TEDx Countdown | GAIAjourney | u-school for Transformation by Presencing Institute

For decades, we have known our collective decisions were pushing us closer to ecological and social disruption on a massive scale, but we’ve been unable to overcome the inertia to significantly shift our politics, economy and culture. If we know it in our mind, in our heart, or in our gut that this is the challenge of our lifetimes, then how can we learn to operate from such a place in order to create broad-based systems change? How can and how must an intersectional perspective on the climate crisis help us to more deeply understand what’s at stake?

The TEDxGAIAjourney was part of a global constellation of TEDxCountdown events focused on surfacing climate needs, responses, and solutions. The TEDxGAIAjourney event was centered on "Awareness Based Systems Change" as a powerful approach for bringing about the profound structural shifts we must enact to shift the trajectory of our species. It included a deep dive into community, perspectives, tools, practices, and capacity building.

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Event website

Revisit Drew Jones' presentation "Addressing Climate Change - There Is No Silver Bullet", and deep-dive into why:

1) All of us need to "become system thinkers" - in order to address the situation, we must be aware of how our individual actions impact the whole system.

2) Massive change is not only necessary: it’s also very possible. We are seeing it unfolding before our very eyes: we are capable of collectively honing in on a single topic, deploying the necessary resources, and changing our behaviors.

Drew proposes to "connect the science to the heart" in practical ways. Resource: En-ROADS: a free, user-friendly climate solutions simulator which you can interact with online – built by leading system dynamics modelers of Climate Interactive and the MIT Sloan Sustainability Initiative.

Article

"Action Confidence: Laying Down a Path in Walking" is an Otto Scharmer's article, co-authored with Eva Pomeroy, Senior Research Fellow at the Presencing Institute. Together, they investigate the deeper territory of what it might take to activate the dormant space of possibility. What is the missing ingredient that would make manifest the possibility so many of us feel today?
Looking at data from participants in the u-lab and GAIA journey, Otto and Eva explore what people mean and feel when they talk about ‘bravery’, ‘courage’, and ‘confidence’ in relation to taking action.

TEDxGAIAjourney

We have partnered with the TEDxCountdown global initiative to champion and accelerate solutions to the climate crisis, turning ideas into action. Together, we can address Climate Change.

Additional Materials

Article