“If you can see a thing whole, it seems that it’s always beautiful. Planet, lives…But close up, a world’s all dirt and rocks. And day to day, life’s a hard job, you get tired, you lose the pattern. You need distance, interval.” — Ursula K. Le Guin
"Homo sapiens seeks to anticipate the future in the name of its survival and searches the past in honour of its identity." – Jorge Wagensberg
“Curation is a form of pattern recognition – pieces of information or insight which over time amount to an implicit point of view.” — Maria Popova
Introduction and Context of this First Curation
Thirteen years ago, when I shifted my inclination from Engineering to Anthropology, sustainability, and wellbeing, without being fully conscious of it, I began my fieldwork as an Anthropologist. This anthropology, which I now refer to as "ecosocial transition anthropology", involved investigating the global trends of various initiatives that sought to impart a global and paradigmatic perspective to a present that was beginning to accumulate numerous diverse crises. For simplicity's sake, I divided these crises into personal, social, and environmental crises, but they were all interrelated. When I started collaborating with the Network of Wellbeing (NOW), I had the idea of creating a database on Wellbeing. I was familiar with the World Happiness Database, developed by Erasmus University Rotterdam in the Netherlands, which inspired me not to reinvent the wheel but to innovate— engineers often draw inspiration from existing patterns in their innovations. To exercise that differentiation, the Wellbeing Database would have these three principles.
ACCESSIBILITY. That knowledge had to be digitally accessible without restrictions. Many papers were shielded by a paywall. We are all aware of numerous instances where private initiative exploits public knowledge to generate profits.
COMPREHENSIBILITY. This knowledge did not have to be as academically formal in its language as is typical in papers. This is where the inclination arose to highlight mainly the work of the third sector, civil society, or NGOs, which, through their reports, videos, guides, and toolkits, have shown us significant and synergistic paths to this global paradigmatic change. Their language is more accessible because it is typically aimed at individuals with average knowledge, such as their partners or supporters.
HOLISM. The buzzword ‘Wellbeing’ can evoke different contexts depending on the listener, so I divided it into ten categories. As in the fable of the elephant and the six blind people, the large elephant of ‘wellbeing’ can be viewed from different perspectives. My proposal focused on the following ten categories, which are illustrated in the figure below. Likewise, depending on the container, I had the intuition that this content, in simplicity, was aimed either at the head (Reports, ebooks, glossaries...), or at the heart (Videos, documentaries, interviews...) or at the hands (Guides, toolkits...) to have an impact and action. All three were needed, as in the fable of the elephant, to integrate and have an impact on these pathways.
Most of these 2024 documents I have come across by chance on LinkedIn, in newsletters or in emails. It was not very intentional. What was intentional was to curate among the many documents I had archived and choose only 12 documents. It was very difficult to narrow it down to 12, and I hope to post some of the omitted ones for my LinkedIn network. Likewise, these proposals are pathways that, in my opinion and experience, I believe will lead us to this paradigmatic change. Some may be more radical than others; in some, I may agree with several nuances, while in others, I find the document very close to my ecosocial transition philosophy. Therefore, my task in this article is not to thoroughly examine them. Therefore, my curation will involve naming these documents, along with their links and a brief summary of their proposals, with my vision or philosophy of life.
"Development in Progress" by The Consilience Project
(Downloadable here in English, French, Spanish German & Dutch)
This is one of my favourite documents of the year. If you're only going to read one thing that blows your mind, let it be this. The narrative that we live in the West is very much one of development and progress, but how do we know that this is development and not maldevelopment? This document will show you many of the paradoxes we live with.
"Ministry of Imagination: an imagination based manifesto for times that need one" harvested by Rob Hopkins from the guests of the 'From What If to What Next' podcast.
"Here was a platform for the profound reimagining of society, policies that had emerged through the creation of a space where the imagination was cherished and nurtured. At a time when the policies being put forward by political parties seem to be becoming increasingly bereft of imagination and ambition, focused on small incremental steps rather than the bold steps our situation demands, perhaps a Ministry of Imagination Manifesto which pulled them all together in one place might be what the world needed? And so, here it is. As Jayna Brown puts it in her book Black Utopias, ‘perhaps now is the time that we must join the awesome, the unexpected, already present in the world’."
If the previous document was a kind of awakening to the current narrative, once that is achieved, we need ‘imagination’ to try to change it. Through interviews with 100 podcast guests, approximately 300 policies that could already be implemented have been collected and classified into 35 sections. A manifesto with an interesting ‘library’ of ideas, where perhaps it is not necessary to reinvent the wheel, but rather to change its colour.
"Impact Storytelling: the Ecosystem, the Evidence and Possible Futures" by UAL AKO Storytelling Institute
"Drawing on expert interviews, desk research and a literature scan, the research team set out to answer a few big questions: What’s the history and current landscape of impact storytelling, in the UK and internationally? What is the structure of the ecosystem, who are the key players, and what are the live debates, current strengths and challenges? How do key players think about the idea of impact? What is the evidence that impact storytelling works? And where are the ‘white spaces’ for intervention and investment in the future? "
With all the ideas proposed in the previous manifesto, stories can be constructed to challenge the current paradigm. This report presents the latest research that has an impact on storytelling.
"Illuminating Spiritual Innovation: How innovators from Tokyo to Nairobi are responding to the spiritual longings of our time—and what they need from us now" by Sacred Design Lab
"This report shines a light on spiritual innovation around the world. We seek out innovations that directly contribute to spiritual well-being, and find that the most promising are those with spiritual integrity, project sustainability, and community support. After 18 months of research and interviews with innovators worldwide,❀ we illuminate four themes in global spiritual innovation, key challenges in each area, and opportunities."
André Malraux said, “The 21st century will be spiritual, or it won't be.” This compendium of examples from around the world demonstrates that this path is being pursued. This document is divided into four themes: Technologies of Spirit, Resistance and Reclamation, Embodied Experience and Secular Spirituality.
Towards a socioecological transformation of the economy: An overview of concepts, approaches and practices by Misereor
"As the need for a socio-ecological transformation becomes more and more apparent, the question of viable alternatives to the capitalist economic system arises; alternatives that meet the needs and rights of billions of people and ensure justice and peace while also respecting the boundaries of our planet. Transformation must not be another project imposed by a powerful Global North on the rest of the world’s population. Approaches and experiences of communities struggling against or overwhelmed by modern economic expansion need to be given greater consideration in the debate. We need more exchange and networking among the promoters of transformation, both within the Global South and between the Global South and the Global North. We also need better strategies to ensure that alternatives gain visibility and become effective in political and structural terms."
In this exploration of the future, there is a certain bias in the ideas originating from the Global North, and this should change because participation is now planetary. Already, by numbers, the Global South has a larger population and more countries. This document is a wonderful exploration of ideas from all continents.
"Rapid Democracy: How to make decisions with people, not for them" by New Citizen Project
"RAPID Democracy is a simple framework that combines the best existing and emerging participatory processes, from open idea generation to citizens’ assemblies, into a phase-by-phase process that can achieve real scale and visibility. This report is an invitation to leaders of all kinds to collaborate with us to develop it further."
If, in the previous document, I highlighted the bias that Northern countries had the power to impose their ideas, this report focuses on a national or local scale. At this scale, decisions are often made with a top-down bias, leaving bottom-up participation isolated. In the face of the pseudo-democratic drifts we are experiencing, more citizen participation is needed. An excellent document to explore this topic further.
"Articulating crisis and creating radical alternatives: Insights from weavers of the Global Tapestry of Alternatives"
"This report traces the non-linear history and experiences of the GTA overall process, drawing from in-depth reflections on the process from its weavers and endorsers (defined below) to the process. The material is presented as grounded in community and activist articulations of their understanding and interpretations of the poly-crisis, and of the meanings of what radical alternatives and the pluriverse are. "
Another paper in which I insist that the North listen to the South in terms of finding possible ways out of this polycrisis or metacrisis. In the last centuries, the North has created this paradigm in which we live, and as Albert Einstein told us, "We cannot solve problems at the same level of thinking that we were at when we created those problems."
"The Hesitant Feminist’s Guide to the Future" by Ivana Milojević (Published by Tamkang University Press & Center for Futures Intelligence and Research)
"Going back to the 2024 project promoting the work of women futurists, what was to be a Power Point presentation or a couple of paragraphs for my session grew into this text. I’ve entitled it “The Hesitant Feminist’s Guide to the Future” because time and again, I see a genuine desire among futures workshops participants and foresight practitioners to engage with feminist futures visions, followed by some reluctance to do so. Recently, I’ve run futures sessions focused on gender for a national police commission, a government ministry, a multilateral development organisation, a regional organisation, and an NGO. The question-andanswer format emerged as ‘less threatening’. Thus, many chapters, but not all, are in the question-and-answer format. Of course, workshops and presentations are more dynamic and engaging than written text. Nonetheless, I hope this format will be helpful for communicating ideas through writing as well."
Tyson Yunkaporta told us "You can’t maintain a culture that is based on retarding the development of half the population, particularly the half that is responsible for creating life.” and not only life but also women's glimpses into the future. This guide offers a feminine perspective on the future. Previously, I relied on Malraux's quote about the 21st century being spiritual or not; now, I rely on a futuristic tale by Carlos Mallmann. He told us (from 2100) that the two events that changed that transition were the inner revolution, where humanity at large is gaining knowledge of itself, and everyone is engaged in self-interrogation, becoming more conscious, and the women's revolution, something that he thought would be over by 2070.
"The Indigenous World 2024" by IWGIA - International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs
(Downloadable here English & Spanish)
In addition to looking to the future, we in the West must also look to the past. The human species has demonstrated creativity in developing thousands of cultures. Not only is the ‘general’ Western culture, with its hegemony and power, the only one. What makes it quite unique is the critical symptoms we observe in Western culture, such as its ecological, social, and personal problems. This ‘cultural’ humility can bear innovative fruits if we examine how other cultures have solved their problems. The first step is to respect them.
"Future of Labs: 2024 Gathering report & Recommendation for the future of the next 10 years of labs" (Convened and sponsored by Action Lab & Social Innovation Canada )
"Future of Labs (FOL) brought together an impressive group of trailblazers and experienced innovators who steward and design collective problem solving processes and share a common goal of creating more impactful practices. The gathering was a catalyst for shaping the next ten years of Lab approaches - looking deeply at what’s been working, not working, and collectively visioning next practices for the field. The resulting work supports more people and systems to get better at understanding, connecting and working with some of the most wicked challenges our world is facing today."
Not only ideas (head) and our expanded humanity (heart) are necessary, but a third element is action (Hands). If institutes and think tanks explore the former and Communities and groups explore the latter, labs try to implement that combination. This report emphasises the latter element. All parts are necessary to navigate towards this common future.
Planetary Health Check 2024: A Scientific Assessment of the State of the Planet by PIK - Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research
"This inaugural annual report represents a crucial step in monitoring and safeguarding Earth's stability, resilience, and life-support functions — what we refer to as "Planetary Health". Our recently established and fast-growing international science partnership, called Planetary Boundaries Science (PBScience), will work on advancing the Planetary Boundaries (PBs) framework by integrating new data and methodologies while fostering innovative science communication."
How can we know if all of the above is leading us towards a positive common future? Probably, the annual diagnosis of our planetary health is the best indicator or our "Vital Hand". The diagnosis for years has been quite dire, so I am inclined to believe that any possible improvement in planetary health is largely due to the advice and actions outlined in the above documents.
"A Living Strategy" Regen Melbourne
"We’ve been reviewing how this plurality of approaches can coalesce into a coherent living strategy for Regen Melbourne’s work. In doing so, we have been thinking a lot about what ‘strategy’ needs to be right now. One thing is for sure, 20th century approaches to strategy are severely limited by linear theories of change, narrow boundaries, and first-order measurement frameworks. This feels disjointed from the approaches we need to move towards a systems transformation made up of the messiness, participation and dynamism we expect when centering life. "
If the planetary boundaries compas works as a planetary strategy, the Overshoot Day as a national strategy, what would be a more local or institutional strategy? Regen Melbourne presents it in a beautiful metaphor using the Periodic Table. Here are a few frameworks and ideas to inspire your organisation to develop its own strategy for a common future.
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I have finally begun filing the 2025 documents for next year. In the meantime, if you think any of these documents might be useful to you or someone you know, please share them; our future is common.