From What Is to What If: Unleashing the Power of Imagination to Create the Future We Want

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Imagination is central to empathy, to creating better lives, to envisioning and then enacting a positive future. Yet imagination is also demonstrably in decline at precisely the moment when we need it most. In this passionate exploration, Hopkins asks why imagination is in decline, and what we must do to revive and reclaim it. Once we do, there is no end to what we might accomplish. People like Rob Hopkins give us the courage to move forward. By setting an example, he shows us that we are right to place our hopes in a future in which men and women can act as stewards of their environment. The many stories in this book are evidence of the fact that for some people this future has already become a reality. Since 1970, numbers of birds, fish, reptiles, and mammals on planet has dropped by 60%. We lose between 150-200 species every day according to the UN. As we derive our language from the natural world, what happens to our quality of speech once we lose these species? By 2100, over half world's 6,000 languages will be gone. National Geographic lost 93% of food variety seeds in just 80 years. We've lost 85% of apple cultivars in the same time period. What are also the effects on imagination when food supply and shopping sources are all the same no matter the location? Like art, PLAY can have many positive effects on our imagination. Hopkins stresses the importance of ‘’free play’’ on the imagination, where children can invent their own games, make their own rules and learn how to cooperate. Consequently, Hopkins is not very enthusiastic about commercial games, which are often repetitive and tend to dull the imagination. For children, free play often comes naturally. But what about play for adults? Hopkins gives a suggestion that he himself enjoyed: Take an improv class. I liked the description of the ‘Yes, and’ improv game, which requires each player to take the story further, by starting each new contribution to the story with ‘Yes, and’. The lessons of ‘Yes, and’ also have a deeper meaning outside of improv: ‘’ ‘Yes, and’ is fundamental to improvisation. In life, saying no allows us to remain safe, whereas learning to say yes means learning to trust other people and to be open to being changed by the other person’’ (p 29).

From What Is to What If by Rob Hopkins - Ebook | Scribd

Thanks to funding from The National Lottery Community Fund we can announce the opening of the Transition: Bounce Forward seed-funding for Transition groups in England. The longer our inertia persists, the steeper and more demanding that task becomes. As Jim Skea, co-chair of IPCC Working Group III, stated when the report was released, ‘Limiting warming to 1.5ºC is possible within the laws of chemistry and physics but doing so would require unprecedented changes.’ ⁷DAVID C. KORTEN, author of Change the Story, Change the Future and When Corporations Rule the World Transition projects relating to local economy, community resilience, neighbourhood mutual aid, support for disadvantaged groups, local food growing and more.

From What Is to What If by Rob Hopkins | Waterstones From What Is to What If by Rob Hopkins | Waterstones

In his spare time, he sometimes draws and makes drypoint prints and lino prints. Here is a selection: Houses and trees above the beach at Pons Peron [pen and ink]. From the steps near the Cathedral, Angers, France (pen and ink). I call into work. I’m working a half day today, as part of my three-day work week. Adopted nationally ten years ago, the three-day work week, together with the introduction of Universal Basic Income, has resulted in measurably lower levels of anxiety and stress across all income classes. People spend free time working on community projects and enjoying their lives. Some of my colleagues are away today. A scheme was recently launched where up to 10 percent of staff from any company, at any given time, are embedded in the local community, offering managerial, marketing, financial planning and project management skills to organisations that are working in various ways to support residents and make our community more resilient. You’ll notice that the seed funding is directed at groups in England only – Transition Network is delegated to distribute seed-funding from The National Lottery Community Fund’s Covid-19 emergency response programme, which specifically supports communities in England. We’d like to give our thanks to National Lottery players for making this possible. For the latest news on Transition: Bounce Forward What if we took play seriously? What if we considered imagination vital to our health? What if we followed nature's lead? What if school nurtured young imaginations?

What Next is an online summit being developed with CTRLshift that will bring all this thinking together. We will join with others from outside of the Transition movement to explore how we can advocate for wider and ambitious societal changes towards a just recovery, and make our visions our reality. (20th-28th February 2021). Get Involved Towns and cities have already begun transition. Together, mayors have chosen to press ahead toward a healthier and safer world. Whether in Paris or in Totnes, initiatives are being launched and are encouraging us to shift from ‘why not’ to ‘how’ and from ‘how ‘ to ‘when.’ The movement must gain momentum and expand. CHRISTIANA FIGUERES, former executive secretary, United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change; lead negotiator, Paris Climate Agreement MICHAEL MANN, distinguished professor, Pennsylvania State University; coauthor of The Madhouse Effect A step-by-step guide will help you to develop a vision of the future that could become lasting change.

From What Is to What If (Audiobook) - Chelsea Green Publishing From What Is to What If (Audiobook) - Chelsea Green Publishing

Reducing time we spend on our cell phones helps us to regain our attention. So do reading and talking to people. ‘’Research shows that reading, fiction in particular, makes us more creative and empathic. The less we read, the less able we are to solve problems, to put ourselves in the shoes of others, and the more easily we’re lied to’’ (p 85). And have conversations: ‘’Without conversation, studies show that we are less empathic, less connected, less creative and less fulfilled’’ (p 85). Transition: Bounce Forward will support Transition groups in England through strengthening and supporting them to respond with activities that contribute towards a more equitable, resilient, caring and environmentally sustainable future. The project will also engage Transition groups and wider sustainability and social justice networks in a larger conversation about the changes needed now, and in the future, as we respond to the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic. How Will We Do This? Seed funding It’s a great opportunity for your group to come together and really work through what is going on at present where you live. The process will help you to develop a shared vision for your community, as well as the areas/themes you would like to focus on during further community engagement.Reading this book is like listening to the voice of Rob Hopkins. A voice full of kindness, optimism, brightness, humor, and imagination. And that spirit is precisely what we need to build a better future and to reconnect with each other and the better part of ourselves. With this book, Rob poses a crucial question: How could we create another world, one in which human beings live in harmony with each other and with nature, if we are not able to imagine it first? We can't-and that's why this book is so necessary. -Cyril Dion, writer, filmmaker, and producer of the film Tomorrow That sounds gloomy, but the book definitely isn’t. It begins with a story ‘of how things turned out okay’, outlines the problem, and then sets about imagining things differently. Each chapter poses a ‘what if’ question: What if we took play seriously? What if school nurtured young imaginations? What if our leaders prioritised the cultivation of imagination? How can we become better at solving the problems and dealing with the challenges both in our own lives and in our societies? In ‘’From what is to what if’’, Rob Hopkins argues that imagination is crucial: To create the better future, you first have to imagine it. The flip side: This tells us that we can enhance our imagination if we manage to improve the functioning of the hippocampus. Some low-hanging fruits: Get enough sleep, get proper nutrition and enough exercise and make a serious effort to reduce stress.

From What Is to What If’ - FoodFutures Rob Hopkins: ‘From What Is to What If’ - FoodFutures

Day after day, week after week, the climate is changing and biodiversity is fading away. For a long time we tended to look the other way, but now, being on the edge of the cliff forces us to understand that we must act urgently. And because of this emergency it is our utmost duty to join forces. Not only among states, but among mayors, NGOs, associations, companies, and citizens. Among all those who are determined to act here and now. No part of this book may be transmitted or reproduced in any form by any means without permission in writing from the publisher. We also should be telling ourselves and each other better stories. Storytelling comes natural to (most) humans. We are ‘’a story telling creature. It is part of what makes us human. We have strong cultural narratives: We tell stories that shape our sense of the world. We also have strong personal narratives, those we tell ourselves about our lives and identity: Maybe that we’re a failure and our lives have come to naught, or that we’re special enough that the lim Rob Hopkins is a cofounder of Transition Town Totnes and Transition Network, and the author of The Transition Handbook, The Transition Companion, The Power of Just Doing Stuff, 21 Stories of Transition and most recently, From What Is to What If: unleashing the power of imagination to create the future we want. He presents the podcast series ‘ From What If to What Next‘. In 2012, he was voted one of the Independent’s top 100 environmentalists and was on Nesta and the Observer’s list of Britain’s 50 New Radicals. Hopkins has also appeared on BBC Radio 4’s Four Thought and A Good Read, in the French film phenomenon Demain and its sequel Apres Demain, and has spoken at TEDGlobal and three TEDx events. Rob Hopkins has long been a leader in imagining how we could remake our societies for the benefit of nature and humankind. His new book is a powerful call to imagine a better world. It should be widely read and appreciated.As part of a plan for helping an autonomous Transition Hub to emerge in England and Wales we were supported by the The National Lottery Community Fund to develop a 4 year project which we hoped to have been able to start delivering in Great Britain from July of this year. You may have seen or responded to the surveys we carried out last year with British groups that informed this funding bid. However, as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic this funding stream has been put on hold until at least next year, though we are still hopeful that our bid will be successful in the future.