Climate is not just an environmental issue. It's about more than greenhouse gas emissions, rising temperatures and extreme weather. It's as much about people as it is about the planet. From food and business to politics and healthcare – climate is an everything story.  

As such, innovative and multifaceted responses to climate-related problems can come in all shapes and sizes, from community energy grids to restoring ocean health. 

You're reading the Imagine newsletter – a weekly synthesis of academic insight on solutions to climate change, brought to you by The Conversation. I'm Anna Turns,  senior environment editor. This week, we're looking at collaboration.

"Including climate references in the majority of stories, from fashion to travel, helps normalise climate change as a backdrop to all aspects of our lives," says Anastasia Denisova, journalism lecturer at the University of Westminster. 

I've been exploring this mindset over the past year as part of my climate fellowship with the Solutions Journalism Network and European Journalism Centre. 

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Climate as a lens

Nicola Walshe, a professor of education at UCL, is concerned about the level of climate literacy across the education system: "If climate and sustainability education was integrated throughout the formal and informal curriculum, children could learn about the issues as part of the subjects that most interest them." 

In nature, survival hinges on interactions, integration, connections and symbioses. Apply that to newsrooms and climate becomes a lens through which to tell stories, not a beat. That's why we've been developing new strands and you'll often now find mentions of climate on different section pages, from our insights long reads to weekly podcasts. 

World editor Sam Phelps has created a strand called War on Climate, exploring the environmental consequences of conflict, something which so often gets overlooked in mainstream news. And health editor Katie Edwards runs a series called Planet Health Check that explores how environmental health interacts with that of humans – from antibiotic resistance in waterways to the mental health effects of extreme heat exposure. 

This week, our ongoing collaboration with the arts desk, Climate Storytelling, highlights two new computer games which find fresh ways to engage players. CoastCraft is a new custom world from the Minecraft team in which players can fast forward to 2040 and 2060 to see how their environmental and social choices play out. Another game called FutureGuessr helps us imagine life on Earth in 2100. Players are asked to guess the location of an image of the future. Information is revealed about how close they are, what the climate change consequences would be and how things could be different. 

These games are actually, yes you've guessed it, fun. That element of joy really matters because as Denisova puts it, "engagement with the biggest story of our time is the best catalyst for change that we have".

A radical rethink

True systems change relies on innovative problem solving that stems from diverse thinking, not silos. 

As James Dyke, associate professor in Earth systems science at the University of Exeter explains, there are endless creative ways to end the fossil fuel age. Right now, the question is not how, it's how fast will we make that happen. "We must go beyond the incremental and timid policies of today," says Dyke. "We need to be radical and dig into the drivers of climate change."

Alex Lenferna, a research fellow at the University of Fort Hare in South Africa argues that the classic environmental mantra "reduce, reuse, recycle" falls way short of the mark when it comes to tackling the root causes of climate catastrophe. It’s past time to go deeper than just the old “three Rs”, he explains: "In addition, environmental education should embrace new, more radical mantras that tackle the root causes of our ecological crises, such as regulation, redistribution and reparations."

Newsroom matters

This week, I'm delighted to welcome Rachael Jolley to The Conversation's environment desk. She has just returned from the Dolomite Conference on Governance of Climate Change and Sustainability in Venice, Italy, a city famous for its "aqua alta" (high waters) and floods. Here, she hosted a panel discussion about how climate change is making homes uninsurable. Read her reflections on the conference here.

And finally, after listening to the brilliant questions you sent us about green finance, I've been busy developing Green Your Money with The Conversation UK's senior business editor Sarah Reid. This new series explores how to make your money really matter.

Every day next week, starting on Monday, we'll be publishing all you need to know about everyday banking, ethical investments and more. For now, let us know where you are on your green banking journey by taking part in this quick poll. 

- Anna Turns, Senior Environment Editor

Please email imagine@theconversation.com to get in touch with ideas, suggestions and feedback. We love hearing from you and we read every single message.

I tried out a new version of Minecraft to see why environmental storylines help children learn

A new version of Minecraft gives players the chance to make decisions about tackling coastal erosion in scenarios based on Bude in Cornwall.