We can’t get There from Here
On December 4th 2024, CUHF Senior Fellow Bayo Akomolafe joined Paul Hawken in conversation for the 44th Annual E.F. Schumacher...
Bayo Akomolafe, CUHF Senior Fellow
We are honored that visionary Bayo Akomolafe is serving as the inaugural Senior Fellow to the Council on the Uncertain Human Future this year. He is also W. E. B. DuBois Fellow for Trans-public Intellectualism at the Schumacher Center for Local Economics in Great Barrington MA.
A psychologist, poet, philosopher, teacher, public intellectual and holder of Yoruba ancestry, Bayo encourages revelatory perspectives; he leans into the cracks around the questions of our time.
2024 Threshold Councils
Transformation—of the planet and the civilizations it has brought forth—is always underway. Yet in this decade, and even this year, we see accelerated change in the living system itself, and the frameworks devised by humans within it.
It is often at the threshold—in the crossing and naming it calls forward—that we may come present more deeply to each other and what is taking place; this year, five distinctive Threshold Councils have emerged as communities of inquiry, insight and collective wisdom for these times.
On the rim of rupture…
The upheaval created by the new U.S. administration is stupefying, disastrous, predictable and revelatory, all at once. To further insight, community and even possibility in these times, we launched On the rim of rupture. This two-session Council was first held in February/March via Zoom and will be offered periodically during the year, through in-person and online sessions.
Members of the CUHF community who take part, continue to gather in Council virtually throughout the year—In the flow of rupture—to consider collectively:
What is happening, and how do we stay present, compassionate, grounded and in community amidst the convulsions? Can we together expand our insight and perspective, while being realistic, agile, skillful and of service?
The resources below—from CUHF members or those that inspire our community—will be refreshed as the year unfolds.
At left: Kilauea, on the Big Island of Hawaii, erupting on Dec 30. More here.
20 Lessons on Tyranny
Timothy Snyder
A New World Awaits
Sherri Mitchell
Metastatic Modernity
Tom Murphy
Rest in the River
Thich Nhat Hahn
On this community, this practice
Since the beginning, we’ve listened for how CUHF might serve in these unprecedented times. In response, our conversations and practices have been mycelial in nature—deepening and evolving to meet the call. At ten years, the CUHF community and network continues to grow, morph and surprise us in its compassion, tenacity and possibilities.
In this time of profound uncertainty, dissolution and revelation, we asked a group of Council members to speak about how they understand our work, and what it offers for these times. Their voices are gathered in a circle in this special publication, available now through ISSU.
CUHF Community at MIT
Since the summer of 2020, faculty and staff at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have been convening in small circles to build and deepen collective reflection on the planetary environmental crisis, as an Affiliate of the Council on the Uncertain Human Future.
It’s Time for Higher Education to “Get Real” about the Climate Crisis
Learn about the history of the Council on the Uncertain Human Future, and our work in A new Earth conversation (NEC) at Clark University, in a new piece by CUHF Core Team member, Diana Chapman Walsh.
A new Earth conversation Brochure
The initial Council on the Uncertain Human Future (2014) inspired Clark University faculty and staff to join the process (2015-2019); a vision for A new Earth conversation emerged from those Councils and has grown into a campus-wide climate initiative, enabling deeper conversation and cultivating possibility with students.
View the brochure on Issu
