SEI publishes new report on climate change and transformative community action

By Anna Sturman, SEI Content Editor (Temporary)

SEI is proud to announce the publication of ‘Reimagining a Climate Changed Future: Local Examples of Community Based Transformative Action’ (pdf, 5.7MB), a report prepared as part of the larger research project, Transforming Future Imaginaries from the Ground Up, which brings together the Sydney Environment Institute (SEI), India and Bharat Together (IABT) and the Social Entrepreneurship Association (SEA) to explore how communities in Australia and India are reimagining their futures through their practices.

The broad project situates the climate emergency as, in part, a crisis of imagination that limits the possibilities for action. Seeking to address this crisis of imagination, the project focuses on and draws out some of the alternative imaginaries that are emerging amongst communities as they create the possibility of more relational, sustainable and ethical forms of life in a climate-changed world.

This report is an initial exploration into the inspiring transformative work already underway in Australian communities that are responding to threats posed by climate change. Community projects explored in the report include Food Systems and Regenerative Agriculture, Community Energy and Community Resilience. The report aims to share these success stories as a means of empowering other communities to look beyond dystopian or apathetic responses to our climate-changing world.

Prepared by three student interns from the School of Social and Political Sciences over the course of three months in 2021, this report provided an invaluable opportunity for these postgraduate students to engage in a public-facing research project.

SEI would like to congratulate Kelvin Gensollen Arellano, Master of Development Studies; Manon O’Neill, Master of Public Policy; and Chi Tran, Master of Development Studies, for their great work on the report, and looks forward to seeing what comes next for the Future Imaginaries Project!

This is only the beginning for the Transforming Future Imaginaries from the Ground Up project, and we’d like your help to build a network of inspiring community stories. If you’d like to be involved in this network or have any feedback about the report, please let us know by contacting the Project Manager, Genevieve Wright (genevieve.wright@sydney.edu.au). Or alternatively, sign up to our mailing list to receive updates about the project. We look forward to reimagining a brighter future together. 

Header image: Abishek Pawar via Unsplash.