If the model of transition initiatives is successful among the less militant, it is surely for its positive and concrete vision. In Chapter 7, Rob Hopkins puts forward imagining a future in which we would like to be.
The exercise is simple, just let go. In which world would you like to live? Tell it and try to see what needs to change to make it happen. This is a way of doing that can be applied to many alternative projects when you think about it. A collective work to think about a project globally, how we want to get there.
In chapter 8, it is the application of this thought. In Totnes, where the first transition initiative was created, they had created a newspaper of the future that told in 2030 how they were doing now without fossil fuels and how they got there.
Propose rather than suffer
A game is also offered among the tools for the transition. Originally designed by John Croft from the Gaia Foundation. It can be a great activity to do by itself or when launching a new project. Ideal for a group of 6 to 8 people, if more think about doing subgroups. This allows everyone to speak.
The game begins with a simple question about the purpose of the project, ex: “How can we stop producing waste? “
In the first step, each participant gives the ideas he has in mind. Make several turns if necessary. Then, for the second step, identify the different tasks that will have to be done to arrive at the desired situation. In his model, John Croft believes that there are 4 stages to a project: Dream, plan, do and celebrate. He uses it to classify and order the different tasks.
Third step: to link in chronological order the different stages of the realization of the project. Fourth step: make it possible and ask the different people what tasks they want to take care of.
Let collective intelligence go
Collective construction processes are often more rewarding than they appear. It’s not just the end result that counts, but the mobilization that this kind of exercise can create. In doing this reflection work with a community or a large group, it is opening up to ideas that one would not have had, but also to have an inclusive role. Because such person has participated in the reflection she will want to participate in the project.
Although necessary, the traditional ecologist position that alarm seems much less attractive. The population reacts less well when we simply criticize a fact or a posture. However, if you come to criticize while proposing a solution and a way of getting there it can be much more tempting to enroll in such a project.
Writing a journal of the future can be a good idea to express the world as one would like it to be. It can also be an original way of proposing one’s ideas by integrating them harmoniously with the rest of a system. It can also be an original way of proposing one’s ideas by integrating them harmoniously with the rest of a system.
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