Climate Fiction (Cli-Fi) and Public Imagination: Themes and Reception

Kakembo Aisha Annet

Faculty of Education, Kampala International University, Uganda

                                                                     ABSTRACT
Climate fiction (Cli-Fi) has emerged as a significant literary and cultural genre that explores climate change and its socio-environmental consequences while shaping public understanding and engagement with ecological crises. This study examines the relationship between cli-fi and public imagination, focusing on the thematic structures and reception dynamics that influence how climate narratives are interpreted across different cultural and media contexts. The paper explores key themes including Anthropocene narratives and responsibility, environmental justice and vulnerability, technological mediation, temporal horizons, and the unequal impacts of climate change on diverse populations. It further investigates how cli-fi functions across multiple media forms such as literature, film, television, and interactive platforms in shaping collective perceptions of climate risks and future possibilities. Through the lens of reception studies, media ecology, and interdisciplinary approaches, the study analyzes the ways audiences engage with climate narratives and how these narratives influence climate awareness, public discourse, and policy considerations. The findings suggest that cli-fi operates not merely as a literary genre but as a cultural mechanism that facilitates critical reflection on climate realities and socio-political responsibility. The study concludes that cli-fi plays an important role in expanding climate consciousness, encouraging environmental engagement, and fostering new modes of imagining sustainable futures.

Keywords: Climate Fiction (Cli-Fi), Public Imagination, Anthropocene, Climate Change Narratives and Literary Reception.

CITE AS: Kakembo Aisha Annet (2026). Climate Fiction (Cli-Fi) and Public Imagination: Themes and Reception. NEWPORT INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF LAW, COMMUNICATION AND LANGUAGES, 6(2):18-25

https://doi.org/10.59298/NIJLCL/2026/6.2.1825