Unfolding pathways

When I first arrived at Arizona State University, I spoke of how the idea of “global futures” could be a platform from which ASU would take a broad look at the trajectory of our planet and the role of global society in shaping it. That was merely four years ago, and we now find ourselves in a world that is living through a global pandemic. At the same time, climate catastrophes and social unrest are becoming a nearly weekly occurrence, and major economic, supply chain and technology challenges remind us of the fragility of our environmental and societal systems.

These developments invite questions. Which positive futures we can envision? For which we can plan in a strategic, long-term fashion when the world in which we exist and which we are an integral part of is confronting crises with the utmost urgency? The future is now. We cannot postpone our intentions or actions if we want to correct the landscape we are currently navigating. Moreover, we cannot escape the hard truth that humankind is not only capable of creating challenges such as the dire climate and social circumstances that we are in, but that we actually did it.

However, we are also the lone species on this planet that can repair the damage that we have inflicted upon ourselves, our planet and our fellow inhabitants. The urgency with which we must confront this damage is greater than it ever has been in this planet’s history. In other words, imagining our future no longer simply means imagining flying cars and currency-less economies.

When we at the Julie Ann Wrigley Global Futures Laboratory consider the future, we think of a number of opportunities and options that lead to pathways where humankind may thrive. We consider them on timescales ranging from the next nanosecond to the next years, decades, centuries and beyond. But we also explore what it means to be human within these environmental and social conditions, what choices mean, and if we should innovate simply because we can. Throughout it all, we know that humanity may only thrive if all other planetary systems are also thriving. The planet itself will do just fine without us, but we cannot exist without its life-supporting systems.

The next 10 years represent one of our greatest opportunities to shape our future in a peopleand-planet-positive direction through a shift of societal will. We have the commitment of this university and a powerful network of global partners to drive this endeavor forward. We also work to engage policy leaders and financial stakeholders. They must both hold to their commitments made at the 2016 United Nations Conference of Parties climate negotiations and lead in new policy to curb carbon emissions that are hurtling us toward that precariously perilous perch.

The Julie Ann Wrigley Global Futures Laboratory is a first-of-its-kind institution structured around five core spaces (discovery, learning, solutions, networks, engagement). Our scientists, scholars and students explore possible global futures through 14 focal areas. We also established the College of Global Futures by bringing together three unique schools to educate and equip our planet’s current and future leaders. In fall 2021, we expanded our presence in the climate arena by releasing a complete set of digital maps of the planet’s coral systems with the Allen Coral Atlas, establishing a new Hawaii-based center focused on climate resilience with Pacific RISA, launching a new partnership in the Atlantic with the Bermuda Institute of Oceanic Sciences and broadening our partnership with Starbucks with the establishment of the ASU-Starbucks Center for the Future of People and the Planet.

In the next few weeks, we will erect a prototype of the MechanicalTree™ that our researchers have been working on for years with our corporate partners at Carbon Collect, which is pioneering a new way to passively remove carbon from our air. In the spring of 2022, we will open a brand-new physical home in a LEED-certified structure that allows for collaboration and interaction in a way no other building has before. In the fall of 2022, we will host the first ever Global Futures Conference, a new convening for a broad global stakeholder community to ask, “Which global future(s) do we want, and can there be any consensus getting there?” All this has been enabled by a core of more than 730 Global Futures Scientists and Scholars based around the world.

We have so many key foundational elements in place that we see the most important role of the Global Futures Laboratory is building toward the delivery of a sixth unofficial core space – the development and delivery of hope.

Peter Schlosser

Vice President and Vice Provost, Julie Ann Wrigley Global Futures Laboratory, Arizona State University