Jenny Grettve’s heart-mind is huge and deep and we explored many areas of the transformation that’s coming, from the evolution of a primary school along Doughnut Economic lines to the future of architecture, to the role of systems thinking in our political, social and, in the end, human, evolution. It was a truly heart-warming conversation and I hope it helps you, too, to think to the edges of yourself.
How can we, as parents, grandparents and anyone who cares about the fate of future generations, live our lives in such a way that when our children ask us why we didn’t do more, we can say with honesty that we did all that we could? How do we help them to build resilience, to feel safe in a supportive community and in connection with the natural world so that as they grow, they can face the truth about the world they have inherited?
And how can we use our role as parents to create conversations that matter, not only with people with meet in our daily lives but also with those in positions of power.
Building community out of the remnants of our fractured culture – connecting to each other and the land – is how we’ll get through. Elisa Rathje is doing just this – and making TV of the process.
We know we have most of the answers to the poly crisis. Our challenge is getting them into the mainstream. And that means we need to understand what works when we craft our new narratives of how the world could look and feel.
How do we bring artists, scientists, policy makers, educators, conservationists, journalists, and all the different siloed tribes together in ways that let them genuinely communicate and listen to the web of life?
How can we bridge the space between where we are now and the systems, structures and practices we need to give us the best chance of a generative future?
If we are in the dying days of the system, how can we best hold space for the new one to be born? How can the older generations become allies to the young people whose world is emerging around us? How can young people make sense of a senseless world and find belonging. Zineb Mouhyi, co-founder of YouthxYouth talks about being the emergence, empowering today’s young people.
We live in a world where facts are at our fingertips and yet we increasingly live in conceptual silos where ideas are neither broad nor deep. How can we transform our ways of educating ourselves as we grow to adulthood/elderhood in a world where the ground is shifting under our feet? With Professor DJ Helfland, educator and astronomist.
How can we create a world where our children can grow in safety – both physical and emotional? How can we find that sense of psychological safety within ourselves? How can we find the authenticity and compassion to heal our own wounds so we don’t pass them on? With Louis Weinstock, child psychologist and expert in complex trauma.
How can we be the best possible stewards of the future for our children? How can we meet their eco-anxiety and teach them resilience, adaptation and give them the skills of systemic thinking that will help them navigate the uncertainties to come?
What is the bare minimum we need world leaders to agree at COP26 and what can we do if they fail? Rupert Read, academic philosopher, author and climate activist discusses the urgency of the moment – and how a ‘moderate flank’ of climate activists can grow out of the COP.
In a world of potential catastrophe, how can we find our own truth and, from there, speak with authenticity to the children and young people in our lives about the world that is coming? Louis Weinstock is a celebrated psychotherapist who finds ways to help people of all ages connect with their own truth and share it.