In this episode, I chat with author Danielle Arostegui about her story in the Bright Green Futures anthology, why she picked Climate Connections as a theme, and her very cool giveaway item.
Text Transcript:
Susan Kaye Quinn
Hello friends! Welcome to Bright Green Futures, Episode 32: Climate Connections with Danielle Arostegui.
I'm your host, Susan Kaye Quinn, and we're here to lift up stories about a more sustainable and just world and talk about the struggle to get there. Today, we're going to have a quick chat with Danielle about her story, A Merger in Corn Country, in the new Bright Green Futures anthology, which released on Earth Day.
But first, there are three things listeners should know.
One, the anthology is a collection of hopeful climate fiction stories from guests on the pod and is available on a wide range of retailers, including bookshop.org.
Second, Danielle's story is published separately as an ebook and it's free right now. So make sure you go download that after the show or just get the anthology, which has all the stories plus a bonus prose poem.
And third, the giveaway will go until the end of May. Cool stuff, handpicked by the authors, each item having a connection to their stories, so make sure to enter that as well. And the links for all those things are in the show notes and also on the Bright Green Future substack.
Susan Kaye Quinn
All right, Danielle, thank you for coming back to the pod.
Danielle Arostegui
Of course, thank you so much for having me, it's always a pleasure.
Susan Kaye Quinn
I think I massacred your last name, so can you tell the listeners how it's supposed to be said?
Danielle Arostegui
No, you actually got it. It's great. It's a Arostegui or Arastegui in Spanish.
Susan Kaye Quinn
Oh my goodness. I like the second one. That sounds very cool and I would not be able to do that very well. So thank you for that. Okay. I asked each of the authors in the anthology to pick a theme word, something that represents the story. And you picked climate connections. Although I think you hold the record for the most possible options for theme words, which is great. Made it flexible so I could fit it with the other themes, but connections just jumps right out as so perfect for your story.
And just as a side note for podcast listeners, when you get to the collection, I just love how all the stories in this collection fit together, especially since I didn't tell any of the authors what to write. Okay, that's not how that works. Everyone knew the theme was hopeful climate fiction, but you can go a million directions with that. And yet somehow the six authors wrote stories that really just like fit together and were like, different pieces that sort of span the range of what these stories can do, which is just fantastic. So I was very pleasantly surprised about that.
Okay, why don't you read for us the one line description of your story and tell us a little bit about why CONNECTIONS is your theme and why that's important for hopeful climate fiction stories.
Danielle Arostegui
Definitely. Okay, so the one line for my story is…
With climate stressing his crops more every year and a different sort of folks moving in next door, a farmer has to consider what change really brings.
So for this story, one of the things I really wanted to do was write a story from the point of view of someone who's maybe not the typical hero that you think of when it comes to a hopeful climate change story.
So, you know, a character who's maybe a little bit more on the conservative side, who's really kind of focused on his business and is taken a little bit aback by what's happening with climate change and then also with some of the changes that it's bringing. But one of the ways that he overcomes the struggles that he's dealing with is that he ends up connecting with this commune that moves into the farm next door with him, which is really not what he was ever expecting for his life. But I think that's one of the things that climate change actually can bring about on a positive side, which is that we end up getting to connect with all kinds of different people who are also dealing with climate change and trying to figure out how we can do a better job in the face of it.
And I think connections is really important when we think about how we go forward into a hopeful future with climate change, because we know that climate change is not something that we can deal with on our own individually, neither mitigating climate change nor adapting to climate change. All of those things are going to require that we connect with other people and find new ways to live and to act and to behave that enable us to be more resilient in the face of those changes. And so that's something that I really wanted to kind of bring out in the story.
Susan Kaye Quinn
And you really do. Like, I don't want to get into the how you resolve that because we don't want to spoil the story, but it's all at many different levels about connection. And as you were talking, it actually made me think about how climate connections, like the climate actually connects us in this negative way in the sense of like we're all experiencing the wildfire together or we're all experiencing the flood together.
So it kind of brings down to a sort of basic level of, gosh, there's this thing that's happening. Maybe it's droughts for your farm or it's people moving away or around that, you know, there's going to be a lot of migration for climate. And how we respond to that is going to be very individual, but it opens up the opportunity for connection.
And as you say, that's going to be key… like us taking advantage of that opportunity is going to be key for resilience, like getting through. I think for the most part, we do that naturally when it's you know, strong crisis, like when the actual wildfires there, people pitch in and they work together. It's the longer, slower changes that are super challenging and I think you really do a nice job of addressing some of those in the story.
Danielle Arostegui
Thank you. I wanted to just say, so I'm from Asheville, North Carolina. And so we did have this terrible hurricane this last year. And to what you were just talking about with disasters, I mean, you really did see the connections form like overnight in this community with people coming out and helping each other. We got to know our neighbors so much better because when the hurricane hit, they happened to have a bunch of pizza dough, they were about to have a pizza party for their work. And so they just invited the whole neighborhood and we had this amazing pizza party with no power in the wood fired oven. Those are the connections that you might never have if something like that doesn't happen. But they just make you so much more resilient as a neighborhood, as a community going forward when we know that there are still going to be more events like this, unfortunately. So having those connections, I think, can be such a beautiful and really important thing for a community.
Susan Kaye Quinn
Absolutely. And I had somebody on, I think it was on Mastodon, said something like, well, we've got to reach out to our neighbors because we want to know them before the crisis hits. And I was like, friend, I've got news for you. Like whether you know your neighbors or not, when the crisis hits, you're going to get to know them.
Danielle Arostegui
Absolutely.
Susan Kaye Quinn
That's at least what I've observed happen. I haven't like personally lived through a crisis, but my middle child was in LA with the wildfires. And they had to evacuate and ended up in this Airbnb with like all these other… they're in college… with all these other young people, and only some of whom they knew prior to this. And so now they're cohabitating for at least a short period of time with people you don't know. But we're all in the situation, right? And so, you know, you make it work.
Danielle Arostegui
Mm-hmm.
Susan Kaye Quinn
I think those are muscles that we've had atrophy in some ways, that making it work and working together. I hate the idea that everybody has to experience a crisis for this to happen, but I don't think that's true. I think that I have enough friends who lived in Asheville. I don't need to live through Asheville. I've heard the stories.
And it starts to be—and I think we're almost already there—where everybody knows somebody who has lived through some kind of disaster of some kind or another.
Danielle Arostegui
Unfortunately, yeah, I think you're right.
Susan Kaye Quinn
Unfortunately, and that's just going to be more so in the future. So stories like yours are so great because—and this is true for all of the helpful climate fiction as a genre, definitely these stories in the anthology, but yours in particular—is like giving us a longer view of where this can go. It's not just one static moment. It's like over a period of time, things can change and you can change too. And that's just such a beautiful message of resilience. I'm just so excited for people to read your story.
Danielle Arostegui
Thank you, me too.
Susan Kaye Quinn
Plus it always makes me cry at the end, every time, Danielle, every time.
Danielle Arostegui
Aw, thank you.
Susan Kaye Quinn
It's a good cry. Don't worry folks, it's a good cry. You will be happy that you cried. It's that emotional release thing that I love. So that's some good fiction for you.
Okay, let's talk about your giveaway item. This one I was very excited to see you pick. Daybreak is a tabletop cooperative aboard game that me and my family have played. And my copy is currently out on loan to another solarpunk friend. And I don't know if I'm getting it back. I'm have to like check in with him at some point. But I think he wanted to run a game night or something. And I'm very curious how that went.
I love how the game really engages people in thinking about climate solutions. So I wanted to know if you've played the game and why did you choose it to go with your story?
Danielle Arostegui
Yeah, so I actually have not played the game, which is something that I need to correct immediately. I usually get my game secondhand and I have not yet found a secondhand copy of this one, but I saw it online and I just thought it sounded really fun. I love co-op games. I like working together with people to try and solve a problem and climate change is obviously a really big and thorny problem that we all need to work together on.
And so I thought that that kind of theme of cooperation and making connections to find solutions went really well with the story that I wrote for the anthology. And I think also this was like a wish fulfillment thing because I just personally really want to play this. So I wanted to give it away so someone else could experience it.
Susan Kaye Quinn
That's great. Yeah, no, the game is definitely, I can say from experience, it definitely is a cooperative game. I'm the same way. I love cooperative games. They're almost the only kind of game I will, you know, play voluntarily. Sometimes my kid will invent a game and I'm like, okay, we're going to play that too. But like, can we do the cooperative games? So I'm very into that.
And this one in particular has… for someone, if you weren't maybe like super aware of different climate solutions, it's almost like an educational game. Like you'll learn a lot when you play the game, but it's not like you have to study for it. It's just a natural part of how the gameplay goes. And, you know, most people who play games are used to a little bit of complexity to rules. That's what they like about it. But this definitely, even though there were different roles that you could kind of take in the game, it was still cooperative. It was still very much like, hey, stuff is getting bad. We got to band together and then we can push it more towards the good. And it was a nail biter in some ways. Like, is it going to go good? Is it going to go bad?
So my kids are gamers of different kinds. They were like positively reviewing the game mechanics of it. And I felt like it worked pretty well for our family of five that played it. So I think as a game, just a straight game, it works well. And as a climate solution tool, it works really well. So solid pick, I think. I was very excited to see it come up.
Danielle Arostegui
Awesome. That's great. I like what you said about it also being an education solutions, which I feel like works really well with the story as well because the main character Dennis, who is a farmer, he doesn't necessarily have a huge amount of knowledge about climate solutions. He's kind of learning as he's going and as he's being exposed to these things by the neighbors that have just moved in. And so I like that you can come to this game without a lot of knowledge and still get something out of it because I feel like tThat's absolutely what Dennis would have done.
Susan Kaye Quinn
Yeah, for sure. And that's not dissing anyone that you don't know all the solutions to climate like, geez, it's a huge problem. And that's actually a credit to the game that they did a very nice job of distilling that down in very, you know, graspable ways so that it can enable the gameplay.
One of the things that I keep going back to about… various ways that we try to get people involved in climate or just like not look away from climate issues is this idea of engagement. Like once you're engaged, I feel like once you take that step to be engaged in some way, it is just the first step. And often people take many steps after that. They're like, well, hey, now that I did this, maybe I could do this and this and this. And this feels like that. This feels like, I don't want to call it a slippery slope… or an enticement, but it is definitely engaging. Like you are invested in making this, you know, like getting to the end and winning the game. So it just has that sort of built into it.
Danielle Arostegui
Like a fun slip and slide into climate action.
Susan Kaye Quinn
The fun slip and slide! There you go. It is fun.
I had a great time with my family playing it. And at the time, my kids were adults, but I think you could easily play it with young adults. I don't know what the official age is on it. Folks will have to look that up for themselves. It's definitely something where… I think especially if you had a young adult in your life that was maybe depressed about climate issues… It has a positive engagement that might help them with dealing with that too. So big fan.
Danielle Arostegui
Yeah.
Susan Kaye Quinn
Cool, all right, well, we're gonna get to the end here, since I'm trying to keep these short. Highly encourage people to go check out your story because they're in for a treat.
But my end question is, what are you doing in these crazy times to stay grounded and keep working for a better world, other than your climate fiction that you're writing? Because I know you're working on that too.
Danielle Arostegui
Yes, still doing some writing. But other than that, I have been doing a lot of work in local politics here in Asheville. With everything that's going on at the national level, obviously not the most productive time to be working on climate change nationally. So I've been really looking at what we can do here in the city of Asheville.
We've been doing a lot of reviewing of our zoning codes in Asheville. And so I've been going to city council meetings and speaking on those and trying to basically give the city council support to do the things that they want to do that would be good for the climate and good for affordable housing and for some of the other sustainability issues that we're facing here in Asheville. And I think that's really important because in local politics, a lot of times, the elected officials only end up hearing from the people that are angry, that don't want things to change, that want everything to stay the way that it already is. And so kind of being that voice of, no, this is good. This is what we want to see, can give them the cover to actually make those votes and move the needle in the right direction. So that's been something that I've been doing. And I've just been getting involved with some of the local groups that advocate around those issues like Strong Towns and Asheville for All, which does housing and some of the other groups here. So that's been something that's been really grounding for me and also just kind of fun to learn about the different types of politics that are happening at the local level and also the issues that are being considered.
Susan Kaye Quinn
That's fantastic. Sounds like you're doing amazing work. Housing is such a huge issue for climate that we don't always necessarily think about. And it always comes down to local levels, you know, like it's not your national politicians that are deciding housing zoning and policies. So that is so fantastic. They've got you on the ground there with your knowledge and background to advocate for that. Well done. Very nice.
Alright, well thank you so much for coming on. I am so delighted to have your story in the anthology and I can't wait to see more fiction from you in the future.
Danielle Arostegui
Thanks, Susan. I'm really excited for this to come out and to keep working with you. It's been great.
In this series of episodes, we'll have each of the authors of the anthology on to talk about their story, their theme, and their giveaway item. The links for everything are below. As a quick review, the six themes for the six stories are:
CLIMATE ANXIETY
CLIMATE RESTORATION
CLIMATE ROLES
CLIMATE CONNECTIONS
CLIMATE RESILIENCE
CLIMATE HERITAGE
They fit together almost like a meta story, and the themes and the stories showcase what hopeful climate fiction can look like and the breadth of what we need to tackle.
Pre-orders boost the visibility of the anthology, so please do that if you can.
Anthology Giveaway
That giveaway will be ongoing until the end of May.
Check out the Featured Stories and Hopeful Climate Fiction lists.
LINKS Ep. 32: Climate Connections with Danielle Arostegui
Danielle’s story (FREE until 5.13.2025): A Merger in Corn Country
RELEVANT NEWSLETTERS
Ep. 27: Zines, Cultural Change and Storytelling in the Underground
Ep. 30: Earth Day, Joy as a Tactical Weapon, and Release Day for the Bright Green Futures Anthology
PLEASE SHARE
These hopeful climate-fiction stories include clicky space centipedes, sentient trees, a flooded future Rio de Janeiro and characters trying to find their place in a climate-impacted world. Each story imagines a way for us to survive the future, together.
Bright Green Futures: 2024 contains six short stories plus a bonus prose-poem.
The Doglady and the Rainstorm by Renan Bernardo
What Kind of Bat is This? by Sarena Ulibarri
Centipede Station by T. K. Rex
A Merger in Corn Country by Danielle Arostegui
Ancestors, Descendants by BrightFlame
The Park of the Beast by T. K. Rex
Coriander by Ana Sun
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