Olivia Merry, writer, communications expert and founder of Studio30For  based in Amsterdam, NL