Here are some selected signals explored with the help of our subject matter experts.
The weight that traditional Western medicine used to carry is being challenged by emerging symptoms that see an entanglement of physical and mental health stressors. Whether it is the psychological impact of new digital behaviors that challenge how we connect to other people, or the increasing distance we have put between ourselves and natural systems - our health and wellbeing is made up of a complex set of stimuli that requires a more holistic understanding of what it means to be ‘healthy’.
New health and wellbeing practices are emerging that prescribe more connection to nature, engage in psychedelic and transcendent experiences for coping with heavy loss or life transitions, and even promote an activist ideology for safeguarding our natural systems that sees us become active participants in our own health and wellbeing experience.
KEY WORDS:
‘Eco Resilience’ ‘Climate Anxiety’ ‘Nature Therapy’ ‘Climate Psychology’ ‘Heat Fatigue’ ‘Eco-Centric Behaviors’ ‘Weather Responsive Work’ 'Blue Zone Cities'
References/Trends:13 Small but Impactful Ways to Cultivate Resilience
Relational Activism
Generation Z is ‘traumatized’ by climate change—and they’re the key to fighting it
Climate anxiety in children and young people and their beliefs about government responses to climate change: a global survey
Young People Are Anxious About Climate Change And Say Governments Are Failing Them
Empathy Fatigue
Three online climate communicators on dealing with eco anxiety
Nature is healing: Doctors in B.C., other provinces can prescribe Parks Canada passes to patients
Canadian Doctors Are Now Prescribing Time in National Parks to Patients
Extreme Weather-Related Events: Implications for Mental Health and Well-Being
The Impact of Climate Change on Mental Health: A Systematic Descriptive Review
Climate anxiety spiking during the heatwave? These actions could be the antidote
Changing Behavior to Help Meet Long-Term Climate Targets
Impacts of Climate Change on Occupational Health and Safety
EXTREME TEMPERATURES FROM CLIMATE CHANGE WILL HARM WORKERS
Climate change impacts on working people: how to develop prevention policies
A Blue Zone is a place where people live longer and enjoy better health well into old age.
An ever growing human population living beyond their means has put entire species and ecosystems under duress. A need to rethink our relationship to natural resources and raw material has seen the re-emergence of once marginalized belief systems and ideologies challenge and put into question our neo-liberal and capitalistic ideals. Considering the lifespan of 7 Generations, for instance, is an Indigenous principle that guides present day decision making processes to consider their ramifications 7 generations into the future.
Living within our planetary boundaries means a radical shift in lifestyle and accountability, one that will give way to new food systems and regulate not only ‘how’ and ‘why’, but also ‘if’ we extract raw materials.
KEY WORDS:
‘7 Generations Principles’ ‘Climate Adaptive Food’ 'Degrowth'
References/Trends:Planetary Boundaries
Alphabetic Literacy and Brain Processes
More common and extreme climate patterns are redefining our seasons, dictating how and where we are able to live and even challenging an infrastructure originally not designed to cope with such extremities. The notion of a ‘refugee’ is no longer reserved for those crossing national borders to flee politically unstable conditions and oppression, but expands to include local populations fleeing unstable climate conditions as large swaths of land become uninhabitable.
Where once the effects of extreme climate change took generations for its impact to be felt, now those effects are more frequent and more extreme. The way we live, how we build, and where we are able to settle is defined by climate, which redefines the geo-political map.
KEY WORDS:
‘Rising Global Temperatures' 'Urban Heat Islands' 'Climate adaptive Regulations' 'The Great Climate Migration; 'Adaptive Public Infrastructure’ ‘Disaster Infrastructure’ ‘Water Scarcity’
References/Trends:Food Security
How to feed the world in times of pandemics and climate change?
https://www.architecturaldigest.com/story/australia-opened-climate-change-focused-museum-future
Natural Disaster Tourism as a Type of Dark Tourism
Ecotourism
Dark Tourism
Climate change, extreme weather events, air pollution and respiratory health in Europe
UN declares healthy environment a human right
How Climate Change Impacts Water Access
Extreme water-related weather events and waterborne disease
The notion of everything, all the time, and anywhere, is a paradigm that promotes access at any cost, even if that cost is that of violated human rights or decimated natural resources. New value metrics emerge as a means for regulating the ways in which goods are produced making their cost valuation transparent, going beyond mere price tag value to also include the collateral costs such as resources extracted, emissions produced, and lives lost.
The true and total cost of goods becomes an enforced and transparent label that sees many or most present day commodities become unattainable and obsolete.
KEY WORDS:
‘Carbon Emissions Transparency’ ‘Disaster Currency’ ‘Net-Zero Carbon Coalition’
References/Trends:Neighbourhood action critical to meeting net zero targets
Net-zero commitments must be backed by credible action
These companies will pay you for your data. Is it a good deal?
How we perceive our natural environment determines how we value it - a tree can either be an integral part of a more complex and interconnected natural system that has a spirit, or it can be a resource to be extracted, harvested and processed for profit. Safeguarding our natural systems means changing the vernacular used to refer to them and reframing our relationship to them: challenging the paradigm of the human being at the top of the pyramid to consider a ‘Democracy of Species’.
KEY WORDS:
‘An Ecotopian Lexicon’ ‘Slow Tourism’ ‘Beyond Human’ ‘Democracy of Species’
References/Trends:Should rivers have the same rights as people?
The Search for New Words to Make Us Care About the Climate Crisis
Earth Emotions: New Words for a New World
The limits of my language mean the limits of my world: a new lexicon for a troubled planet
Slow Tourism
Open AccessArticle Monitoring Urban Green Infrastructure Changes and Impact on Habitat Connectivity Using High-Resolution Satellite Data
Slowing Down in Urgent Times
The Democracy of Species
SEED FREEDOM: TOWARD AN EARTH DEMOCRACY
Diverse perspectives now shape algorithm training and data interaction, aiming for more accurate and equitable systems. Decentralized communities use blockchain to reclaim data ownership, enhancing transparency. Upskilling programs bridge the digital divide, empowering marginalized groups. Governments enact laws to protect nature from exploitation and manipulation, preserving ecosystems.
KEY WORDS:
'Indigenous Algorithms' 'Digital Transparency' 'Upskilling the Digital Divide'
References/Trends:Make it rain: Cloud seeding, the controversial weather modification technique
China to expand weather modification program to cover area larger than India
What is geoengineering - and why should you care?
As extreme climate episodes change and alter urban landscapes, people are finding new ways for experiencing spaces. Whether it is through the voyeurism of climate disaster tourism or escaping to digital worlds in search of refuge, new norms and rituals are reshaping how we behave and interface with people and places.
KEY WORDS:
‘Adaptive Public Infrastructure’ 'Disaster Tourism' ‘Climate Disaster Seasons’ 'Augmented Realities' 'Mixed Realities'
References/Trends:Food Security - Special report pin Climate change and Land
Forbes Article: Tourism built on Disasters is more prevalent than You'd imagine
Dark tourism, explained - Why visitors flock to sites of tragedy
Hands Off! With $3,500 Headsets in the Wild, New Social Norms Apply Apple Vision Pro early adopters are walking magnets for curious stares and interruptions
Virtual Reality Stumbles Into Culture
New AI systems enable real-time decision-making through big data analysis, revolutionizing various sectors. However, ensuring data security becomes paramount, with infrastructure emerging as a diplomatic asset. Collaborative efforts are needed to establish standards and protocols for responsible data governance and cybersecurity on a global scale.
KEY WORDS:
'Generative Policies' 'Digital Diplomacy'
References/Trends:The application of artificial intelligence in health policy: a scoping review
Digital diplomacy: Council sets out priority actions for stronger EU action in global digital affairs