Envisioning the Future with Ecovillage Resilience +2.5°

Envisioning an alternative future scenario requires a clear understanding of the past and present from both a data-driven perspective as well as within our social and emotional capacities.

When developing strategic pathways forward, the Resilience Community of Practice used the Three Horizon’s Approach to write the story of our positive future, exploring the pathways needed to get there. (If you missed our July update you can learn more about the process here!)

Storyboards helped to visualize and explore these futures, bringing our narratives alive through artistic expression. Project participants brought the specific challenges their communities face, looking at how different change drivers influence options available for the future, along with their capacity to imagine and work toward better futures.

Join us on this journey of resilience and bring the work of the Ecovillage Resilience +2.5° project to your communities.

1. Start with some inspiration on Why our imaginations are the key to solving climate change from Simon Donner. In this engaging and pragmatic TedTalk, Donner shows how embracing our imaginations can help people overcome doubts about climate science, climate impacts, and climate solutions.

“We can make a better future for ourselves and for future generations,” he says. “To get there, we need our imaginations. We need the courage to see a different future, and chart the path there.”

2. Then check out Participatory Scenario Planning for the Kitikmeot region by 2050, by Marianne Falardeau. This tool is a collaborative approach designed to study the future of social-ecological systems and guide sustainability actions forward. It pairs different types of information, from quantitative models to Indigenous and Local Knowledge, to produce scenarios, that are plausible and coherent descriptions of the future aimed to inform today’s planning.

3. And when you’re so keen, explore Biosphere Futures from the Stockholm Resilience Centre if you’re interested in an online collection of scenarios projects. It is a community effort that builds on contributions from scenario researchers and practitioners from around the world, even with the ability to search by theme, eg. Indigenous Local Knowledge, Food, and Urban Environments. There is also a space to contribute a scenario case to the database.