How to Fall in Love with the Future: A Time Traveller's Guide to Changing the World

by Rob Hopkins

There are an infinite number of possible futures that lie ahead of us—like threads stretching out into the distance. Rob Hopkins, cofounder of the international Transition Network movement, invites us to travel to future worlds we would actually want to live in.



In 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted every aspect of daily life, climate activist and Transition Network cofounder Rob Hopkins responded the way a lot of people by starting a podcast. But it wasn’t any ordinary podcast. In each episode, Hopkins and his guests would “time travel” together to the year 2030—walking down imagined future streets, talking with imagined future neighbors, visiting imagined future local businesses. While Hopkins’s guests came from all walks of life—economists, politicians, bakers, comedians, novelists and more—they all shared a willingness to suspend their worries about the future long enough to mentally inhabit and then describe a world they were thrilled to be a part of.



What Hopkins discovered was no less this simple exercise of visiting a positive future forced him to rethink the work he’d been doing as a climate activist for decades.



How to Fall in Love with the Future is the result of that radical disruption—and Hopkins’s deep dive into the people and movements throughout history who have used visions of the future to inspire positive change on a large and dramatic scale. From the life and writings of musician Sun Ra and the history of Black utopian movements to the latest neuroscience on what goes on in our minds—and hearts—when we “time travel,” Hopkins brings essential new thinking to anyone overwhelmed with dread and anxiety for the future. He asks us to what would the world look like if we all got to work imagining—and then building—a world we were deeply in love with?



“Rob Hopkins puts imagination back at the heart of future-dreaming, offering us an irresistible invitation to dream bigger and then make those dreams a reality.”—Kate Raworth, author of Doughnut Economics

Genres: Nonfiction, Solarpunk, Audiobook, Environment, Ecology, Futurism, Nature

192 pages, Hardcover

Published September 16, 2025

About the author

Rob Hopkins did his permaculture design course in 1992, and around the same time saw Bill Mollison lecture in Stroud, and both of these things dramatically changed his life. He became involved in the Bristol Permaculture Group, and at the same time did a degree in Environmental Quality and Resource Management at UWE Bristol. His dissertation, ‘Permaculture - a new approach for rural planning’ is on his website. He moved with his family to Ireland, where he began teaching permaculture and laying the groundwork for the ecovillage development he wanted to undertake.

He set up Baile Dulra Teoranta, the first company granted charitable status for an eco-village development in Ireland. In September 2005 he moved to Totnes in Devon, to begin a PhD at Plymouth University looking at Energy Descent Action Plans, refining the model in such a way that they can be done anywhere.

Reviews

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked this book up on a whim at a bookstore — I just liked the title and cover. I didn’t realize it was about environmentalism, which is actually something I really care about. It’s all about imagining a positive future so we can actually act toward it instead of getting stuck in negativity. As someone who’s always been a bit of a futurist, I loved that message. It made me want to be braver and bolder about helping shape what comes next.

[Daisy]

Questions we don't ask ourselves enough: what does the past smell like? Taste like? What about the future? There is something about smell that really grounds you in a specific time and place.

***

Initially, I almost put this book down. It reads like an instruction manual with a clear message and doesn't really provide me with any new information. More cynically, there is still (and there always will be) a part of me that finds this kind of narrative to be hopelessly naive... but I stuck with it, and I think what it does offer is a fresh perspective.

There is a lot of doomerism these days—and for good reason. Our hope has been weaponized against us as a kind of cruel optimism, and it can feel like the logical outcome is to treat our imaginations as a rich man's luxury, an outdated relic that can not survive the modern demands on our productivity. But I think it is human to still want to be brave enough to dream of something different, and that there is a power in collective longing and working together. So often we mistake pessimism and cynicism for realism, when sometimes this defeatism is really just a lack of imagination for something different than what we were sold.

To be clear, he is not just advocating for dreaming aimlessly, but for dreaming with an action plan. But what dreaming can do is provide a freedom to envision alternatives, of seeing the artificial barriers in our world as the man-made and fallible things that they are. What has been made can be unmade and remade. Dreaming of solutions is an act of creation, of a desire to live, instead of a suicidal acceptance of the status quo towards inevitable collapse. This book makes a great case for things that seemed "impossible" in the past (like less car-dependent cities) that are already working, and just need more of a push for mass adoption. I hope he is right... or, rather, I have a longing for a world in which we are right.

Like anything worth fighting for, there is always risk, especially the risk that the future will be colonized (again) by the dreams of a few powerful men. But as one of the best would say:

"We live in capitalism, its power seems inescapable — but then, so did the divine right of kings. Any human power can be resisted and changed by human beings. Resistance and change often begin in art. Very often in our art, the art of words."

- Ursula K. Le Guin

[Katie Griffin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was really excited to read this one, even more so after the first two chapters. But then things took a turn, becoming little more than piecemeal examples of people and organizations creating visionary shifts through various executions in different communities. While a lot of these examples were important and interesting to learn about, the book lost its guiding thread for me and no longer felt relevant or substantial. It was definitely optimistic and had a lot of useful and joyful moments, but I ended it feeling unsure of the takeaway. If it really was simply a how-to on designing a Time Machine workshop on climate-positive futures with scattered inspirational examples, well ok then, checkmark. I was hoping for a lot more from this book, and it never got there.

[Katheryn · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5* - an uplifting read and great reminder that a better future is possible :)

[Elle Henson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I generally agree with and appreciate the message that we need to be able to envision a future that we want in order to combat climate change. I didn’t love the execution (as much as I wanted to) in this book though.

I wish the time spent elaborating on community examples was shortened (not erased!), and I wish he talked about psychology more. Sigh I guess that wasn’t the intent of this book- just my opinion

[PentaKing · Rating 2 out of 5]

Such a beautiful title and premise for a book about wishful thinking. I had high hopes.

[Ariel Donahue · Rating 5 out of 5]

WE SHOULD ALL BE DOING THIS EVERY DAY.

[Jacob Sheppard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Heartwarming! Hopkins asks us to leave cynicism in the present and join him on a journey to the future, a future in which we've done everything we can to avoid climate disaster. The book opens with a description of this future, which might make your eyes roll until it backs this up with examples of cities and organisations around the world which have already taken the first, radical steps to make this future a reality. The vast remainder of this book is more about 'futurism' in itself and how different artists and activists play with the concept of time travel to enable us to imagine alternative futures, I found this section a bit more dry but still interesting.

Would recommend!

[Debs Erwin · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you're demoralised by all the bad news in the world, then this is such a tonic as well as a compelling and inspiring call to action. What's more, I can honestly say that Rob Hopkins is the real deal having been fortunate enough to attend one of his 'How to Fall in love with the Future' trainings last week. Unlike many leaders who get a bit 'precious' about their intellectual property Rob's book - and workshops - focuses on equipping people to take these very practical ideas and interactive activities and run with them. Power to the imagination for a better world for us all!

[Lauren · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a beautiful book. I listened to the audiobook, which is read by the author. He’s a great reader, but I need to buy a copy, reread it and mark it up.

[Laura Beam · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved the idea of this book. It was particularly good in the first few chapters at helping the reader imagine alternate futures that our current earth could aspire to. I also loved learning all of the ways that people are already doing that work. I particularly loved learning about the beavers in England who were re-introduced into the environment and then were able to solve loads of water problems humans had created because of the damns that they (the beavers) created naturally. This is a deeply hopeful read. I love that the imagined futures aren't for futures decades off from now, they are just about imagining new futures we could get to within 5 years if we could just make changes in our own communities and within the systems around us.

[emma de Haan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Zo verrukkelijk om je de gedroomde toekomst van deze planeet en haar bewoners in te beelden.

Wat zie je, wat hoor je, hoe ziet de straat er uit, waar zijn de auto’s, hoe is al het groen, hoe zijn de mensen?

[Theo Silberston · Rating 3 out of 5]

I actually have to meet this bloke. Recommend!

[Mariana Scholzová · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wish I could give it 4.5. The book is definitely inspiring, and gives practical advice on how to run effective workshops (I might incorporate parts of in my own work). A huge plus is reading anything sustainability related that is actually positive and optimistic!

[Alicia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very thoughtful & full of wonder, & gave me a much needed dose of hope & positivity for the future. Let’s long for that best version of the future of our dreams & use that as fuel to make the steps to get there! What if! Yes, and…

[Kathryn Passalent · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed listening to this audiobook in bite-sized pieces so it felt like a podcast series. Imagining the exercises described in the book was helpful for cultivating hope and visualizing what a better future could look really look like.

[Alise Miļūna · Rating 4 out of 5]

laying in ashes, goggles broken, battery dead, / I will still smile at the sparkly, energetic Rob Hopkins and his fellow time travelers, / happy to know that they exist, / powerful, free and elevating humanity.

[Ann Mekala · Rating 4 out of 5]

A much needed dose of hope for the planet. Bursting with ideas for our future.

[Ksenia Naydenova · Rating 5 out of 5]

"We wasted so much energy but the movement began to grow that saw cynicism as undesirable, something that robbed us of energy and abilities. I look back and I’m so glad that those days of cynicism are behind us. I feel like we were a part of generation that had to decide to be cynical or we can try to solve problems. So we became a generation that realized that our future depended on each other. And that became our guiding start."

[sal Latimer · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nice, optimistic read which - as he points out - is rare and needed these days. I got the book at an event he spoke at in Copenhagen, and I must say as a once activist turned apathetic person, I found him able to break my apathetic ice a bit, and that was really powerful. His message in the book is that we need to create a collective longing again for a better future, and stop consuming so much dark and doominess. I found all the examples he gave inspiring, but I'm docking one star just because I think it would have been interesting to dive a bit deeper into the historical movements that did overcome impossible odds - civil rights movement as one example. Overall I think you can feel the emotion behind his words and I take my hat off to him for being able to stay committed to the cause despite the state of the world. I loved his concept of filling up your mental cupboards with more positive 'memories' of the future. Inspiring guy - we need more like him to break through the mainstream!

[Lily Wilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed this quite a lot at a point in my life where a general feeling of lefty cynicism was getting movements I was involved with feeling immobile. A clear argument of why it is so important to find ways to believe that the future is almost already in our hands, and that it's good!
"What we cannot imagine cannot come into being" - Bell hooks

"Desire can be satisfied fast in our economy, although it breeds discontent and addiction. Longing is a deeper, bigger ache existing much further out in the realms of possibility."

Wonderful examples of the various theatrical ways we can time travel, from afrofuturism to An Encyclopedia of 2030, as well as of the ways we experience time itself - it's not that linear! I think I was especially struck as to how the book made me understand just how important the Arts are when striving for a better future, and I already liked the Arts a lot! Sometimes struggled with the theatre and Suspension of Disbelief of it all but that's ultimately on me.

Inspired me to give some of these exercises a go myself, and make them Fun

[Vicci Divine · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was in a slump thinking wise and this book shifted me into focusing forward and not so much on the past or the present. Lots of climate and environmental references which I will admit I don't think about as much as I should but I loved the reference of gardening/farming as belief in the future. Hopkins gives formula for others to create space to travel into the future as a community event. I listened to this book but would probably purchase it because of the sheer amount of names he dropped that I would want to refer back to and explore further. This book really challenged me to practice time traveling and using my imagination more.

Such a random yet timely read.

I gave it a 5 because I've already told a few people about it and put his other book on hold. I'm eager to hear more of his thoughts.

[Michael Doane · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rob Hopkins’ How to Fall in Love with the Future is a compelling call to action wrapped in imaginative storytelling. Using the inventive device of “time travel” to 2030, Hopkins invites readers to inhabit the futures they genuinely wish to live in, turning what could be an abstract exercise into a deeply practical one. I was struck by how he weaves together personal experience, historical examples from Sun Ra to Black utopian movements and modern neuroscience to explore how imagining better futures can reshape our present choices. The book is at once accessible, hopeful, and rigorous, offering tools for anyone seeking to confront climate anxiety and actively participate in creating a thriving, sustainable world.

[Raphi Gold · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love the idea of mental time travel and imaginative power as tools for both envisioning and enacting a better world. Hopkins offers examples of small community and town projects that feel, look, smell, and taste a little closer to how we (those of us who believe in a collective sustainable future on this planet, that is) might some day live. I wasn't fully sold on Hopkins' authorial voice though — he's very optimistic and that's refreshing, but a lot of the book just feels like a list of nice things that currently exist, ignoring some very real obstacles. It also felt very Eurocentric, I think many of these solutions would need to look a lot different in the U.S. and that we're sadly on a slower timeline than Europe and the Netherlands.

[Robert Dohrendorf · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ein Buch, das Mut macht: Hopkins zeigt an vielen Beispielen, wie spielerisch und greifbar echte Veränderung sein kann – und wie wenig es eigentlich braucht, um etwas anzuschieben. Vor dem Hintergrund der heutigen Polarisierung wirkt das fast wie eine Erinnerung an etwas, das wir verschüttet haben.
Gleichzeitig gab es Passagen, bei denen ich nicht mitkam – etwa beim afrikanischen Zeitverständnis. Ob das am Buch lag, an mir, oder schlicht am Zeitpunkt meiner Lektüre, kann ich nicht sagen. Manche Gedanken brauchen offenbar mehr als eine Lesung, um sich zu erschliessen. Das nehme ich mit, ohne es aufzulösen.

[John Griffiths · Rating 4 out of 5]

I bought the book after encountering the author running a workshop at Greenbelt arts festival in August 2025. I loved the positive way his workshopping changes the way you plan for an anticipate the future - not least because of the dystopia projected by the environmental protest groups at the moment. It is less about optimism but making small changes towards realisable futures which will accumulate. A great idea - I will be using the book to run workshops myself. There are examples of initiaitives which are similarly future changing but these often felt a bit utopian for me.

[Bellatuscana Bellatuscana · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was okay. The book less a compilation of futuristic scenarios and more of an implementation guide for organizations and thought leaders to take the initiative to have futuristic emporiums. This author made a point of how there are so many doom and gloom scenarios of what the future will look like, and how there is a need for optimism. It read more like a Masterclass of what Elon Musk already knows - I highly recommend it to anyone who is looking to take on more leadership positions.

[phloeby · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would ideally give this 3.5 cause it’s quite niche lol but I liked it! its really changed the way i think about activism and change, the positivity of it has given me a little January spring in my step which the lord knows we all need. But - and i say this with love as a boring and repetitive person - it is at times a little boring and repetitive. And it does feel like it’s made for facilitators of workshops but tbf i am a facilitator of workshops lol so it was useful for me!!!!!!

[Jean Burke · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great! Wonderful. What we need!
Some inspiring quotes: One of the reasons why mental simulations of the future matter so much…is that it becomes..a memory tucked away and encoded in our long-term storage. ….called ‘memories of the future’. P36

Gleick writes, ‘When Wells in his lamp-lit room imagined a time machine, he also invented a new mode of thought.’
‘ …tapping into the power if time travel…is one of the most powerful tools we have for suspending disbelief - for undermining, as American writer and activist Patrick Reinsborough puts it, ‘the status quo’s grand bluff: inevitability’. P47

‘In Joanna Macy’s powerful exercise ‘A Council of All Beings’. Participants each took on the role of a different animal or other non-human being and made a mask to represent their creature. They then all met at a council where they discussed how the actions of human beings are impacting their existence. P112
From J Macy & My Brown, Coming Back to Life: Practices to Reconnect Our Lives, Our World (New Society Publishers, 1998).

[Kirstin Horn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Inspiring and practical. I picked this book up because I was under the impression that it would paint a picture of what is up and coming in the future to look foward to. It did do a bit of that in passing. The book gave me a new perspective on how I can actively shape my, and the world's, future by changing how I imagine it. After reading this book I now appreciate my own instinctual optimism as an invaluable tool for shaping the future into something wonderful.