I was first introduced to Citizens for Public Justice through my master’s thesis research project. I asked CPJ’s Socio-Economic Policy Analyst, Natalie Appleyard, to reflect on the difference between Canada’s response to two simultaneous crises: the COVID-19 pandemic and the climate crisis. Her insights were honest and informed by her experience advocating for human rights and poverty eradication. She broke through much of the divisive rhetoric surrounding both crises by centering our collective well-being in how we ought to move forward. Amongst all of my interviewees, Natalie’s perspective really stuck with me.
After several grueling months of thesis writing, editing, and eventual defending, I was not ready to stop this conversation. Motivated by the desire to engage with people outside of traditional academic formats, I turned my thesis, The Climate Virus: Lessons from COVID-19 Towards Urgent Climate Action in Canada, into an interactive workshop. I reached back out to CPJ and Climate Justice Policy Analyst Maryo Wahba–another delightful CPJ staff member–invited me to present my workshop to the public in May of 2024.
In the workshop, I began by sharing insights on the importance of a strong social infrastructure, the challenges navigating political polarization in times of crisis, and finally, the strategies for effective crisis communication.
The next part of the workshop was, as always, my favourite part. I led the group through an Imaginative Futures Exercise, where I encouraged them to boldly imagine what a climate response that mirrored the urgency and severity of the pandemic response could look like. The communal dashboard exploded with the group’s responses; many were hopeful and honest, some worried, and all thoughtful. People shared ideas ranging from public transportation, regenerative agriculture, and proportional representation to citizens’ assembly models and access to greenspaces. Some urged for the need to quantify the true cost of inaction, ensuring polluters pay their fair share. Overall, the group expressed a need for deeper connection with each other and the natural world, reorienting around collective well-being and collaborative solutions.
In the face of today’s polycrises, this Imaginative Futures Exercise proves to be one of the most important parts of what I do. Daily news articles and research findings about worsening climate disasters and weather extremes serve as constant reminders of the array of complex and interconnected challenges and injustices we face. The powerlessness that often comes with bearing witness to the world today can be paralyzing and breeds an instinctual desire to look away–or, worse, a nihilistic resignation.
Rarely in this slurry do we sit in community with others and dare to think of something radically different. It has never been more critical to reject the idea that we are begrudgingly wedded to this present version of the world. In all of the circles we occupy, no matter how small or seemingly insignificant, we will be met with choices that bring us closer or further away from a sustainable and just world. In this decade of perpetual tipping points, we will be forced to choose the world that supports the continuation of life or continue down the path of degradation and disconnection that has become so familiar.
This Imaginative Futures project is an exercise in hope and future building; neither comes without effort, and neither comes without a community of caring, mindful people who are courageous enough to imagine what could be.
The results of the exercise are available for you to return to on CPJ’s website. Let them serve as a persistent reminder that we must spend as much time reimagining the status quo as we do critiquing it.
I hope that as more people engage with this work, we can each begin to see our role in building this world and find the courage to start the necessarily disruptive conversations that lead to deep reflection and collective action–myself included. If you’ve read this far, it means you’ve got what it takes.
Thanks for your time and attention. I value any opportunity to connect with you further about this and can be reached at moc.liamg@gnilrets41ailuj.
