DARING IDEAS FOR THE FUTURE
a new series to imagine the next decade & beyond
Photo: JP Leong for Urban Consulate
Ayana Elizabeth Johnson & adrienne maree brown
oCTOBER 30, 2024 | DETROIT USA
On Wednesday, October 30, 2024 — a week before a national election that will impact our planet for decades to come — over 400 beautiful earthlings signed up to join Urban Consulate at the historic Black-owned Garden Theater in Detroit for a live conversation with New York Times bestselling authors, Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson and adrienne maree brown, hosted by Orlando P. Bailey. Their moving conversation was free & open to the public thanks to The Kresge Foundation.
“Our climate future is not yet written. What if we act as if we love the future? What if we get it right?”
— Ayana Elizabeth Johnson
The first hundred guests were gifted copies of the authors’ two newest works — Loving Corrections, the latest installment of brown’s brilliant Emergent Strategy series, and What If We Get It Right? Visions of Climate Futures, a motivating mosaic of ideas, possibilities and solutions from across the country.
Though they have been kindrid spirits and fans of each others’ work from afar, this was Ayana & adrienne’s first meeting in person — and their connection was beautiful to behold.
What does it look like to “get it right?”
Two excerpts from AYANA & ADRIENNE’S beautiful books:
Adrienne maree brown:
"It feels like the social and environmental justice movements of my dreams, the movements big enough to invite the world into the future, are making loving corrections. I foresee a movement with a wide stance, a strong connection to ancestral wisdom, a fortified sense of self that inspires all who see and touch and join it. We spend our time transforming ourselves and our relationships to earth and each other. We show the way with our bodies and behavior, rather than shaming anyone for where they are. There is love at the center. To get there, we need to create conditions that support dignity for each person, and stop confusing identity with community. Building and sustaining communities that can survive and create more possibilities together -- that is movement work. We are tasked with challenging the regressive policies and beliefs that separate us, reminding our species that we belong to this earth and to each other. We need to do the work of honestly engaging in community as students of belonging."
Ayana Elizabeth Johnson:
"If we get it right, even with all these changes, the world and our homes are still familiar. It's the invisible systems that undergird our lives -- our energy, food, and transit systems; our methods of engineering, manufacturing, and building; and the policies that organize it all -- that have been overhauled. Re-greening the world and re-rooting in communities feels good. There is more collaboration, more knowing and being known, more sweetness. We lean into trial and error, into replication more than scaling. The world is a mashup of traditional and high-tech, old ways made new. The extractive, fossil fuel economy is out; the renewable, regenerative economy is in. Humanity has backed off, made more room for other species, learned to share this magnificent planet. Our surroundings are verdant. Spring is not silent; it's cacophonous. We are putting the pieces back together, adapting to the climate-changed world with eyes and hearts open wide. We embrace possibility, continually moving away from the brink and toward answers to the grand question: What if we get it right?"
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What is Your Role in Change?
PRESENTED BY
Urban Consulate brings people together to share ideas for building more just and equitable communities. The Consulate believes that sharing space for honest dialogue and the exchange of knowledge is necessary to transform ourselves, our communities, and our world. To learn more, visit UrbanConsulate.com and follow @UrbanConsulate on Instagram, Facebook, X & YouTube.
Made possible BY
The Kresge Foundation is a private, national foundation that works to expand equity and opportunities in America’s cities through grantmaking and social investing in arts and culture, education, environment, health, human services and community development, nationally and in Detroit, Memphis, New Orleans and Fresno. To learn more, visit Kresge.org.
