The Two Steps Ahead podcast is out there on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and different platforms — and, after all, by way of Trellis. Episodes publish each different Tuesday.
What’s the connection between creativity and sustainability?
That’s the subject of a dialog I had with my co-host, communications guide Solitaire Townsend, in our newest episode of our Two Steps Ahead podcast. It’s additionally the primary episode we’ve recorded that’s simply the 2 of us in dialog, with no particular visitor, a format we’ll be repeating sometimes.
Each Soli and I think about ourselves to be inventive spirits — me, as a author, after all, but in addition as a lifelong musician (piano and vocals) — and Soli as a gifted storyteller, each nonfiction and fiction (her first novel will publish early subsequent 12 months). Individually and collectively, we’ve found that creativity — whether or not by music, storytelling, artwork, poetry or humor — is deeply interwoven with optimism and the power to examine a distinct, extra sustainable future.
This isn’t simply our opinions or expertise. A world survey performed by BEworks, a behavioral economics consultancy, discovered a robust correlation between creativity and local weather optimism. Artistic people have been extra prone to imagine in humanity’s potential to deal with the local weather disaster and felt extra personally motivated to interact in sustainable behaviors.
In our dialog, Soli and I mentioned this additional, not simply the analysis but in addition our private experiences and observations.
Piano, punning and problem-solving
To be clear, this isn’t nearly those that can play an instrument, inform a narrative or paint an image. Certainly, we challenged the favored notions of individuals as “creatives”or “influentials,” since these labels section folks unnecessarily. As an alternative, we emphasize that creativity is common: from crafting bedtime tales to on a regular basis problem-solving in provide chains. Even repetitive jobs can contain improvisation, lateral pondering, negotiation and imaginative work behind the scenes.
Additionally essential, we mentioned, is the function of humor and levity. For instance, wordplay and punning generally is a helpful approach of processing concepts and connecting — additionally inventive parts that make sustainability work extra pleasant and fewer miserable at occasions.
Communal creativity
Soli and I envisioned how sustainability occasions and conferences may higher harness communal creativity—maybe starting a session by way of a gaggle singalong, neighborhood dancing, or different inventive pursuits — to interrupt down the isolation and construct cohesion amongst attendees. This might assist shift occasions from fragmented compliance-focused gatherings into immersive, experiential inventive communities.
Whereas everybody has inventive potential, we concluded that expressing it takes follow and persistence, and doing so in neighborhood could make it extra accessible. We mirrored on how the neighborhood fosters optimism, and that creativity plus optimism equals ahead momentum for sustainability.
The Two Steps Ahead podcast is out there on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and different platforms — and, after all, by way of Trellis. Episodes publish each different Tuesday.
