We’ve had a lot of discussions lately about grief, and how that comes up for people in both their lives and work. All of us have experienced grief to some extent - whether through the loss of a loved one, nostalgia for previous versions of yourself, moving house, jobs or ending relationships. It’s a core part of the human experience, and while it can devastate us, it can also teach us a lot and allow us to grow.

That got us thinking about grief in relation to building the future. 

It feels like we’re in a constant state of major transition, having experienced a global pandemic, recessions, wars, riots, elections and the fast rise of new technologies. Of course change is inevitable to some degree, but recent years have felt particularly unstable for many. Not least because of the growing recognition that the way the world works currently is threatening the future.

Those who work in the sustainability world are all too aware of how quickly we need to act to even begin to undo some of the damage that has been done to the planet.

There are some amazing examples of solutions out there, and a growing movement towards forging a new path and replacing outdated systems with new ones that are more regenerative and just.

But to move into new systems, we need to let go of the old ones, and that’s more easily said than done. Cultural narratives and structures upholding individualism, capitalism, and colonialism all result in a strata of people holding all of the power and none of the will or incentive to change that.

So in July we held the first in a series of Open Calls where we dig into subjects like this. Those on the call brought fascinating insights and it was great to have an open forum to speak about whatever came up for each of us.

In this conversation, we discussed the call of the sustainability community to explore the role grief could play in transitioning away and letting go of our unsustainable systems and creating space for sustainable systems to emerge. 

Discussion highlights:

• As sustainability practitioners we need to look at how we’ve internalised beliefs that are unsustainable and how those might creep into our work.
• We asked how might we have an approach that is built from love, and not from fear? How might we harness the energy of our anger for progress rather than creating more separation? Anger is our body’s alert system for when something is wrong. It can be used as information, but anger is not a solution.
• A major part of grief is acceptance of both the good and the bad. In order to move on, we need to accept and forgive the harm done and appreciate the positive contributions and explore how to expand and evolve those.
• Endings can look so different - some are fast and harsh, others are slow and peaceful. We asked how do we decide the fate of different parts of the system and how will the grieving look different?

We’d love to keep holding this kind of discussion, with a broad mix of subjects we find fascinating or pertinent to the work we all do and the things we’re trying to achieve. We’ll keep you posted about upcoming sessions, and please let us know if there's anything you think we should cover.

More to follow!