A World With Returns: Season 2 Launches Radical Imagination in Podcasting
As world leaders prepare for the UN Climate Change Conference (COP31) in Turkey this November, a new season of audio storytelling is poised to shift the conversation around our collective future. A World With, a six-part podcast series produced by Futures in Draft, launches Season 2 on November 2nd, inviting listeners into intimate conversations with activists, artists, and community builders who dare to imagine bold alternatives to the systems we live in today.
Unlike traditional climate policy discussions dominated by emissions targets and negotiating positions, A World With takes a different approach. Each ten-minute episode blends scripted monologues with immersive soundscapes to transport listeners into tangible visions of what a fairer, more joyful world could actually look and feel like. The series features voices from South Africa, Australia, Nigeria, Costa Rica, and Peru, each offering distinct perspectives shaped by lived experience and ancestral knowledge.
Challenging the Saviour Narrative
Episode 1 features Costa Rica-based environmental activist Elizabeth Couse, who imagines a world with no saviours—a direct challenge to the Western-centric narratives that dominate climate discourse. “I believe a world with no saviours is needed as the dominant narrative within the environmental movement is one of Western and white saviourism,” Couse explains. She envisions a future where a farmer who has stewarded the land for generations is recognized as an expert, and Indigenous water guardians are positioned as authors of conservation policy, not passive beneficiaries of it.
This episode speaks directly to longstanding critiques within climate justice movements: that marginalized communities—Black and brown people, those in the Global South, Indigenous peoples, and those living in poverty—possess solutions yet remain systematically excluded from decision-making spaces.
From Industrial Extraction to Community-Based Solutions
Another standout episode features Peruvian-Australian actress and land steward Nat Kelley, who makes a passionate case for beekeeping at scale. After meeting an 80-year-old beekeeper named Colin, Kelley challenges the industrial honey industry’s extractive model. “The industrial honey industry is built on extraction for our benefit, not for the health of the bees,” she argues, describing how bees are trucked across continents, bred to specification, and dosed with chemicals—creating the very conditions that sicken them. Her vision: a hive in every home, returning beekeeping to communities and restoring ecological balance.
A Diverse Range of Reimagined Futures
Season 2 extends beyond climate and environment to explore interconnected systems of justice and wellbeing. The series includes:
- Kumi Naidoo, former Greenpeace International Executive Director and South African human rights activist, who explores troublemakers for justice—reframing disruption as necessary for systemic change.
- Tori Tsui, climate justice activist and author, who proposes green prescribing, embedding nature as medicine within healthcare systems.
- Naomi Wharton, a community leader and writer, who imagines transport soundscapes that help commuters slow down and reconnect with one another and the natural world.
- Matt Blaise, a non-binary LGBTQI+ activist from Nigeria, who centers nightlife as crucial to queer democratic participation and community resilience.
As shown in the accompanying artwork, the podcast combines bold visual design with intimate human storytelling, creating a space where futures feel tangible and participatory. The creative vision emphasizes joy, connectivity, and the transformative potential of collective imagination.
Building on Season 1’s Success
Season 1 established A World With as a unique voice in podcast media, exploring concepts including one-nation worlds, libraries of things, Indigenous feminism, land without landlords, free dance parties, and reparations. Co-creator Isabella Pearce notes that the motivation behind the series addresses a critical gap: “Every year the COPs give us headlines about targets missed and deals struck, but offer little space to share stories about the world we’re trying to build and the systems we are working to dismantle. You can’t work towards a future you can’t imagine.”
A Format Built for Audio Impact
For podcast professionals and producers, A World With demonstrates sophisticated audio design: immersive soundscapes ground each vision in sensory experience, while scripted monologues maintain intimacy and clarity. This combination makes the podcast valuable not only for listeners seeking inspiration, but also for production teams studying how to construct narrative depth within tight time constraints. New episodes drop every Monday through the end of 2026.
Find A World With on all major podcast platforms starting November 2nd. For interview requests with creators Isabella Pearce and Chris Mitchell or Season 2 guests, contact giulia@podcastdiscovery.com or call 07542 582052.
Source: Podwires Newsletter
