In my last post I wrote that our future is so uncertain that we should let go of the mindset of “achieving sustainability” or “saving the world”, with its implication of either success or failure. (Link below.)

I suggested that we should instead focus on creating the conditions where people and the rest of nature have the best chance of thriving – now and into the future, whatever happens.

I’m still trying to clarify my thoughts and feelings about all this, so thank you to everyone who responded with encouragement, perceptive comments and useful questions.

Today I want to pick up this question from Saskia¹:

Do you mean shifting the impetus in sustainability projects away from future success and onto thriving now (tilting the focus of current work) or do you mean seeking/starting projects whose aim is thriving now (new work on a seemingly separate task, thriving)?

In our subsequent conversation Saskia wrote:

I thought you might be suggesting that aiming to thrive would produce quite different and maybe more effective initiatives than aiming at sustainability achieves. And I found that idea very good to think with, tho not sure where it takes me.

Let me try to work this through! (For the moment I’m thinking about place based initiatives rather than, say, global treaties.)

"Thriving" initiatives will be more effective

Yes, I do believe that initiatives to create the conditions for thriving – starting right now, right here – have the potential to be more successful than most sustainability initiatives in terms of:

• Support and engagement (because of the virtuous circle effect of thriving in the short term)

• Creativity and innovation (because of a wider range of people involved, local knowledge, sense of empowerment and purpose)

• Greater thriving, now and in the future (because thriving is the core aim, not a side benefit)

However, from a sustainability point of view, the impact of these initiatives on thriving in the wider region or the world, could either be negative or positive.

It’s easy to imagine a locality or group prioritising their own thriving over the needs of others. It’s nothing unusual: externalising social and environmental costs; prioritising “us” over “them”; demonising others based on class, race etc; and so on.

Avoiding the risks of aiming to thrive

It’s clear that thriving as a guiding principle carries risks! So what would it take for “thriving initiatives”, not only to make a difference in the local area, but to also have a positive impact more widely? Positive impact in the sense of helping create the conditions for all people and all of nature, not just the local area, to thrive?

It’s as simple – and as complicated – as having this question at the heart of every initiative: “How can we create the conditions for us and the rest of nature to thrive here, in ways that also help others to thrive elsewhere?”

I wrote the above with place based initiatives in mind, but I don’t see why the same general principles couldn’t apply in other contexts and at different scales.

Now, it’s relatively easy to come up with ideas like this. With your feedback perhaps I can develop my ideas and communicate them better. But so what? I’m not at all sure I have ambition, or hubris, to try to create some kind of “thrivability movement” even if that would be useful.

Applying a "thrivability" lens

But could applying a “thrivability lens” to new and existing sustainability initiatives be helpful right now? And what might that look like?

Asking the following questions as we develop, review and renew initiatives would be a good starting point:

How does, and how could, this initiative…

• Build the resilience of the people and organisations involved, whatever the future brings?

• Regenerate nature and natural systems, locally and globally?

• Heal society by bringing out the best of human nature?

• Inspire, encourage and support others elsewhere to build their resilience, to regenerate nature and heal society?

As I was writing this, I wondered whether I should have written “how does this sustainability initiative…” But no, that’s too limited. We should be asking questions like these of every initiative and every decision.

Tagged…

Some thriving-related articles that have caught my attention:

[Heal Society] “Many people consider it vital to protect and grow our long-established institutions that provide vital stability to the wider world, such as the United Nations. But in addition we also need to build new institutions and platforms that make our diverse neighbourhoods the best possible places to grow up and grow old in.” / An invitation to scale a new approach to social cohesion

[Build Resilience] “We ask everyone to do just one thing. We’ve now got our resilience centre, we have heaters, a generator. The knitting group made blankets. We have got phone chargers, lights, cooking facilities. The men in sheds group have been great.” / It takes a village: a new approach to living with flooding

[Regenerate Nature] “They watched in astonishment as a brown wormlike creature greedily munching through green clumps of algae as if more than 130 years hadn’t passed since its last meal.” / Creatures buried in soil for over a century burst back to life in Toronto waterfront

Locally…

I’m making a conscious effort to get off screen and outside to visit places and meet people.

• Catalysing Connections is an event that promises to “bring together inspiring people who are developing ideas, building communities, and driving positive change.” I’m attending. Join me? / Catalysing Connections, 27 Nov, Edinburgh

• Although I’ve been helping organise Edinburgh Can B SOUP, I’m disappointed I may have to miss this “laid-back community night all about good food, good ideas and good people. Hear shoutouts from brilliant local projects doing something positive for Edinburgh”. / Edinburgh Soup, 29 Oct

Check out…

Discovered the other day that my neighbour is exploring similar issues to me, though from a different angle. If you’re involved with the built environment, check out John Kinsley’s Architecture in an Age of Uncertainty.