The 22 stories that are part

of this collection ‘Dear World

Leaders: Many people are blind

to the climate crisis’ - Climate

Change Stories for COP28

Decision Makers convey urgent

messages in a wide variety of

forms. The collection has been

created through a collaboration

of professional writers, artists,

(rebellious) scientists, Artif icial

Intelligence, an inf luencer, and an

indigenous writer for the occasion

of COP28. The stories encompass

f ictional encounters between

humans and other-than-humans,

factual non-f iction stories, direct

letters addressed to the leaders

of the world, travel reports,

infographics, and cartoons.

Several stories, although

touching on the worst effects of

the polycrisis attribute wisdom

and hope to humans decisions

for a better future Other if not

most stories have a kind of

dystopic ending touching upon

the deteriorated and strange

environments and climates

in the not-so-distant future.

Interestingly several stories

attribute talking and thinking

roles to non-human beings, such

as plants and animals. Stories

can have many different subjects

ranging from small-scale street

observations via landscapes

descriptions to global scenarios.

The stories that are part of this

collection, ‘Dear World Leaders:

Many people are blind to the

climate crisis – Climate Change

Stories For COP28 Decision

Makers, were written during the

tenure of the VU Amsterdam’s

f irst Distinguished Fellowship

of the Anthropocene in the fall

of 2023, in the context of two

storytelling workshops, ‘On

the Road to COP28’, in order to

address the leaders of the world

who come together in Dubai

United Arab Emirates during

COP28 We thank our primary

supporters VU Amsterdam

Sustainability Institute and IUCN

CEC