Where does one begin?
How far ahead does your horizon of concern stretch?
Hi there,
You may be wondering where I begin when I teach my process for creating your own strategy for navigating discontinuous times.
You may be surprised to know that it doesn’t begin with reviewing data or looking at the underpinnings of various risk maps and ratings (though we do cover that).
We begin by thinking about WHY. Why are we doing this work? For whom will it matter (besides ourselves)?
That’s why as part of the first session of the Workshop, we reflect on our Horizons of Concern.
Last year, I recorded a podcast asking listeners to think about their horizons of concern. You can listen to the podcast here, if you want, or scroll down to read more:
Here’s part of what I wrote to explain the concept:
When facing threats that are fast-moving and increasingly chaotic, it’s natural to want a simple answer. The more threat and confusion we feel, the simpler the answer we’re likely to seek. Someone is always prepared to provide those simple answers, for profit or political advantage.
We see this in the field of climate foresight, where a wide range of ratings and scores and lists and trainings and survival products are newly available for purchase. Looking for a way to calm your climate anxiety with a soothing bath salt, bug out to a supposed climate haven or build a bunker to save yourself from societal breakdown? Two minutes of Googling and a valid credit card will find you someone willing to tell you what you want to hear.
But in real life, here in the planetary crisis, there are no simple, one-size-fits-all answers.
…we don’t need simple answers. What we need is an increased capacity for making good decisions in unprecedented situations.
The discontinuities unfolding around us will not be “solved” in our lifetimes—or for generations to come. We won’t be returning to past stabilities, and there is no new stability we can now hope for if we just cut carbon fast enough.
Instead we need to understand personal climate strategies as evolving tools. We should make critical decisions before we lose the option to make them, but also be aware that there are no permanent solutions in an era of ongoing large-scale transformations. We’re planning with imperfect information, and each person or family has different needs and constraints.
One way in which our needs differ profoundly is our timelines.
If you’re retired and single, without kids, accepting the short-term odds on increasingly probable catastrophes might be a valid choice. Short planning horizons let us discount future risks.
Taking those same chances becomes reckless, though, when we consider the prospects for our kids or the young people we care about in general. Our horizon of concern dictates that we ready ourselves for a world beset by chaos and calamity, in part so we can help our kids be ready in turn.
Our popular debate still treats 2050 as far ahead, and 2100 as another world. Yet babies born today in wealthy countries are statistically likely to live to see the year 2100.
And 2100 will be a tough time.
Paradoxically, the farther ahead we’re thinking, the more important making today’s big decisions in foresighted ways becomes.
Adaptability is key, but so is getting to relative safety while it’s still affordable. So is updating our worldviews and skillsets. So is investing attentively. So is strengthening our ability to be see this new era for what it is. And so, as well, is growing purpose-driven conversations about the future we face with people we care for.
For each of us, there’s the big abstract future, tumbling off into the unknowable, and then there’s our personal future.
That’s the future of the people we care about, the work we do, the legacies we hope to leave behind. How far ahead does your horizon of concern stretch?
Whether the answer is ten years or 100, the nature of that future is now inextricably entangled with the climate-ecological crisis. That’s just the nature of our times.
By thinking about how to build a better future in these times, though, you are already part of a growing community of people from around the world who are learning to consider the personal and the planetary together — who are making themselves ready for the unprecedented.
That’s who my workshops are for.
The next Personal Climate Strategy Workshop begins on February 12th. We meet on Zoom on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 12pm Pacific for approximately 75 minutes per session, which includes an in-depth talk from me and time for small group discussion and Q&A.
Call dates: February 12, 17, 19, 24, 26; March 3, 5, 10. Bonus Wrap-Up Discussion on March 12. (All calls are recorded).
Flash Sale ends tonight! We offer single payment and flexible payment options. Get the full Workshop Syllabus, read testimonials, and sign up at https://alexsteffen.thinkific.com/courses/Personal-Climate-Strategy-Workshop
Thanks for being here,
Alex
P.S. Do you have any questions before signing up? Please email us at Alison@AlexSteffen.com. Happy to help.
P.P.S. Still not sure? If, after attending the first session, you decide that the Workshop is not going to be what you’d hoped for and you’re not in the “right room,” you have until Monday, February 16 to email us and request a 90% refund.