Children’s Book | Once Upon the Future: Everyday Adventures that Change the World

Can an academic research project be turned into a children’s story? Yes, it can! With great enthusiasm and dedication, a team of six SUSPLACE fellows (Anastasia, Alessandro, Angela, Kelli, Lorena and Marta) has been engaged in an experimental co-creation effort to translate their research insights into a Children’s Book. After two years of work, the … Read more

Children’s Book | Once Upon the Future | Foreword by Susanne Moser

About two years ago we embarked on a mission to transform our research learnings into children’s stories. We wanted to write a book about hope and leadership that could inspire readers to bring positive change in their surroundings, reconnect with their environment and bond with their communities.

After a couple of training events, various rounds of writing and re-writing, dozens of meetings and fruitful collaborations with writing coaches, editors, an illustrator and a graphic designer, as well as lots of teamwork, mutual support, and hope, the book is almost finished.

How to become an everyday superhero

everyday superhero (noun) :
1) a person that develops superpowers in order to bring change in the places she cares about
2) [becoming an ~] : the desired outcome of reading the anthology “Once Upon the Future. Everyday Adventures that Change the World”

Once out in the world, we hope that our book will inspire its young and not-so-young readers to develop and exercise the everyday superpowers needed to change their little corners of the world for the better. If, in the meantime, you want to start changing the world by making a children’s book on sustainability, here are a couple of superpowers we found useful:

New publication: ‘The Legend of the Cosmos Mariners’ by Kelli Rose Pearson

We are proud to annouce the publication the beautiful story ‘The Legend of the Cosmos Mariners’ by SUSPLACE fellow Kelli Rose Pearson! The story has been published in the book ‘Our Entangled Future: Stories to Empower Quantum Social Change’, co-edited by Karen O’Brien, Ann El Khoury, Nicole Schafenacker and Jordan Rosenfeld. Nine short stories, rooted … Read more

Once Upon the Future: Everyday Adventures that Change the World

Can you produce a children’s book as part of an academic research project? Yes, you can! With great enthusiasm and dedication, a team of six SUSPLACE fellows (Anastasia, Alessandro, Angela, Kelli, Lorena and Marta) has been engaged in the writing of children’s stories inspired by their research projects. After more than a year of work, they are happy to announce that they are almost done! Preliminary title of the book: Once Upon the Future: Everyday Adventures that Change the World.

RE.TREAT Cornwall: How to live when sea levels rise?

A summer camp where families pretend to be climate refugees? An arts-based experiential learning experiment? A delightful and intellectually stimulating weekend in the highlands of Cornwall, full of laughter and joy?

In July 2018, seven families took part in an experimental 4-day ‘retreat’ in Cornwall, UK. The aim of this creative residency was to imagine and design how to live when sea levels rise. SUSPLACE fellow Kelli Rose Pearson and SUSPLACE project coordinator Anke de Vrieze attended RE.TREAT Cornwall as participant observers. The story starts with a full lunar eclipse, a neolithic cairn, and an unexpected storm. It ends with the Boatbarrow – an amphibious mobile art gallery.

Overcoming the fear of the page: the SUSPLACE Children Book’s learning journey continues.

Written by Angela Moriggi Editing and inspiration: Kelli Rose Pearson, Lorena Axinte, Alessandro Vasta, Anastasia Papangelou, Marta Nieto Romero. How can we convey the value of interdependence without falling into cheesiness? How do we advocate for re-appreciation of traditional textiles without being overly didactic? How can we talk about urban regeneration with a hint of … Read more

Learning the Language of Story

The Call for Adventure Once upon a time, in a galaxy not so far away… Actually in this galaxy. On this planet, in fact. Right over in a picturesque Dutch city called Utrecht… A gang of six intrepid wannabe earth warriors/ sustainability researchers*, gathered to learn how to wield a secret power (well, maybe not … Read more

Help us harness the power of storytelling!

Do you believe in the power of stories and images to communicate sustainability science? We are asking for help to realise a SUSPLACE children’s book for sustainable place-shaping! Einstein once said: “If you can’t explain something to a 6 year old, you don’t understand it yourself.” In the field of sustainability science, we often face … Read more

Never stop experimenting! Introducing the SUSPLACE Toolkit on Arts-Based Methods for Transformative Engagement

Written by Angela Moriggi and Kelli R. Pearson “The only way to approach such a period in which uncertainty is high and one cannot predict what the future holds, is not predict, but to experiment and act inventively and exuberantly via diverse adventures in living” ~ C.S. Holling In October 2016, six of us got together … Read more

The urgency of not knowing (liberation from certainty)

By Kelli Pearson * Blog originally written August, 2017 Reflections on my Secondment in Wales What becomes possible when we admit to not-knowing? In my research on “imaginitive leadership,” a golden thread throughout my conversations with artists, creative practitioners, culture shifters, and innovators here in Wales has been their certainty about the urgent need to … Read more