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

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. In these times of deep division and deeper despair if there is a consensus about anything in the world it is that the future is going to be awful. There is an epidemic of loneliness an epidemic of anxiety a mental health crisis of vast proportions especially among young people. There?s a rise in extremist movements and governments. Catastrophic climate change. Biodiversity loss. Food insecurity. The fracturing of ecosystems and communities beyond it seems repair. The future?to say nothing of the present?looks grim. But as Transition movement cofounder Rob Hopkins tells us there is plenty of evidence that things can change and cultures can change rapidly dramatically and unexpectedly?for the better. He has seen it happen around the world and in his own town of Totnes England where the community is becoming its own housing developer energy company enterprise incubator and local food network?with cascading benefits to the community that extend far beyond the projects themselves. We˜do˜have the capability to effect dramatic change Hopkins argues but we?re failing because we?ve largely allowed our most critical tool to languish: human imagination. As defined by social reformer John Dewey imagination is˜the ability to look at things as if they could be otherwise. The ability that is to ask What if? And if there was ever a time when we needed that ability it is now. 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. From What Is to What If is a call to action to reclaim and unleash our collective imagination told through the stories of individuals and communities around the world who are doing it now as we speak and witnessing often rapid and dramatic change for the better.

Hardcover: 240 pages

Publisher: Chelsea Green Publishing (October 15 2019)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 1603589058

ISBN-13: 978-1603589055

Product Dimensions: 6 x 1 x 9 inches

Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds