Recent research, entitled The Future of Consumption in an 1.5°C World, carried out by the University of Leeds, C40 Cities and Arup, powerfully shows that the world’s comfortably off need to do the most to reduce the world's carbon emissions and need to reduce the impacts of their consumption by two thirds by 2030. But this will only happen if it feels like a move towards something rather than being dragged away from something irreplaceable, if it feels thrilling, like something that spreads...

This was such a beautiful conversation to be part of, with two old friends, and a story that I play at least a small role in. In 2015, Transition Network, an organisation I had co-founded, undertook a transition of its own, from a pretty conventional management model to a non-hierarchical structure that distributed power, using Holocracy. We had to learn how to do it, and were brilliantly supported by Université du Nous, who support and advise organisations on how to do this.  For this...

We're never one to shy away from the big questions, and to dive deep into the remarkable and far more delightful world that could yet be created if we do so. This week we are joined by two truly great guests who help us explore the question of what our economics system and thinking could look if we were to consciously and ambitiously decolonise it. You're going to love this one. My guests are Prof. Sunny Singh, writer, novelist, public intellectual, and a champion for decolonisation and...

If you were one of those kids in school who stared out of the window most of the time, this episode is for you. I'm joined by Kwesia X, aka City Girl in Nature (check out her many amazing videos), and by Ben Rawlence, author of three books, most recently The Treeline and founder and director of Black Mountains College. It's a beautiful and thought-provoking conversation. Just how different could our education system be, and how would the imagination flourish if we made those changes?...

Today's episode brings a big idea, like a really BIG idea, one that you may initially need to suspend disbelief in order to settle into but which, hopefully, by the end, you'll be fizzing with the possibilities of. I'm joined by Della Duncan, Renegade Economist, host of the Upstream Podcast, a Right Livelihood Coach, founding member of the California Doughnut Economics Coalition, and so much more, and also by Jennifer Hinton, a systems researcher and activist in the field of sustainable...

This week I'm joined by two of the greatest practitioners of the imagination that I know. Dr. Penny A Hay is an artist, educator and researcher, Reader in Creative Teaching and Learning and Research Fellow Bath Spa University and Director of Research, House of Imagination. Signature projects include School Without Walls and Forest of Imagination. Ruth Sapsed is the Director of Cambridge Curiosity and Imagination (CCI), an arts and well-being charity that cultivates creative communities in...

This episode of 'From What If to What Next' focuses on Utopianism, on our ability to imagine better futures. This is such an amazing conversation with two people who know more about Utopias than the rest of us. Alex Zamalin's work first came to my attention through his book 'Black Utopia', which I hugely recommend, and which introduced me to so many great ideas and thinkers. And more recently, Gregory Claeys' book 'Utopianism for a Dying Planet: Life after Consumerism', was similarly...

It's time for our Christmas special. We wanted to leave 2022 on a high, with a hugely inspirational story of imagination in action, of imagination going big, one that will leave your mind fizzing with possibility. Recently, Camden Council in London became the first UK local authority to offer Imagination Activist training to its staff. 32 people took part over 8 weeks in a course designed to expand their imaginations and to make them ambassadors for the imagination within the organisation. It...

The advertising industry is one of the key things driving the levels of consumption that are pushing us towards climate breakdown. But there are people within the advertising industry who are trying to push things in a different direction. In this episode, we speak to Lisa Merrick-Lawless of Purpose Distruptors, and strategy director and writer Michael Hines, to enter into a future in which the advertising sector has stepped up as a key driver in the change we need to see. As always, I'd...

This is not a podcast that shies away from the big and important What If questions, and today we're reaching out for one of the big ones of our time. Homelessness is one of scourges of our times, and is on the rise. But is it unavoidable and inevitable, or is it just the result of a series of decisions that could just as easily be made differently? Our two amazing guests, Ana Rausch and Sam Tsemberis, are doing incredible work, which is already showing great results, using the 'Housing...

You're in for such a treat. Today's episode is about beavers, and what the future would look like if we allowed them to reshape the world in the way they are so incredibly good at. During the summer I went to Cornwall and fell in love with beavers, which inspired this episode. My two guests are Chris Jones, whose farm I visited to see the beavers, and Eva Bishop, whose work with the Beaver Trust is about promoting their wider re-introduction. This is such a beautiful conversation, and I...

Today's episode was recorded live at the BTS Centre's Convocation 2022, an online event with the theme of 'Imagination and Collective Liberation for a Climate-Changed World'. It was recorded before a live (online) audience.   This was an event which set out to explore “what it means to nourish our imaginations toward a world of joyful possibility and embodied hope, while also holding space for the difficult realities we are facing”.  We fitted right in.   We were joined by Dr. Keisha E....

This week's episode is such a treat. Over the summer I devoured Ekow Eshun's amazing book 'In the Black Fantastic', the catalogue of the exhibition of the same name at the Hayward Gallery which, sadly, I didn't get to see. But even just the book was an incredible feast for the imagination, as was his concept of the Black Fantastic. If you enjoyed our podcast on Afrofuturism, you're going to love this one. It was such an honour to chat with Ekow, and I think you are really going to enjoy this...

I think you are really going to enjoy this one. My reading over the summer holidays was Shayda Kafai’s brilliant book ‘Crip Kinship: The Disability Justice & Art Activism of Sins Invalid’ (which I notice in the podcast I call 'Crip Wisdom' - sorry!), and as soon as I finished it I knew I had to ask Shayda to come onto the podcast to discuss her ideas. I asked her who her dream fellow guest would be, and she suggested Zena Sharman, author of The Care We Dream Of: Liberatory and...

Just 1% of the population own half the land in England, and citizens have a Right to Roam over only 8% of its surface. This deliberate exclusion has many bad side effects, not least its impact on our collective imagination. But it's only like this because some people imagined it like this. What if we were to reimagine this arrangement so that, like in Scotland, our Right to Roam actually enabled us to, er, roam?   For this episode I'm joined by Kate Swade of Shared Assets and Guy Shrubsole,...

Today’s podcast is something a little different. We’re departing from our usual format a little to spend some time in deeper conversation with one of the great guardians of the collective imagination, Cyril Dion.   If you’ve ever seen the film ‘Demain’ (‘Tomorrow’), or his more recent film ‘Animal’, you’ll know him, and his amazing work. He’s also a poet, a collaborator with musicians, a writer, a journalist and much more. And his current work is focused on the need to tell positive stories...

Today's episode is really rather beautiful, with Chloe Naldrett and David Micklem exploring the role of theatre in the great transition that lies ahead of us. I hope you love it. Do let me know what you think.   Please consider supporting the podcast by visiting www.patreon.com/fromwhatiftowhatnext and becoming a patron.

It's hardly a surprise that we struggle to hold onto hope and optimism given that the news we receive every day is filled with so much misery, appalling human behaviour, despots, narcissists and hopelessness. So what if instead we lived in a world in which the majority of the news we encountered was positive news? Stories of change going in the right way? That's our question for exploration today, and my two guests, Sean Wood, CEO of Positive News, the online and print magazine for good...

As the cost of living crisis impacts more and more people, and energy security becomes something far more widely discussed than it was 10 years ago, here is a vital conversation with two leading pioneers of the notion of community energy. Community energy is a movement that is spreading in spite of, rather than because of, government actions, but its potential is huge. What if by 2030 it was the norm? What might it unlock beyond simply kilowatt hours?   I'm joined by Leila Fortunato and...

In the light of the UK government's recent appalling proposed deportation of asylum seekers to Rwanda and their new policy to electronically tag everyone who arrives on our shores, as well as the massive growth in what we might call the 'immigration industrial complex' around the world, this week we are asking a vital, and rarely asked question, what if we just got rid of the idea of borders altogether?   I'm joined by the brilliant Nandita Sharma and by Todd Miller, who have both been...

An odd question perhaps... yet in the hands of our guests, Belina Raffy and Sam Knights, a powerful and pertinent one. What if we were to harness the power of humour as a tool in the fight to engage people in the climate emergency? What can humour allow and enable us to do that other approaches don't?   We had a lot of fun making this episode, and I hope you will have as much fun listening to it. As always, do let me know what you think, we love to hear your thoughts on these episodes.   ...

Welcome to our 54th episode, our 54th journey into the future that is still possible, just.  But before I tell you more, a suggestion, as you'll hear in the episode, that this episode will be a lot more enjoyable, and a fuller experience, if you listen to it in a space with fresh bread being baked. So if you've never made bread before, here is a link with an easy-to-make recipe. Good luck!   And so to our episode. It's all about bread, and the role that good, nutritious bread, made from...

Here at 'From What If to What Next' we don't shy away from the big questions of our times! Today we are diving deep into the question of what we eat.   Rather than debating whether veganism is a good thing or not, today we are stepping, with the help of our guests Tomi Makanjola (aka The Vegan Nigerian) and Dr. Melanie Joy, Founding President of Beyond Carnism, into that world that has already become vegan. What would it be like? How might it impact our imagination? How might it improve...

Welcome to Episode 52, different from the episode we advertised, a bit of a mix up at What If Towers, but it means some of you now know the subject of our next episode. Oh well. But this week's is such a treat.   Meet Dr Rupa Marya and Rhiannon Osborne (many thanks to her, as this episode was her idea), who bring a delightful and fresh inroad into what society could look like if it were to prioritise health in the full meaning of the word. It's a discussion that is both grounded and hugely...

We are joined by two amazing guests to discuss a vitally important issue. Ben Hurst of Beyond Equality and Graham Goulden of Cultivating Minds UK join me to explore what a future in which men work with each other to rapidly deescalate male violence in the world would look like and feel like. It's a powerful and vital discussion. My deepest thanks to them both and, as always, to producer Ben Addicott for making them sound so good. I would love to hear your thoughts on this episode.   Please...