Cooperstein, B. (2015). Why We Need to Envision Positive Futures. Solutions 6(3): 12-14. https://thesolutionsjournal.com/article/why-we-need-to-envision-positive-futures/
Envisioning
Why We Need to Envision Positive Futures by Bruce Cooperstein
This article is part of a regular section in Solutions in which the author is challenged to envision a future society in which all the right changes have been made.
An eternal trait of men is the need for vision and readiness to follow it; and if men are not given the right vision, they will follow wandering fires. —Sir Richard Livingstone
Where there is no vision, the people perish. —Proverbs 29:18
One cannot construct what one cannot image. —Lawrence Goodwyn
To do the same thing over and over again and expect different results is crazy. – Albert Einstein
T
here is no shortage of wellresearched journal articles and books on climate change, habitat destruction, species extinction, degradation of water sources, fouling of the land and atmosphere, and other forms of environmental despoliation. There is equally no shortage of well-researched journal articles and books on the sources of absolute and relative poverty worldwide. And there is ample documentation of violations of human rights as well as intra- and international conflict.
In Solutions, we emphasize the positive. More specifically, we feature articles on reducing carbon emissions; rehabilitating damaged ecosystems; protecting fresh water sources and forests; restricting the introduction of harmful chemicals into the soil, oceans, and atmosphere; pulling people and countries out of poverty; de-escalating conflicts; and resisting tyrannical regimes. In the battle of ideas, we like to think (I certainly do) that we have the better logic and stronger evidence and that citizens in democratic societies should be rallying to our side. However, that does not seem to be happening. Some attribute this to more effective communication (some would call it propaganda) on the part of
George Lakoff on framing; as well as the work of neuropsychologist Drew Weston on the role that emotions play in political decision making. Evidence, statistical and otherwise, can be impressive but is rarely convincing. As just one example, people are less afraid of automobiles than air travel when all the evidence clearly establishes that the former is far more dangerous. One finding of behavioral economics is that change does not come easily to individuals or societies; resistance to it is stubborn. As often as not, people must first believe and then they see, not the other way around as it is commonly stated. Thus, when confronted with new evidence, people will select those
The purpose of a vision is to enable people to see themselves in an alternative future. those corporations and wealthy individuals who benefit financially from environmental destruction, economic deprivation, and conflict. There is much truth to this and means we need to examine some of our fundamental ideas about how to achieve change. In particular, we need to acknowledge that logic and evidence, though important, are not sufficient for changing minds and behaviors. There is much research that tells us that this is so: for example, the pioneering work of Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky on behavioral economics; the findings of linguist and cognitive scientist
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parts that confirm their existing views. They strongly prefer avoiding losses to acquiring gains, which goes a long way to explaining the resistance to change. Consequently, people won’t become involved in change until they can see themselves in the alternative future to which the change aspires, and they won’t be able to see themselves in that future until they become involved in change. The purpose of a vision is to enable people to see themselves in an alternative future. Envisioning is then a tactic for enacting democratic change.