I was scared to publicly and visibly name myself a Climate Advocate.

In December 2023, I finally did it on my Linked In profile. That’s after 30 years of working in social change and the last 12 really focusing on sustainability innovation.

Why now? I felt vulnerable giving myself that label but I wanted to do it, as part of being – and sending out – a signal of change. I knew that I needed to plant a flag in the sand, of what makes me who I am, however the algorithms work for or against me.

I started to ask other people working for sustainability solutions, “Would you call yourself a Climate Advocate?” The answer was invariably, No.

That really made me wobble if I’m honest. I faffed around looking for another label to use. Then I started to ask, “Why?” or more to the point, “Why not?”

What I heard was, that we’re not comfortable being defined in ways that bring us into conflict with others, including family and friends. I heard shame. I heard fear. I heard the penny drop – ah ha, now is the time.

How do you feel about naming yourself a Climate Advocate?

Because, isn’t it how we inhabit and live the words that make the definition, at a time when we need to win hearts and minds of people everywhere for climate action? In these moments, we need to bridge the gap in our communities with the recognition that climate action IS the way to meet our needs for love, joy, livelihoods.

For me, naming myself feels like an act of coming home: a deep healing and permission to be on a shero quest to create flourishing futures by empowering people to imagine and create solutions. The more I inhabit the words, the stronger the signal of change that I send out.
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If we name ourselves as Climate Advocates today, each living those words in our own way, creating a constellation of signals in our communities, what futures might we unfold?
 
#bethesignal #flourishingfutures #flourishing #strategicforesight #signals #futuresthinking #innovation #entrepreneurship #sustainability #sdgs #climateadvocate 

There were moments back in April 2020 when, I swear, I heard the trees breathing. The planes had stopped flying, the sky was crystal clear day and night, clouds were clouds, not contrails masquerading; and the tinnitus of engine noise had ceased. A stillness like nothing I’ve ever known happened. It was stillness rather than quiet, because as it turns out Nature is spectacularly deafening.

And, I’d like to create that to be the normal. I want the reassuring susurrations of trees deafening me every day.

That moment was history in the making. The past grounds us in the present of recognizing that what happens right now, sees the future unfold. What we breathe, imagine, create now, manifests forward.

When I’m present to that understanding, actually it’s liberating, hope-filled, a call to action, galvanizing me out of fear because it gives me choices of how to arrive in each day. 

Imagine July 2030, if we all show-up as climate advocates today?

Which is why, I think, that NOW is exactly the right time to fall in love…
with protecting the planet that breathes us,
with yourself and the purpose that’s living through you,
with your beloved ones who love you exactly as you are,
with dreaming a new narrative into existence.

Real love, is about being present to the now, knowing that it unfolds the future. It gives us the grace to braille our way forward step-by-step.

Which means it’s time to pop on our wonder-goggles to look at the world and create futures to be in love with.  

If we’re looking with eyes of wonder at the world, then futures to love become more than possible. The seeds are planted for them to become real.  

Key question…what is the future of air? It is after all our have-to-have value proposition for breathing. In 2030, what will air be like? When I look at that question without my wonder-goggles on, it’s a terrifying proposition. When I put them on, I am instantly connected to the possibilities of a planet restored with multiple nature-based and nature-inspired solutions.

Now, step back to today.

Put on your wonder-goggles, pick your gig, show-up as unprecedented you and imagine a more beautiful story.

No need to worry if you’ve forgotten how to put your wonder-goggles on (it’s ok…most adults have), then get in touch with me and we’ll go together. 

So, “Would you like an adventure now, or would like to have your tea first?”
JM Barrie, Peter Pan

Actually, why not join the Flourishing Futures Collective and be part of a community whose big purpose is unfolding flourishing futures for all?

#flourishing #flourishingfuturescollective #bethesignal #signals #strategicforesight #foresight #futuresthinking #flourishingfutures

In the face of all that is going on in the world, there is something profoundly healing about remembering that the future is not predictable, the future is unfolded. Futures are unfolded by constellations of signals.

A signal is tangible, real, specific, vivid. It changes the environment around it. It disrupts, with the potential to grow and to shape the future.

In Strategic Foresight, one of the fundamentals is to scan for signals of change happening right now. We look all the time, for the emerging signals of change that are happening as external events, products, services, policies, innovative solutions.
What if, we look at the people behind those signals: at ourselves, tackling the problems that we are in-love with solving?

What if, instead of looking outside of ourselves, we recognized ourselves as the signals of change?

What if, you recognize yourself as a signal? Because, when you do, you embrace the agency that you have in each moment to unlock a next step forward. The future is not predictable, it is unfolded.

Taking humanitarian action, showing up to change status quo systems, inventing new solutions, connecting with people by nourishing their wellbeing…whatever your work is, these are times when we’re all in need of self-care as changemakers, to keep the faith in what we can contribute.

If you don’t see yourself as a signal now, then when?

Over the years, I have created a practice, Be The Signal. Believe me, when I say, that there’s something so deeply healing and hopeful and powerful when you use this practice in moments of joy and flow, as well as in those moments of fear, overwhelm, exhaustion, as a way of finding yourself and your courage, so that you can take the next step.

Come and experience it for yourself. To learn the practice, you can join me for a class, or get in touch about 1–1 sessions via [email protected] , or gift a session to someone who you know is struggling right now to find their way forward.
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Let’s make this year, the one that we look back to from flourishing futures. Where we see ourselves, in a moment of grace, amongst the raging, fruitless storms of hate. As we peer through time, from then to now, and see the radiance of our unprecedented luminosity, like a constellation of lights popping on, lighting our way forward.
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