Dec 29th, 2009
by imagine.
Forecasting has long been a tool businesses use to try to predict and respond to possible future events. Although it is largely used in accounting and operations, there is also a wider view of “strategic foresight” where a business might try to identify evolving social trends and consider what the overall business environment might look like in a couple of decades. But some corporations seem to be going a step further and are actively trying to influence the shape of tomorrow.
Companies like IBM have taken a leadership role in envisioning sustainable futures on a large scale.
For example, IBM’s Smarter Planet initiative looks at how technology, networking and integrated systems will add a layer of “intelligence” to our daily lives. Through this initiative, they place sustainability concepts like the Smart Grid directly into how our lives will changes for the better:
“Wherever I am on the planet, I can check what the weather is like at home – not just in my home town, but in my back garden. I can also check to see exactly how much energy my apartment is using, and what the temperature is indoors. I can manage all of that from my mobile web browser.
How do I do that? Well, my home is instrumented with a smart energy meter that is hooked up to my network.” (Smarter Planet Blog, 4/24/09)
A similar technology focus comes from Intel’s Sponsors of Tomorrow campaign which features their researchers talking about visions for the future in multiple domains, from health care to environment. By putting both current and past technologies in relationship to the visions for the future, Intel is able to convey a sense that there is a real progression towards a more desirable world.
Posted in: Projects, See it.
Tagged: Business · foresight · future · opportunity
Dec 23rd, 2009
by imagine.
Bierstadt's sublime images of the American west helped change a national consciousness.
Our vision of the land around us has changed dramatically throughout American history. William Bradford, an early governor of Massachusetts’ Plymouth Colony, first described the land he encountered as “a hideous and desolate wilderness, full of wild beasts and wild men.” From this kind of image springs a particular myth of a land that needed to be tamed and civilized.
Environmental historians then trace the evolution of this myth through our early history, across a changing landscape of westward expansion, growing cities, and finally the beginnings of an early conservation movement. During this time a great myth of harnessing the bounty of nature from a wild land transformed into one about the greatness of America represented in how we care for our natural treasures. One could see this myth as lying behind the vision of a system of national parks and even the “Keep America Beautiful” anti-littering campaign of the 1970’s.
But today our work needs to center around answering a new question: What myth can we create about a sustainable future that is inherently global – one that goes beyond our older narratives of a separate and wild land?
Posted in: Imagine, Values.
Tagged: history · myths · nature
Dec 17th, 2009
by imagine.
Rockwell was an expert at building images on basic American cultural codes.
The Culture Code, by Clotaire Rapaille brings up a question about the values that shape our vision for the future we desire. Rapaille argues that all cultures define basic understandings of the world through “codes.” For example, in America the code for cars is identity, and we very much seek to our express our individual identities through our choice of vehicle.
Rapaille tries to show that knowledge of these codes is essential to understanding the underlying values of any culture, and he argues that they are especially important to effective marketing. For example, Americans’ code for food is fuel, and the historical success of both fast food and large portions in this culture is based on “being on code.” Since according to Rapaille codes are set, it’s futile to try and bypass them, and so movements like “slow food” are not very likely to gain much ground in mainstream American culture.
Rapaille does not mention what the American cultural codes for environment, nature and sustainability might be, but there is other research into our long-standing values in those areas. While those findings are complex and nuanced, regarding the future and the environment our strongest values revolve around themes of future generations, current human health and welfare, and religious responsibility to “God’s creation.”
So a potentially transformative project could beging with delving into these values, finding underlying codes, and then using those codes to present a positive vision of the future – one that touches a cultural nerve for how we understand sustainability. This vision should connect deeply with other codes for what we dream of as a “better” world; a tomorrow that fits our basic aspirations.
Rapaille says the code for our “youthful” vision of America is dream. As we begin exploring visions for a future that could become the basis for action today, perhaps the first step is framing the future around our dreams.
Posted in: Values.
Tagged: culture · dream · values
Hello, friends – thank you for visiting our “under-construction” Imagine a World site. We appreciate your interest in this project, and we welcome your active participation as we develop a comprehensive vision for a better, more sustainable future.
Posted in: Imagine.
Tagged: future · Imagine · sustainable · values · vision
