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

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What If will be an active and imaginative visioning process that a Transition group can use to explore what we want to Bounce Forward to. (November 2020) Our imagination needs DIVERSITY. ‘’Imagination – that ‘ability to look at things as if they could be otherwise’ – needs diversity to feed it. Are we more likely to be imaginative if all our food comes from one vast supermarket, or from a variety of small producers in a vibrant market? If most High Streets across the UK look identical, with the same massive chains, how does that impact our imagination compared with living somewhere that is home to an abundance of businesses unique to that particular place? Transition Network supports the international Transition Movement, but because Transition originated in Britain we have continued to act as an informal Hub for groups in England and Wales. Was wäre wenn... wir die negativen Vorstellungen über unsere Welt weglassen und ein positives, kreatives Bild malen, das uns dazu bringt, zum Beispiel die Umwelt zu schützen, das Leben in der Stadt grüner zu machen, die Schule angenehmer usw. Rob Hopkins zeigt in diesem zum Nachdenken anregenden Buch anhand von lokalen Beispielen in verschiedenen Ländern, wie man mehr Mut und Fantasie zeigen und von diesem Traumbild ausgehend Probleme lösen kann. Ich konnte nicht alles nachvollziehen, was der Autor dargestellt hat, aber das Buch ist gut aufbereitet, auch wenn einiges typisch britisch ist wie Internate und Schuluniformen.

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

No part of this book may be transmitted or reproduced in any form by any means without permission in writing from the publisher. There will be lots of online events and activities happening throughout this process and we don’t expect you to be able to take part in them all – though brilliant if you can! Of course, a HEALTHY LIFESTYLE (which makes a more healthy hippocampus more likely) is just one of many ways to increase our imagination. 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. The second revelation is that, if we are content to muddle through, then why be anchored to current ways of doing things? Why don't we experiment to try things out? If they go wrong, then we can muddle along on any case. If we take this view, then we are empowered to dream about alternative states of affairs. It's a useful way to counter the fear of failure, which often acts to paralyse our actions.Rob Hopkins from the Transition Movement is going to visit Lancaster/Morecambe to run a ‘From What Is to What If’ imagination session. 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. And of course, we can already see the impacts of climate change (and other ecological destruction) in real time with extreme weather events, the loss of biodiversity and a food system dependent on the use of vast quantities of pesticides and herbicides to coax crops from the earth. More and more people seem to be feeling accumulated pressures in their personal lives as well. There is an epidemic of loneliness, an epidemic of anxiety (estimated to have increased twentyfold over the past thirty years), a mental health crisis of vast proportions among young people, the rise of extremist movements and governments and much more besides. ⁸ Looks hopeless, right? We developed the seed-funding structure with a fantastic group of Transitioners and hope it really is light touch and open enough to support what you’re doing. The funding is divided in two pots –

Transition: Bounce Forward - What If · What Next? Transition: Bounce Forward - What If · What Next?

I moderate these comments and share details with relevant team members, as well as making them publicly visible here. We are living through a perfect storm of factors ruinous to the imagination” warns Hopkins. “As we face vast crises that demand imaginative and urgent responses and a reimagining of everything, we are simply not up to it.” 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?The founder of the international Transition Towns movement asks why true creative, positive thinking is in decline, asserts that it’s more important now than ever, and suggests ways our communities can revive and reclaim it. I wake, well rested, in the straw-bale-walled apartment my family and I call home. Built fifteen years ago as part of a sustainable-construction initiative throughout our city, the three-storey-high apartment complex costs virtually nothing to heat, its basement hosts composting units for all the building’s toilets, and the solar panels on the roof generate all our electricity needs. I wake my kids, get them dressed and fed and accompany them to school – a walk that takes us through shared gardens with a diversity of food crops, including young ruby chard whose deep red leaves radiate like stained glass caught in the brilliant sun of this late spring morning. The streets are quiet, due to sparse motorised traffic, and they are lined with fruit and nut trees in early blossom. The air smells of spring. Each bus stop we pass is surrounded by a garden on three sides, part of the Edible Bus Stop network that now includes most bus stops across the United Kingdom. Anyone can graze while they wait for the bus. Transition projects relating to local economy, community resilience, neighbourhood mutual aid, support for disadvantaged groups, local food growing and more. Using a mix of examples, suggestions and explanations, Rob Hopkins shows how can we foster and increase our imagination. Along the way, he shows how imagination can play a role to reconnect with each other and strengthen our communities. ISBN 978-1-60358-905-5 (hardcover) | ISBN 978-1-60358-906-2 (ebook) | ISBN 978-1-60358-907-9 (audiobook)

From What Is to What If – Chelsea Green Publishing

What if we built car-free cities? What if we closed all of the prisons? What if we spent more money on education than weaponry? What if ____ (go ahead, it’s your turn)?

I love this book. It is an extraordinary, reality-based report on people around the world applying the power of imagination to rebuild relationships and create a fulfilling, creative, and possible human future together. An essential read for all who care.” —David C. Korten, author of Change the Story, Change the Future and When Corporations Rule the World We all, adults and children, have an obligation to daydream. We have an obligation to imagine. It is easy to pretend that nobody can change anything, that we are in a world in which society is huge and the individual is less than nothing: an atom in a wall, a grain of rice in a rice field. But the truth is, individuals change their world over and over, individuals make the future, and they do it by imagining things can be different. An inspirational manifesto, From What Is to What If offers a template for creating dramatic, positive change.