Re-storying a world worth living in

“We’re in a crisis of imagination – and it’s literally killing us.” 

This line, which I heard some time ago during a panel on storytelling for a regenerative future, lands hard because it’s true. The ecological, political and social upheavals we face are not just failures of policy or technology, but of imagination – of the stories that tell us who we are, what matters, and where we’re going. 

Last month, the UK’s first cross-sector National Emergency Briefing highlighted how climate and nature risks are shaping everything from food security, to rising costs and public health. Its unmissable message: we need to change how the nation understands its future. This makes our industry - cultural shapers and influencers - central to this change.

Above: This campaign by Agency for Nature brought drag artistry and nature together in a cross-pollinated celebration of shared fabulousness. It was conceived by HOUSE 337 creatives Mikey Arthey and Poppy Cumming-Spain.

So how do we play our part in the inevitable shifts unfolding before us? We understand desire, identity, and aspiration better than any other sector. But rarely do we examine our brainprint - the psychological and cultural impact of our work on society.

Think of the ‘truths’ advertising has built over decades: orange juice for a good morning; cereal for breakfast; a diamond to prove love; SUVs for freedom; shopping as self-expression... These were stories – repeated until they became norms. The life people are sold is ever-more consumption – yet the life they long for is more connection.

Every brief reinforces one story or the other.

Yet the materialistic cues we’ve normalised, combined with shrinking time in nature and a relentless attention economy, are strongly linked to higher anxiety, lower wellbeing and reduced empathy – all of which narrow our collective capacity to imagine differently.

From consumers to citizens 

So if we’re serious about a world that is livable, equitable, and rich with possibility, one question becomes unavoidable: How do we create the conditions for the right narratives – regenerative stories that reconnect people, culture and nature – to take root?

Here are some key thought starters and entry points to begin answering that question.

Strategist and author Jon Alexander offers a simple yet transformative diagnostic: Are we speaking to people as consumers, or as citizens? 

The 'consumer story' idea, rooted in 20th-century marketing and Freudian psychology, frames people as isolated individuals who define themselves through buying and pursuing self-interest, and that all institutions exist to serve these choices, leading to consumerism and inequality. By contrast, The Citizen Story reconnects us with our true nature, seeing people as capable, connected participants co-creating a future where all can flourish.

Every brief reinforces one story or the other. This is our chance to let go of the declining Consumer Story of isolation and overconsumption, and nurture the emerging Citizen Story of belonging and reciprocity.

Above: Young citizens coming together during the 2019 global climate strikes. Photograph by Tobias Schwarz/AFP/Getty Images.

Reimagining a 'good life', Lisa Merrick-Lawless Co-Founder of Purpose Disruptors has spent the last four years with her team exploring a core question: What does the good life people dream of actually look like? The answer, overwhelmingly, is more connection - to themselves, others, and Nature.

From inside the advertising industry, Lisa highlights a stark tension: the life people are sold is ever-more consumption – yet the life they long for is more connection.

Her work is systems change in action, building collaborative networks across advertising, media and broader culture to create campaigns that show a new kind of life is not only possible, it’s desirable. Purpose Disruptor’s latest project, Agency for Nature, has gathered over 500 creatives to develop 10 campaigns in two years, reaching 40 million people.

Agency for Nature brings nature into unexpected cultural spaces - football, fashion, gaming, sex - reframing it for urban youth. Not as pastoral nostalgia, but as something that helps reawaken the connection they feel to Nature.

Most importantly, the campaigns reveal something deeper for all involved: the act of making changes the maker.

Above: Agency for Nature’s grassroots campaign helps amateur football players notice nature beyond the lines of the pitch. Creatives: Jake Wiseman and James Ginn, VCCP.

Reorienting Deep Narratives

Paddy Loughman, Co-Founder of Inter-Narrative, a narrative change community, brings a vital systems perspective, exploring how communications shape the deeper patterns through which we make sense of the world. 

Research into cognitive science shows that we navigate reality together, through shared, embodied logics that form over countless interactions. When these patterns take hold, they become unconscious - often called ‘deep narratives’ - and can take generations to change. Loughman and his collaborators’ work shows how, like habits or addiction, changing deep narratives takes deliberate practice and different conditions – including the everyday stories we tell.

Stories are not just narratives: they’re environments we inhabit.

He finds hope in the fact that “Many harmful narratives, like ‘Humans are separate and superior to nature,’ are historically recent, while older, wiser narratives – like ‘We’re all part of the web of life’ – are being remembered by millions worldwide. We all have a role to play in that process. Which of those two narratives – separation or interbeing – is your work based on?”

For an industry long tied to short-term consumption, this work is grounding. It reminds us that regeneration isn’t just about using the right words; it’s about reorienting how we relate to reality - and who we hold ourselves to be.

Bridging the imagination gap 

I am inspired by visionary writers and thought leaders such as Robin Wall Kimmerer, Joanna Macy, and Adrienne Maree Brown, whose work blending science, indigenous wisdom, systems thinking, and cultural regeneration shows that change-making can - and should - be joyful. They also argue that stories are not just narratives: they’re environments we inhabit, shaping identities and the possibilities we dare to imagine. For our industry, this insight is pivotal.