2022 has officially started in most cultures: on January 1st for the Gregorian calendar and February 1st with the Lunar New Year for many Asian cultures. New Year often brings hope and a desire for change: the reasons why many people make resolutions of better habits. I, a climate action student and activist, ask for a feeling of reciprocity in the world. When we give, we receive. This concept applies to Mother Earth and others. The success of this year 2022 comes from sharing knowledge, staying curious, and being inspiring.

The cohort-based model at the university helps me develop my leadership skills because of its interactions. Weekly online meetings with my teammates of the two classes (Leading Climate Action in Society Part 1 and Climate Risk Management) deepen my understanding of the work and allow me to question myself and my worldview. Over the past months, the readings and assignments provided me with great food for thought. For instance, communicating climate action planted the seed of reciprocity in my mind. A project part of the course is to find a sitting spot and visit this place often, creating a relationship with it. After all, as Kimmerer, a scientist and writer beautifully mentions, the rules of evolution and ecology are governed the same way for all beings (2014). With this assignment, a feeling of reciprocity for nature was born and has not left me since.

Then, while assessing climate risks, reciprocity is still present because a successful risk assessment needs to involve many actors. Their different skills help create a big picture of climate hazards, risk, and systems’ vulnerability. Collaboration needs to happen between the knowledge keepers and the climate change experts to understand the situation together, then provide guidance and actions to address it. In another word, reciprocity with human beings. Buckles & Rusnak maintain that the diversity brought by local strategies is important because it keeps openness in debates and shares other voices. These diverse ways are significant and innovative in a homogenizing world. (1999, p.6). The process takes time which is another lesson; inputs are valued and cannot be rushed. A climate action leader can create change and transition, but not overnight and not alone.

Simultaneously, I am involved in a design thinking challenge. With my team, we decided to go with a nature-based solutions program for climate leaders (official position or not) that includes training, a network, and a website. Its originality comes from the program being built as we go: everyone providing input and feedback. It will be an evolving program for the ones who want to make a difference in this world.  Some risks arise when thinking of this design prototype. My team is trying to downsize the location for the ease of the project: starting with a program based in Vancouver then open to leaders everywhere in Canada. That means we need to be aware that smaller or remote communities might have different interests and resources. Another risk is to create an extra resource that people don’t use. My interviewee mentioned a feeling of overwhelm in the industry: this is good feedback to create a program that should be positive and uplifting to counteract the decrease in mood.

“Iteration” is the first word that comes to help us conceptualize of thinking as a system because there is so much back and forth happening with my team to get to a final project. The word final is not even accurate. The project’s core is to get input from experts and colleagues to keep digging deeper and create something unique and useful. To do so, we interview experts: they provide concrete examples and ways of working in the climate action field. I was surprised to discover a feeling of reciprocity there too: these experts are open to learning about my team’s work and outcomes. The climate change field seems to be open to collaboration, which feels refreshing. Rarely, one solution fits all, and iteration in most spheres of this work will help create real benefits for everyone. In his work, Sean Walker, teacher and workshop leader, confirms: ”Transdisciplinary learning supports robust, conceptual learning that inspires curiosity, provokes thinking and presents open-ended opportunities for learning in infinite directions.”

As I have said, the learning in this program builds every day. From the design thinking challenge to the climate risks course, the connections are there to help thinking as a system. The pieces of the puzzle slowly come together. Reading about the Year of the Tiger might not sound scientific; still, it is an invitation to be curious and to find inspiration from different sources. The Year of the Tiger is supposed to bring a deep cleanse to build something better after. Isn’t it what all, climate passionate people, dream of?

 

References

Buckles, D. (1999). Cultivating peace: Conflict and collaboration in natural resource management. World Bank/International Development Research Center. https://www.idrc.ca/sites/default/files/openebooks/899-6/index.html

Kimmerer, R. W. (2014). Returning the Gift. Center for Humans and Nature. https://www.humansandnature.org/returning-the-gift-article-177.php

Walter, S. (2020). Transdisciplinary learning: All mixed up. PYP in Practice.
https://sites.google.com/isparis.net/conceptualinquiry/transdisciplinary-learning-all-mixed-up?authuser=0