I often describe my work as oriented toward hopeful, sustainable futures. This is what I stand for, both personally and professionally, although I try not to talk about this too much because for some, it demands too much explanation. I digress. When describing my work this way, people sometimes assume that means I only work with organisations, institutions, and communities who already see themselves as “doing good”.
But that’s not quite right. For me, sustainability isn’t a topic I add to futures work. It’s a lens I bring to how the process is held.
It shows up in the questions that get asked, the time horizons that are considered, and whose perspectives are invited into the room. It shapes whether long-term impacts, systemic effects, and shared responsibility are treated as central or peripheral. This doesn’t mean pushing groups toward predetermined outcomes. It means making certain dimensions harder to ignore.
I’ve found that good facilitation can surface questions like:
- Sustainable for whom?
- At what cost?
- Over what timeframe?
All without prescribing the answers.
When I allow these questions into futures conversations, the work often becomes more grounded and more challenging, in a productive way. Sustainability, held this way, isn’t about moralising (I hope!). It’s about widening the frame.