Future of Sustainability 2020: Has the disruption from COVID-19 accelerated the transition to a sustainable future, or made it more challenging?

This Forum for the Future

Future of Sustainability 2020: Has the disruption from COVID-19 accelerated the transition to a sustainable future, or made it more challenging?

This Forum for the Future webinar took place on 22 July 2020. We are in the midst of a historic moment that will shape society for decades to come. The COVID-19 crisis is having a devastating impact – both in terms of lives lost and economic disruption. The region’s informal, cash-based economies are particularly vulnerable. At Forum for the Future we believe this may also be a moment to re-imagine how we rebuild our economies.

We are therefore calling for business, governments, civil society and communities to seize this moment in helping to deliver a more just, sustainable and resilient world. Drawing on research and insights we gather annually to understand what is next for the fields of sustainability, impact investing and philanthropy, we will share a suite of futures trajectories we have been developing which help us understand possible ways forward as change-makers. We believe only one of these trajectories, which we are calling 'Transform', has the potential to create the just, resilient and sustainable systems we need. It is based on a mindset that recognizes the interdependent nature of the challenges we face today. The session included reflections from inspiring change-makers who are already driving towards this 'Transform' trajectory – aiming to shift our political, economic and social systems so that they work together in service of human and planetary health, justice and economic resilience. If there is ever a time to drive this transformative change, it is now.

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In this age of global weirding where climate disruption has tumbled the Goldilocks effect into unruly surges of too much and too little water, the restoration of beavers offers ancient nature-based

In this age of global weirding where climate disruption has tumbled the Goldilocks effect into unruly surges of too much and too little water, the restoration of beavers offers ancient nature-based solutions to the tangle of challenges bedeviling human civilization. Droughts, floods, soil erosion, climate change, biodiversity loss – you name it, and beaver is on it. In this episode, Kate Lundquist and Brock Dolman of the Occidental Arts and Ecology Center share their semi-aquatic journey to becoming Beaver Believers. They are part of a passionate global movement to bring back our rodent relatives who show us how to heal nature by working with nature. Featuring Kate Lundquist, co-director of the Occidental Arts & Ecology Center’s WATER Institute and the Bring Back the Beaver Campaign in Sonoma County, is a conservationist, educator and ecological artist who works with landowners, communities and resource agencies to uncover obstacles, identify strategic solutions, and generate restoration recommendations to assure healthy watersheds, water security, listed species recovery and climate change resiliency. Brock Dolman, co-founded (in 1994) the Occidental Arts and Ecology Center where he co-directs the WATER Institute. A wildlife biologist and watershed ecologist, he has been actively promoting “Bringing Back Beaver in California” since the early 2000s. He was given the Salmonid Restoration Federation’s coveted Golden Pipe Award in 2012: “…for his leading role as a proponent of “working with beavers” to restore native habitat. Resources Beaver Believer: How Massive Rodents Could Restore Landscapes and Ecosystems At Scale (https://bioneers.org/beaver-believer-how-massive-rodents-could-restore-landscapes-and-ecosystems-at-scale-zmbz2110/) Fire and Water: Land and Watershed Management in the Age of Climate Change (https://bioneers.org/fire-and-water-watershed-management-zmbz2008/) Brock Dolman – Basins of Relations: A Reverential Rehydration Revolution (https://bioneers.org/brock-dolman-basins-of-relations-a-reverential-rehydration-revolution-bioneers/) From Kingdom to Kin-dom: Acting As If We Have Relatives Brock Dolman, Paul Stamets and Brian Thomas Swimme (https://bioneers.org/from-kingdom-to-kin-dom-acting-as-if-we-have-relatives-brock-dolman-paul-stamets/) The WATER Institute’s Beaver in California reader (https://oaec.org/publications/beaver-in-california/) Credits • Executive Producer: Kenny Ausubel • Written by: Kenny Ausubel • Senior Producer and Station Relations: Stephanie Welch • Program Engineer and Music Supervisor: Emily Harris • Producer: Teo Grossman • Host and Consulting Producer: Neil Harvey • Production Assistance: Monica Lopez This is an episode of the Bioneers: Revolution from the Heart of Nature series. Visit the radio and podcast homepage (https://bioneers.org/bioneers-radio/)  to learn more.

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In this moment of radical transformation, shifting the societal pronoun from “me, me, me” to “we” may be the single most transformational pivot we can make in order for anything else to work.

In this moment of radical transformation, shifting the societal pronoun from “me, me, me” to “we” may be the single most transformational pivot we can make in order for anything else to work. Our destiny is ultimately collective. How can we overcome corrosive divisions and separations that are tearing us apart and create a world where everyone belongs? In this program, we dip into a deep conversation on this topic between Angela Glover Blackwell and john a. powell, two long-time friends and leaders in a quest toward building a multicultural democracy. Featuring Angela Glover Blackwell is Founder-in-Residence at PolicyLink (https://www.policylink.org/) , the organization she started in 1999 to advance racial and economic equity. One of the nation’s most prominent, award-winning social justice advocates, she serves on numerous boards and advisory councils, including the inaugural Community Advisory Council of the Federal Reserve and California’s Task Force on Business and Jobs Recovery. john a. powell is the Director of the Othering and Belonging Institute (https://belonging.berkeley.edu/)  and Professor of Law, African American, and Ethnic Studies at UC Berkeley. A former National Legal Director of the ACLU, he co-founded the Poverty & Race Research Action Council (https://prrac.org/)  and serves on the boards of several national and international organizations. His latest book is: Racing to Justice: Transforming our Concepts of Self and Other to Build an Inclusive Society (https://iupress.org/9780253017710/racing-to-justice/) . Resources From Othering to Belonging | Bioneers 2022 Panel Discussion with Angela Glover Blackwell and john a. powell (https://bioneers.org/from-othering-to-belonging-zstf2206/) Angela Glover Blackwell – Transformative Solidarity for a Thriving Multiracial Democracy | Bioneers 2022 Keynote Address (https://bioneers.org/angela-glover-blackwell-transformative-solidarity-thriving-multiracial-democracy-zstf2205/) john a. powell – Healing Across Divides: Building Bridges to Challenge Systemic Injustice | Bioneers 2020 Keynote Address (https://bioneers.org/john-a-powell-creating-conditions-belonging-breathing-toxic-environment-zstf2101/) Credits • Executive Producer: Kenny Ausubel • Written by: Kenny Ausubel • Senior Producer and Station Relations: Stephanie Welch • Program Engineer and Music Supervisor: Emily Harris • Host and Consulting Producer: Neil Harvey • Producer: Teo Grossman • Production Assistance: Anna Rubanova and Monica Lopez This is an episode of the Bioneers: Revolution from the Heart of Nature series. Visit the radio and podcast homepage (https://bioneers.org/bioneers-radio/)  to learn more.

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During Climate Week in New York City, WECAN held a virtual public event on September 26, 2024, “Transforming Global Economies: From Extraction to Regeneration in a Just Transition.”

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