Let me start by saying straight off that I think everyone should read this book. If you are feeling bleak and despairing about the future of the planet, or utterly disgusted about the seemingly inexorable rise of the far right or just plain fed up with the way things are, then you definitely need this book, because it’s going to act like a real tonic in these dark times and will have you fired up to help bring about change.
Why are we letting the oligarchs, fossil fuel companies, right-wing lobby groups and press baron media determine what our futures will be like, politically, socially and environmentally? Maybe it’s because we are constantly battered with the narrative of doom or being gaslit by the lies. It’s no wonder that many have decided to shut themselves off as a means to survive the onslaught, but nothing is going to change if we all opt out. The challenge is to find a way to rediscover our mojo so that change becomes not only possible, but fun and energising, rather than daunting and draining.
Enter Rob Hopkins, co-founder of Transition Network and Transition Town Totnes, activist, author, TED Talk veteran, trainer and podcaster amongst many other things and definitely more Tigger than Eeyore! Rob invites us to time travel to an alternative future, using both the power of our imaginations and the evidence of success from examples of a better future which are already in existence right now.
He points out that climate activists have tended to campaign through fear, showing people what climate collapse will look like, hoping, perhaps, to scare people and governments into action. And, of course, we do have to know what we are up against, what the risks are, what happens as climate breaks down. What Rob recognises and seizes upon is that we need to be far more focused on the future we are fighting for, rather than against and to get to that future, to time travel to experience that future, we need the super fuel of longing – “a collective ache for a shared vision”, as he puts it.
We time travel in our heads all the time without realising it. A smell, a sound, music, a taste, a passage in a diary, a photo: these can whisk us back into the past or can allow us to feel that we are already in a future holiday or reunion or location. What we have seen and read about also gives us a way to take us out of the present and we do not all need the imagination of an HG Wells or a Christopher Nolan to make the leap.
Rob gives us compelling examples of the power of the imagination to visualise and change the future; stories which illustrate how writers and visionaries kickstarted others into finding ways to make a dream into a reality are coupled with live accounts of people-powered change, bringing the future into the present.
In a series of playful but profound chapters, he guides us through the process, urging us to “adjust our disbelief suspenders”, “learn from the pioneers”, make the experience of time travel and falling in love with the future immersive to the point where we can “tell a new story of time” and take ourselves “from the impossible to the not yet” and from “Yes, but…” to “Yes, and…”.
Complete with a ‘blueprint’ for a self-build time machine, prompts and exercises to help the process to be as successful as possible and an extensive appendix of recommended resources, the book is an absolute gamechanger – a despair-healer and a joy-bringer.
The book is accompanied by an audio project, “Field Recordings from the Future“, a collaboration with ambient musician, Mr Kit.
“Using new technology to create a powerful time portal, they transport audiences from the present and into the near future that resulted from our doing everything we could possibly have done to create a kinder, more equal future in response to the climate crisis.”
It, too, is a beautiful thing.
The lessons from Rob’s book are totally transferable and can be applied to everything from aspects of our personal lives to political activism and beyond. In fact, Rob is very generously going to run a session, in collaboration with us, for anyone under 25 and eligible to vote in 2029 (this is important) to develop a vision of a more effective, responsive democracy and a manifesto for the next election – the product of guided time travel. If you are a young person and would like to attend, please put Ashburton Arts Centre, August 12, 14:30 to 16:30 in your diary and look out for more details on our website and in social media. The event will be free.
In the meantime, get the book, put your imaginary time travel suit on and let’s get to a future not dictated by the destroyers of democracy and the planet!
For an in-depth interview with Rob, go to Manda Scott’s podcast, Accidental Gods
