Thread by @KA_Nicholas

Highlights from @transform_2021 conference, June 17-18, 2021. "Enabling positive tipping points in an uncertain world." transformationscommunity.org/conference-2021
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.@DrChrisIves proposes framework for religious beliefs as sustainability lever:
Reveal -connections btwn existing religious values and env crisis
Reflect- (using @ruthvalerio book)
Reinforce- social learning, discussion
Redirect- to more sustainable behaviors (which⬆️)
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Thanks for this interesting study and great comments today Chris! I was happy to see that reading a book (combined with personal reflection and shared discussion) can spark change. :) You might be interested in this quick look at religious climate texts?
kimnicholas.com/blog/visualizi…

Keynote by @AiltonKrenak
"Sometimes the here and now is very bad and we want to transform it... we have a great capacity to transform". His book, IDEAS TO POSTPONE THE END OF THE WORLD, looks amazing. bookshop.org/books/ideas-to…

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Jessica Clark @DotCoStudio makes media more inclusive; diverse experience matters for social change. Writes immerse.news on collaboratory & embodied media. Design & interventions for futures & past, futurearchitects.com
& omidyar.com/wp-content/upl…
/4 @transform_2021

Jessica Clark @DotCoStudio wants to position journalists as future architects who shape& transform future through their stories, and who are part of the transformation from efficiency + extraction to regeneration + wellbeing. Tool:
Theory of change card deck!
/5 @transform_2021

Much of the world does not have access to the internet, nowadays that means they cannot participate. One key leverage point for sustainability is the 85 million teachers educating almost 1/4 of world population.
Heila Lotz-Sisitka @transform_2021 /6

Market and price focus makes "near-death of the living world an externality". Econ students become like competitive, hierarchical man. Goal: endless economic growth (overshoot). This model created financial, climate, COVID crises. @KateRaworth /7 @transform_2021

21st C economics will be practiced, then theorized. The economy is a human construct, embedded in the living and material world. Translated to city scale: meet social foundations w/i env limits; local aspirations, global responsibility. @KateRaworth at @transform_2021 /8

Map transformation from extraction->regeneration via 5 powers to act + who can do what; cities can stop doing what is harmful & do more good within their power, collaborate with others for bigger impact. Amsterdam's plan inspired many more! @KateRaworth /9 assets.website-files.com/5d26d80e8836af…

Final comment from @KateRaworth on learnings from @DoughnutEcon, growth -> thriving, living well: share ideas in the commons, let diversity flourish, from Maori interpretations to Cornwall's decision wheel, endorsed by everyone from @Pontifex to @ExtinctionR! @transform_2021/10

.@KateRaworth isn't interested in debating neoclassical economics, "it's designed to be uncrackable, oh yes that's an externality". Instead she's "rolled out a whole other carpet" and welcomes economists to step into this space, engage with this worldview. @transform_2021 /11

Brilliant talk by Andy Stirling @SPRU on #decolonizing sustainability. Starts w/ defining coloniality: mindsets of oppression, domination, and superiority; practices of violence and extraction. "pervasive structures of power, privilege,... & appropriation" @transform_2021 /12

Powerful maps visualizing material appropriation, propensity to mass violence, wealth accumulation, and perpetration of war and their correlation with colonialism. Andy Stirling @SPRU at @transform_2021 /13

"Sustainability is a progressive struggle, it depends on opening up rather than closing down... Methods look at something and convey a message about them... need methods to empower social movements, not just communicate to policymaker experts" A Stirling @SPRU @transform_2021 /14

"Power is more interested in justification than it is in truth." If methods for participation drive for aggregation, consensus, reduction, and closing down, they are "part of the problem." Focus on opening up and broadening out to #decolonize. A Stirling @SPRU @transform_2021 /16

Some highlights from our session yesterday on positive tipping points in food and agricultural systems:
@AniekHebinck shared paper in review on transformative potential of urban food - attn @bekkika @metson! osf.io/preprints/soca…
@transform_2021 /17

.@FHuybrechs presented case from Nicaragua, where "incumbent and transformative pathways emerge out of the power-laden interactions of the biophysical territory with dominant... configurations"
sciencedirect.com/science/articl… @transform_2021 /18

Tim Lenton @GSI_Exeter & @SYSTEMIQ_Ltd colleagues presented a framework for triggering positive tipping points: create enabling conditions; reinforce the good using social mechanisms and interventions.
exeter.ac.uk/media/universi…
attn @bethsawin, @WynesSeth
@transform_2021 /19

I presented work from our @Vetenskapsradet project @transform_2021 incl. methods to align policies with #SDGs, track progress/highlight gaps, & our comprehensive analysis of €59bn in Common Agricultural Policy payments showing nearly 40% misspent. Papers: kimnicholas.com/european-farmi…

Our session @transform_2021 discussed:
@ETC_energy report on how to speed up clean energy transition
energy-transitions.org/publications/a…
Studies showing people tend to add good rather than subtract bad things (fast transitions need both!)
nature.com/articles/d4158…
nature.com/articles/s4158…
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At our session @transform_2021, @AniekHebinck discussed @drifteur "X-curve framework to think about dynamics of build-up (i.e. innovation) & break-down (exnovation/phase-out) & how these 2 are essential for societal change." See @drk75 @NFrantzeskaki
annualreviews.org/doi/pdf/10.114… /21

I love the definition of #transformation from Sharma (2007), shared by @cCHANGE_OBrien: "The powerful unleashing of human potential to commit, care, and affect change for a better life". Karen sees political agency as key to sustainability transformations.
@transform_2021 /22

"If politics is broken, what's the alternative?" asks @indraadnan. Party politics built on opposition; only 2% of Europeans are part of a political party. Politics focuses on material needs; 9 key emotions, human relations/networks seen as outside politics. @transform_2021
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Hard power is about guns and money, but soft power increasingly important and influential, argues @indraadnan. Building on-the-ground connections through trust-building where people live through movements like @transitiontowns. @transform_2021
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Two views on agency in social science: internal dimensions on persona level; and external, sociological: what can agents achieve and how? Sustainability transformations are still in early stages (preparation), where imagination is essential. @ManjanaM @transform_2021 /25

Two forms of imagination: ability to see existing structures (precondition for undoing) + imagine possible futures, a prerequisite for creating alternatives. Prepare for discomfort, says @ManjanaM. (Related to @EricHolthaus's work!) @transform_2021 /25

Key questions for imagining a sustainable future, by @ManjanaM. Who gets to imagine? What organizations could support imagination? Nice linking of the themes across @transform_2021 /26

African continent has had 3 generations of leadership:
1. Independence from colonialism
2. Transition
3. Economic stability and growth
Need 4th generation focus: accountability, solutions to unemployment, conflicts, gender balance, corruption.
@EnockNkulanga @transform_2021 /27

"I strongly believe in #transformation led by citizens, not by leaders sitting in fancy offices. We need to see citizens rising up and taking the power to transform their communities & countries. Africa needs level playing field, not aid." @EnockNkulanga @transform_2021 /27

Our agency depends on ability for clear perception, regulate attention, listen openly, make sense of multiple perspectives, disagree better. 300 British MPs have done 8 week mindfulness training since 2013, now +10 other parliaments, says @JamieBristow.
@transform_2021 /28

.@JamieBristow is collaborating with my @LUCSUS_LU colleagues on #Mindfulness: Developing Agency in Urgent Times, to support cultivating agency for inner transformations contributing to sustainability.
themindfulnessinitiative.org/agency-in-urge…
@transform_2021 /29