Romancing The Future
What is life without a little romance? And just maybe…a little romance could save life itself.
Climate storytelling has long suffered from a fatal flaw: we keep trying to terrify people into changing. Climate is a literal horror story, one in which we all die in the end.
But what if instead of warning only about what we stand to lose, stories showed everyone everything we could gain?
Enter the most popular, most underestimated story genre in the world: romance.
Romance novels outsell almost every other genre combined. This week, the BBC has a trending news story on how the genre is revitalising the UK publishing industry. Over 70 million Americans read at least one love story a year. Globally, romance fuels streaming hits, Hollywood and Bollywood blockbusters, TikTok trends, and airport bookstores. But more than that, romance is the genre of hope. It’s about navigating barriers, finding connection, and building a better ending than anyone thought possible.
A story doesn’t even technically count as romance unless it has a HEA (Happily Ever After).
That’s why romance might be the secret weapon for climate storytelling. Not because we need more love stories set on a melting planet (though I’d read those), but because the core tropes of romance map perfectly onto the emotional and practical journey of climate solutions;
Enemies To Lovers
They’re on opposite sides of a feud, a courtroom, a battlefield. But over time, they realise they’re fighting the same thing. The tension turns electric. Enemies to lovers is one of the most popular, and versatile, tropes in romance. And it feels purpose built for climate storytelling.
Climate hack: Think of business vs. activists, or oil companies vs. clean tech innovators. For decades, they’ve been pitched as enemies. But we’re starting to see surprising pairings: unlikely alliances for nature, collaborations on carbon removal, farmers and environmentalists planting side-by-side.
Let’s tell an arc where the enemies discover a shared purpose, and change everything.
The Big Misunderstanding
They were so close, but then something drives them apart. A secret. A mistake. A failure to communicate. Cue heartbreak… and growth.
Climate hack: So much of our climate delay has come from miscommunication, between global north and south, science and public, government and people. But great romances resolve the misunderstanding not with blame, but vulnerability. One character finally says: I was wrong. And I still care.
That’s what we need in our diplomacy and policy. Not just deals, but declarations of intent. Humility. Honesty. And a willingness to try again.
The Grumpy/Sunshine Dynamic
One partner is cynical, guarded, scarred by past experiences. The other is optimistic, persistent, a walking beam of light. Sparks fly. Many of the most popular romances (and buddy movies) play on the stormy grump falling for the happiest person in the world.
Climate hack: This could be the tension between the doomers and the solutionists. One side says ‘it’s too late.’ The other replies, ‘We’re just getting started’. Or the front-line activist and the techno-optimist. Or the depressed scientist and upbeat regenerative farmer.
A good romance doesn’t resolve this by one person giving up; it finds synthesis between the two. A grumpy realist learns to believe again. A sunny dreamer learns to fight smart. The climate movement needs this arc: gritty optimism, forged in the fire of realism.
Slow Burn
No instant fireworks. Just a long, simmering connection. Trust builds. Foundations form. Then…finally…it catches fire.
Climate Parallel: Renewable energy. Regenerative farming. Community resilience. These solutions aren’t flashy or overnight. But they’re the ones that last. The slow burn of decarbonisation may not make headlines, but it’s what makes transformation real.
Let’s honour that story, of the long-haul love of people who plant trees they’ll never sit under.
Found Family
The lovers may be central in most romances but around them forms a constellation of connection. Friends, allies, elders, outsiders: a patchwork support system.
Climate Parallel: No one solves climate alone. The future will be a mosaic of movements, communities, generations, and perspectives. Like found families, climate action works best when it’s built with care, acceptance, and chosen solidarity.
Let’s tell stories where the victory isn’t just falling in love with someone but falling in love with a new way of living together.
The Grand Gesture
The lover running to catch their paramour at the airport. The heartfelt declaration under pouring rain. The risk taken because love is worth it.
Climate Parallel: The grand gestures of climate action are happening now: countries committing to loss and damage funds, corporations transforming supply chains, youth-led protests rewriting the public imagination.
But we need more. We need grand gestures that say: I choose the future, no matter how scary. Because that’s what love is: a commitment in the face of uncertainty. And when we take those big actions, remind people they are an act of LOVE.
Let’s Write Ourselves A Happy Ending
Too often, climate storytelling feels like a breakup note to humanity.
But the best romances remind us that happy endings aren’t given, they’re earned. Through friction, courage, growth, and a refusal to give up on each other.
Romance isn’t fluff. It’s emotional architecture. It tells us we’re worthy of love and change. That redemption is possible and something better still out there.
So go ahead: put some green romance into your life. Turn your heat pump installation in a meet-cute. Bond over retrofitting your village hall. Let the grand gesture be a citizen’s assembly. Let the first kiss taste like clean air.
Because if we want the world to fall in love with the future, we need to make the future lovable.
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In other news:I’m recruiting a ‘street team’ of volunteers to help promote my debut novel Godstorm, between now and launch. Sign up, and you’ll get a free e-book copy of the novel to review (before anyone else), as well as all the book gossip and goodies. As part of the street team, I’ll ask you to share promotional content on social media, review and generally help raise some noise about Godstorm! To sign up, click here.
