Dystopian visions of the future dominate popular culture, but what if we empower each other with hope by letting ourselves dream? That’s why Yale Planetary Solutions hosts Sci X Sci-Fi, a new conversation between creative world builders and those innovating and inventing.
Held each spring, Sci X Sci-Fi invites the community to use fantasy as inspiration for practical technical solutions, facilitating a rich, interdisciplinary dialogue.
In collaboration with entertainment industry partners, including NBCUniversal, NRDC’s Rewrite the Future, the Sustainable Entertainment Alliance, and the Green Film School Alliance, Sci X Sci-Fi 2027 will focus on the power of TV and film to positively impact public perception and action related to climate issues.
Announcing the Sci X Sci-Fi Vertical Media Student Contest
$5,000 in Prizes. Submit by February 25, 2027!
Core Program: April 1-2, 2027
Breakfast Networking Event: Creative Careers Without Compromise
Students in drama, writing, and other creative disciplines can rotate among tables hosted by visiting professionals discussing how to incorporate sustainability advocacy and climate storytelling into their careers. Workshop facilitators to include team members from the Green Film School Alliance, the Sustainable Entertainment Alliance, and Netflix.
NRDC Rewrite the Future Workshop
This workshop will create space for participants to respond to prompts and build believable future worlds where climate change and climate solutions shape everyday life. This workshop will have a tangible outcome, and it invites the public and students in any discipline (e.g. creative writing, drama, art, architecture, environment) interested in screenwriting, set design, costume design, and narrative worldbuilding.
Vertical Media Student Contest Winner Screening
Building on last year’s partner event with the Environmental Film Festival at Yale (EFFY), the winners of the Vertical Media Student Contest will be screened alongside winning short film selections. Filmmakers will be invited to discuss their process and the importance of creating narratives about climate and the environment. This celebration of emerging storytellers will include lunch.
Generating Possible Futures: AI’s Role in Climate Storytelling
This workshop will explore the reality of AI-generated films, AI’s role in imagining climate futures and shaping climate narratives, and the environmental impacts of using AI to tell stories.
Restoring Hope for the Future through Environmental Storytelling from the Past
This interactive Sci X Sci-Fi workshop will introduce the Yale and New Haven communities to the science, technology, and cultural significance of film preservation and restoration through the lens of NBCUniversal’s archival work. The session will explore how films are restored, digitized, and protected for future generations, including before-and-after examples and discussion of the interdisciplinary work required by the restoration process.
Supporting Partners
Integrating industry-level sustainable production practices into film school programs.
Transforming the screen industry’s environmental impact.
“Sci-Fi has a reputation for lifting up stories that tilt toward dystopian imaginings of the future. But Sci X Sci-Fi was a wonderful reminder that the genre can also challenge us to imagine a future where scientific advancement can benefit all of humankind.”
Dawn Leaks Ragsdale, Executive Director of The Center for Inclusive Growth and 2025 Sci X Sci-Fi Panelist
Sci X Sc-Fi 2025 & 2026
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A joint event with the Environmental Film Festival at Yale featured 4 winning short film producers and 4 winning flash fiction writers during Sci X Sci-Fi 2026. Photo by Saish Solankar.
Winning EFFY filmmakers and Sci X Sci-Fi flash fiction authors gathered on stage for a discussion with Creative-in-Residence Stephanie Barish and moderator Jennifer Carman from the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication.
2026 Creative-in-Residence Stephanie Barish discusses climate change and indie gaming with moderator Joyce Hsiang at the Center for Collaborative Arts and Media. Photo by Julia Weston.
Following a lecture, attendees played indie video games related to climate at the Center for Collaborative Arts and Media.
Groups across campus and New Haven played Daybreak, a cooperative board game about stopping climate change. The 2026 session was faciliated by board game designer Matteo Menapace. Photo by Ash Baker.
BIOMES lecture, “Avoiding Dystopia in Theory and Practice” at the Yale School of the Environment
Panelists Annalee Newtiz, Dawn Leaks Ragsdale, and Julie Zimmerman at the New Haven Free Public Library
Green chemistry students developed elevator pitches to share about their research quickly and clearly
Can Science Fiction Help Us Envision a Better Future?
March 27, 2025
In an interview with YaleNews, Annalee Newitz, the inaugural “creator-in-residence” of a new Yale series called “Sci X Sci-Fi,” explains how science fiction can help point the way to a thriving tomorrow.
