climate imagination sensory workshop (ONLINE)
Step into a creative, low-pressure space to explore ✨ climate imagination ✨ through your senses!
Our senses, especially our sense of smell, can influence our perception and connection to nature and our world. Synesthesia is when our senses blend together, like seeing colors when hearing music, or associating certain smells with specific emotions or places.
While not everyone experiences true synesthesia, we all form deep sensory connections. A single scent can instantly bring back a memory, shift a mood, or transport us somewhere else. When we engage our senses, we unlock new ways of tapping into our imaginative minds.
Senses naturally blur for some creatives. For example, for Billie Eilish, her song Bury a Friend feels dark and shadowy, while Xanny is soft and velvety. Chef Becky Selengut describes cinnamon as “a low, rumbling, earthy tone like a tuba.”
Across cultures, including many indigenous traditions, scent has long been understood as a bridge between body, memory, and the natural world. This ancient knowing is still alive in us. In a time of climate anxiety and creative fatigue, engaging our senses may be one of our most overlooked pathways to fresh perspective, joy, and possibility. When we unlock sensory experience, imagination follows, and with it, intuitive knowing.
With Soapbox community member Isobel Davis, artist and creativity coach, (drawing from her Vivy.Deck framework) you will:
💭 Learn about the concept of “intuition” as a tool for climate action
☕ Participate in a playful, creative “scent + imagination” exercise
🌍 Reflect on scent-based memories and sensory association, then use them to imagine climate solutions
Come curious! Together, we’ll play with the depths of sensory perception to imagine futures that are not only sustainable, but tangible, embodied, and alive.
Note: Before the event, think about 1–2 favorite scents or bring along an item that evokes a scent you love.