Positive Imaginings

Project description

Positive Imaginings, Rea Co-Founder Lucy Power explains, is driven by a need for climate communication which takes care of the mental wellbeing of young people. Lucy found limited resources to support climate conversations with her children when forced to educate her children at home during the COVID-19 pandemic. Lucy was also observing ‘cycles of burn out’ among her colleagues in the environmental sector. ‘We see these cycles of fatigue and climate anxiety in adults and children’, she says: it is an intergenerational issue. The suspension of art and environmental work provided Lucy, and fellow Rea Co-Founder Arran Sheppard, time to research this issue and imagine a new programme of hope-filled climate education. The time also enabled them to draw together a talented, multidisciplinary group of collaborators for a sustained incubation period.

A significant inspiration and reference for the development of Positive Imaginings was ‘The Future We Choose’, a call to action book by former UN Executive Secretary for Climate Change, Christiana Figueres, and Senior Political Strategist for the Paris Agreement, Tom Rivett-Carnac. The ethos of optimism and empowerment in the call to action informed the development of Rea’s theory of change. With their youthful audience in mind, the team blended this thinking with a nature-based pedagogy originating in the Swedish outdoor school movement known as ‘Skogsmulle’. Together, these references inform an approach which Lucy envisages as a spiral staircase. The ‘Natural Flight of Steps’ theory of change, ‘always circles back to the importance of spending regular time enjoying and observing nature, to enable us to continue to care and take action without burning out.’

The ‘Natural Flight of Steps’ theory of change

1) Enjoying nature, facilitating joy and play

Positive Imaginings takes place in accessible areas of woodland. The aim is to first provide opportunities for free play and exploration. This is enhanced by performative facilitation, creating wonder and enjoyment for children and their guardians.

2) Observing nature and how it makes you feel

From initial joyful engagement in wild spaces, Positive Imaginings seeks to nurture and feed an interest in the natural world. Participants are guided to consider the changing seasons, to observe fauna and flora, and to consider how they may feel differently following these encounters.

3) Caring for nature

From observing nature, Positive Imaginings then encourages young people to consider how wild spaces may be cared for, what risks they face, and how our actions may help to repair and conserve the natural world.

4) Becoming politically aware and active, campaigning on climate

The final step seeks to translate caring for the natural world into action on the climate and biodiversity crises. Positive Imaginings has shared the concerns and future aspirations of the young people engaged in their programme with international audiences.

Lucy explains that sustainable and meaningful change is possible when individuals and collectives follow this journey. of inspiration, community, connection and empowerment, while also revealing what is at stake to be lost if we do not act.

Rea chose to initially work with the teachers and children of Castleview Primary School in Craigmillar, Edinburgh, with which they held an established relationship. The programme responded to a post-pandemic need for outdoor play, articulated by the children’s teachers and guardians. An emerging play-based programme for 9–12-year-olds, responded to their needs and curiosities. It incorporated structured and free play opportunities and storytelling sessions around a fire, written and performed by the Positive Imaginings team. Each story addressed a particular biodiversity or climate issue, weaving scientific facts together with charismatic characters and wonder-filled adventures. They ran this programme for six weeks, noting a remarkable transformation in the confidence and engagement of the young participants.

This pilot project set the precedent for Positive Imaginings. The work was presented outdoors in areas of woodland within the city, children were engaged with pressing climate issues and they were given an opportunity to respond, their voices were listened to. These responses, questions and play interactions informed the stories and characters developed for subsequent iterations of Positive Imaginings. Rea went on to run events with students and teachers from primary schools across Scotland between 2022 and 2024. Their outdoor workshops and performances grew to feature multiple storytellers, aerial performers and musicians, supported by a wider team with expertise in creative climate communication, climate psychology, costume design, filmmaking, theatre and dramaturgy.

A key focus of each Positive Imaginings woodland performance is ‘The Children’s Fire’, based on a Native American practice where Indigenous community members sit around a fire and make decisions based on future generations’ wellbeing. Positive Imaginings adopted and reshaped this tradition, establishing a space for storytelling and conversation, where young people can learn and respond to issues of the climate crisis and imagine a brighter future. Their approach is also informed by the work of The Children’s Parliament.

Positive Imaginings captured some of these fireside conversations and visions for the future in a one-minute children’s voices soundscape, produced by sound designer Nik-Paget Tomlinson. This was broadcast at COP26, as part of RSPB’s ‘Glasgow to Globe’. The soundscape was picked up by BBC Radio, Radio Scotland, as well as the world’s most listened to climate podcast, ‘Outrage and Optimism’, hosted by Christiana Figueres. It has now had over 100,000 listeners from all around the world.

The newest incarnation of Positive Imaginings brings the outdoor climate circus out of Scotland and out of schools, to a community audience in Yorkshire. Part of the National Lottery-funded ‘A Future for All’ project, the Positive Imaginings team is working within a partnership of charities: Hope for the Future, Contact, Parents for Future UK and academic researchers from London School of Economics. This five-year project sees Positive Imaginings reimagined as part of an engagement and advocacy programme for disabled children and their families. The collective aim is to: ‘make climate advocacy accessible and climate policies more inclusive, ensuring they reflect the needs of those most impacted by climate-related issues’.

Rea has also been working on a new iteration of Positive Imaginings in Edinburgh, focused on families experiencing racial inequalities, specifically refugee and asylum-seeking communities. In an October 2025 pilot event, 93 participants gathered in the woods for a performance followed by a workshop on finding your political voice. The event included a promenade performance, play facilitation in the woodland, and a multilingual fireside ritual where participants shared their hopeful visions for the future in their mother tongue. The programme seeks to work with families recently settled in Scotland, through close partnerships with established and trusted grass roots organisations such as SCOREscotland and Refugee Action Scotland.

Lucy expressed the importance of platforming the voices of marginalised communities within climate conversations. ‘Diversity’, she explained, ‘is as essential for healthy natural ecosystems, as it is for climate conversations. We need to build a diversity of voices within these spaces to create a regenerative world which meets all our needs.’

Climate considerations

Intergenerational and intersectional climate justice

‘All children are marginalised in climate conversations but those from low income and other marginalised communities are particularly excluded’. – Lucy Power

Positive Imaginings has prioritised working with schools and communities in some of Scotland’s most disadvantaged neighbourhoods, defined as within the top 10% of the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation. The programme counteracts the intersecting issues of limited access to wild spaces and cultural experiences, alienation from climate discourse, and feelings of climate anxiety and helplessness.

Climate change and mental health

Positive Imaginings aims is to communicate climate change in a way that prioritises the wellbeing and mental health of marginalised communities. Their approach, shaped through consultation with climate and educational psychologists, addresses disconnection and climate anxiety using play, exploration, discussion and advocacy.

‘Storytelling demystifies climate narratives, making them accessible and offering practical, positive forms of collective climate action’. – Lucy Power

Its aim is to build resilience in communities and to inspire collective action on climate.

A regenerative ethos

The Rea team enacts their climate principals through their approaches to travel, materials and funding. Where possible, they travel by bicycle or on public transport. In fact, cycling has become a performative focus and mode of engagement within Positive Imaginings, described as ‘Scotland’s first cycling climate circus’.

The organisation celebrates the reuse of existing materials for costumes and props. Their approach to funding is also guided by climate ethics. ‘It is important to be aware of greenwashing’ Lucy comments, ‘we always conduct a background check on potential funders and supporters to ensure their ethics align with our climate mission’.

Lessons, tips and advice

Partnership building

Partnership building has been central to the success and longevity of Positive Imaginings. Lucy describes how she first approached nature organisations including the Woodland Trust, NatureScot and Scottish Forestry, that were already known to Rea. These organisations provided crucial early financial and in-kind support.

Another critical early partnership was with academics from the Department for Social Responsibility and Sustainability at the University of Edinburgh, who funded and organised for ethnographic student researcher Daniela Izquierdo to be embedded within the programme for six weeks. Izquierdo observed how the young participants interacted with the woodland environment, performances and storytelling. Her insights informed the direction of the programme and worked to evidence its positive impact on participants.

Positive Imaginings has continued to develop enabling partnerships with academic researchers, environmental organisations, charities, trusts and local councils.

Communication and building momentum 

Effective communication has also been crucial to the success of Positive Imaginings. A key element in this was to invest in high-quality documentation at an early stage. The Positive Imaginings team worked with award-winning filmmakers Felipe Bustos Sierra and Tomas Sheridan to create short films which helped to establish the project and generate further partnerships and funding.

An awareness of, and connection with, global climate discourse has also been integral to the projects communication strategy. ‘There was great momentum around the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Glasgow that we wanted to harness’ says Lucy. The Rea team brought Positive Imaginings into global climate conversations during the event by seeking endorsements from leading figures in the climate movement, such as Nick Stern, Jonathon Porritt and youth climate activist, Mya-Rose Craig (Bird Girl).

Take it outside 

Rea advocates for the power of working in nature, as climate conversations take on a different dimension when we take them outside. This has a powerful effect on the wellbeing of participants, and leads to radically new perspectives and ideas on climate action.

‘Children recreate the world through play and offer new perspective, ideas and solutions.’

Lucy Power

Partners and stakeholders

Positive Imaginings has held diverse partnerships across its various iterations, enabling access to woodland sites, providing financial and in-kind support, research and advocacy for people and climate. These partnerships include:

• The Woodland Trust
• Scottish Forestry
• NatureScot
• The City of Edinburgh Council
• The Department for Social Responsibility and Sustainability, University of Edinburgh
• Hope for the Future
• Contact
• Parents for Future
• London School of Economics (LSE)
• Sandy’s Community Centre
• Refugee Action Scotland
• Primary Schools across Scotland
• Edinburgh and Lothian Greenspace Trust
• ScoreScotland

Funding

Positive Imaginings has received funding from a variety of sources across its iterations. It was initially funded through a scheme where a crowdsourced pot was match-funded by Creative Scotland. They went on to benefit from additional funding from Creative Scotland and awards from The National Lottery Community Fund, Walk Wheel Cycle Trust (formerly Sustrans), The University of Edinburgh, The Woodland Trust, Scottish Forestry, Vegware and The William Syson Foundation. The organisation also supplemented this funding by offering team-building sessions, corporate performances, and environmental and creative consultancy.

However, despite the success of Positive Imaginings, endorsements from leading climate figures and councils, and high demand from schools, it has proved difficult to financially sustain the project within Edinburgh. This has led the team to explore new contexts and partnerships, to adapt and shift the focus of their work. The five-year lottery funded ‘A Future for All’ project is a result of this organisational resilience and agility. The Rea team is now exploring new funding opportunities to support their work with refugee and asylum-seeking communities. Their aim is to create a self-sustaining model were, after a multi-year period of engagement, they could transition some of the practices fostered through Positive Imaginings into a community-led model.

Relevant links

• Positive Imaginings
• A Future For All
• Outrage and Optimism podcast
• Children’s Parliament

All images provided courtesy of Rowan Environmental Arts and Education.