Project and content management for Contemporary Authors volumes
WORK TITLE: Parachuting Cats into Borneo
WORK NOTES: with Axel Klimek
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE: 1960
WEBSITE: https://alanatkisson.com/
CITY: Stockholm
STATE:
COUNTRY: Sweden
NATIONALITY:
http://sustainabilitytransformation.com/our-team/ * http://atkisson.com/our-team/ * https://www.linkedin.com/in/alanatkisson/
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Born March 29, 1960.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Writer, consultant, and public speaker. Sustainable Seattle, Seattle, WA, cofounder, 1990; AtKisson Group, founder, president, and CEO, 1992-; also cofounder of the Center for Sustainability Transformation and past president of the Balaton Group. Work-related activities include serving on the President’s Science and Technology Advisory Council of the European Commission (2014-15).
MEMBER:
Club of Rome.
AWARDS:Sustainability Hall of Fame inductee, International Society of Sustainability Professionals, 1993.
WRITINGS
Contributor to periodicals.
SIDELIGHTS
Alan AtKisson, best known for his work in the field of sustainability, also works as a consultant in organizational strategy and transformative change. He has founded several sustainability businesses and voluntary initiatives and gives speeches and seminars around the world. He began advising the United Nations Secretariat in New York in 2009 and serves as an international consultant through the AtKisson Group and the Center for Sustainability Transformation. AtKisson is also a professional singer, songwriter, and guitarist, who sometimes incorporates music into his presentations. AtKisson holds dual citizenship in the United States and Sweden.
Believing Cassandra
AtKisson is also a writer who has authored articles and books. In his first book, Believing Cassandra: An Optimist Looks at a Pessimist’s World, first published in 1999 with an updated and revised version published in 2011, AtKisson discusses the need to create a sustainable future and provides insights into how to achieve this goal. The “Cassandra” in the book’s title comes from the Greek legend about the youngest daughter of the last king of Troy, who not only was beautiful but also had the gift of prophecy. However, Cassandra turned away from the gods, who, in return, made it so that no one would believe Cassandra’s predictions. In his book, AtKisson asks what would happen if people believed “the modern Cassandras who say the climate is changing, the ecosystems are disappearing, the human enterprise is unsustainable and heading for disaster,” noted Yes! Online contributor Donella Meadows.
The book is divided into two sections, with the first part focusing on the modern world’s ecological problems and what AtKisson sees as people’s denial about the problem. In the second part of Believing Cassandra, AtKisson presents his ideas about a solution to the world’s dire ecological threats, namely sustainability. In AtKisson’s opinion creating a sustainable future can appeal both to altruists and environmentalists as well as capitalists. His approach to ecological sustainability, writes AtKisson, can be taken by people who believe the “Cassandra” predictions and then go on to take strategic actions to prove them wrong.
AtKisson discusses the difference between “growth,” a mainstay of capitalism, and “development,” stressing that more emphasis should be placed on development than on growth. AtKisson includes numerous examples of how sustainability has worked on a large scale. He also writes about his own efforts to overcome despair and become an optimist about the future instead, including how a song called “Dead Planet Blues” played an important role in this personal turnaround from pessimist to optimist. The book’s second edition features a new preface and new information concerning world events since 1999.
“Throughout the book, the author maintains a friendly, accessible style; there is a light-hearted tone, with witty chapter titles and summaries,” wrote Carlos G.A. Ormond and Marilyn Palmer in a review for the Australian Journal of Environmental Education, adding: Believing Cassandra “is grounded in the history of the environment movement and offers a way of thinking about the global predicament that avoids blame and shame and encourages a sense of agency and activism.” A Natural Life contributor remarked: AtKisson is “a raconteur, and his book is written in a fresh, candid and sometimes humorous style, spiced with many personal anecdotes.”
Parachuting Cats into Borneo
AtKisson followed up his next book, The Sustainability Transformation: How to Accelerate Positive Change in Challenging Times, with Parachuting Cats into Borneo: And Other Lessons from the Change Café, which AtKisson cowrote with Axel Klimek. Parachuting Cats into Borneo focuses on how to use proven strategies and practices to create transformation and build capacity on an individual, business, and social movement level. AtKisson and Klimek point out that a wide range of information has become available over the years on how to institute change. Nevertheless, they write that two-thirds of all change efforts ultimately fail to reach set goals. The authors’ goal is to help readers increase their chances of success.
Drawing from their experience in helping corporations, governments, and various networks and organizations reach their change goals, AtKisson and Klimek present a guide on how to best use system-based change tools. They begin by discussing the various reasons why change goals usually are not achieved. One thing AtKisson and Klimek caution against is overanalyzing an immediate problem and becoming stuck. Their goal is to help readers understand habitual patterns of thinking about a situation and how to critique these patterns and move beyond them.
AtKisson and Klimek provide advice to keep change initiatives on track by discussing how to foster action and find collaborators to help achieve change goals. They also emphasize the importance of finding the right level to focus on for incorporating change and how to help others work toward their own change goals. The authors close by discussing change in relation to the complex goal of sustainability and provide information on the proper tools that can help achieve a goal that features sustainability. The book’s title comes from an attempt by the World Health Organization (WHO) in the 1950s to induce positive change in Borneo via parachuting 14,000 cats into the country. The idea worked, depleting the burgeoning rat population that was spreading typhus and the plague while also providing the people with replacements for many of their pets that had died.
Parachuting Cats into Borneo is “an excellent collection of strategies to affirm and nourish practicing change-makers and a great tool-kit for anyone looking for ways to jump into the growing pool of sustainability leaders our world so needs,” wrote Seres Web site contributor Sherry Miller. A Publishers Weekly contributor remarked: “AtKisson … and Klimek … offer a shrewd and discerning look at systemic change within organizations.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Australian Journal of Environmental Education, December, 2014, Carlos G.A. Ormond and Marilyn Palmer, review of Believing Cassandra: How to Be an Optimist in a Pessimist’s World, p. 271.
Choice: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries, July, 2011. S. Hammer, review of Believing Cassandra, p. 2115.
Natural Life, November-December, 1999, review of Believing Cassandra, p. 15.
Publishers Weekly, July 18, 2016, review of Parachuting Cats into Borneo: And Other Lessons from the Change Café, p. 202.
ONLINE
Alan AtKisson Home Page, https://alanatkisson.com (April 25, 2016).
AtKisson Group Web site, http://atkisson.com (April 25, 2016).
Center for Sustainability Transformation, http://sustainabilitytransformation.com/ (April 25, 2016), author profile.
Seres Web site, http://www.seres.org/ (February 3, 2017), Sherry Miller, review of Parachuting Cats into Borneo.
Yes!, http://www.yesmagazine.org/ (June 30, 2000), Donella Meadows, review of Believing Cassandra.
Alan AtKisson is an author, speaker, and senior advisor in the field of sustainability. He has nearly 30 years of experience, and he was inducted into the International Sustainability Hall of Fame in 2013 in recognition of his contributions to the field, including bestselling books (Believing Cassandra, Sustainability is for Everyone); widely used tools, planning methods, and training processes; and founding several sustainability businesses, partnerships and volunteer initiatives.
Alan has given hundreds of speeches and seminars around the world. He has been advising the United Nations Secretariat in New York since 2009, and he served on the President’s Science and Technology Advisory Council of the European Commission (2012-2014). He is also known as a professional singer, songwriter, and guitarist, who sometimes blends music into his presentations.
Working through the international consultancy he founded in 1992, the AtKisson Group, as well as the Center for Sustainability Transformation, Alan has consulted for many years with large corporations (such as Levi Strauss, EY, and Nike) as well as many governments and international agencies. He is a past president of the Balaton Group, and a full member of the Club of Rome. A dual citizen of the USA and Sweden, Alan lives in Stockholm.
Alan AtKisson is a senior advisor on sustainability, sustainable development, and related issues. He also has extensive experience in organizational consulting, strategy, and professional development. As president and CEO of The AtKisson Group, a global consultancy he founded in 1992, Alan advises corporations, governments, and international agencies around the world. The AtKisson Group has Affiliates and Associates in more than fifteen countries.
Alan has worked with hundred of clients on sustainability strategy, assessment, training, and reporting, including Nike, Levi Strauss, Ernst & Young, the United Nations, international development programs such as the Nile Basin Initiative, GIZ and SIDA, and NGOs such as WWF.
AtKisson_logo_with_taglineHe previously served on the President’s Science and Technology Advisory Council of the European Commission (advising José Manuel Barroso).
In 2013, Alan was elected into the Sustainability Hall of Fame by the International Society of Sustainability Professionals, in recognition of his pioneering and inspiring work in the field, over more than two decades.
To find out more about Alan’s work in sustainability, please visit www.AtKisson.com.
To explore engaging the AtKisson Group for your consulting needs, please contact us.
AtKisson Group has provided breakthrough strategic support to initiatives of all kinds, since 1992
The AtKisson Group is a global network of highly experienced consultancies. We offer advisory, training, reporting, and related services. Our long-standing clients include large companies, governments, and the United Nations. Our tools, strategies and analyses are in use around the world.
Founded by Alan AtKisson—acclaimed author, inspirational speaker, inductee into the Sustainability Hall of Fame—the AtKisson Group uses robust methods and creative approaches to help you transform complex sustainability challenges into successful strategies.
Our History
We are a global consultancy — but we started out as volunteers.
In 1990, Alan AtKisson co-founded Sustainable Seattle, a volunteer initiative later be recognized by the United Nations as a model project in urban sustainability and indicator development. When he established a small consultancy in 1992, Sustainable Seattle became his first pro bono client.
Alan’s vision was to spread sustainability ideas more quickly and accelerate change around the world. His early consulting projects (for cities, foundations, and international initiatives) led to the creation of tools and methods to support integrated strategic planning, indicators and analysis, transformative organizational development, “change agent” training, and other critical elements of what later became standard practice in sustainability and corporate social responsibility.
Alan’s 1999 bestseller Believing Cassandra – How to be an optimist in a pessimist’s world introduced the world to concepts such “sustainability change agent” and to the possibility of creating sustainability transformation through accelerated innovation. His creative keynote speeches and seminars, often including musical interludes and interactive exercises, electrified audiences ranging from research scientists to business executives to military officers.
By 2001, the AtKisson Group had grown from a one-man consultancy to an international team, establishing its second office in Stockholm, Sweden (where Alan now lives). By 2010, the Group had developed Affiliates and partners in France, Germany, Poland, Thailand, Japan, Russia, and several other countries. While the Group remains small in business terms, it competes successfully against much larger firms. Clients have included global icons such as Nike, Levi Strauss, Volvo Cars, WWF, and numerous governments, as well as the United Nations Secretariat.
Today, the AtKisson brand name is associated with dedication to quality, long experience, creative methods, and unquestioned integrity, as well as high returns on investment. We are dedicated to helping you achieve genuine success in sustainability — quickly, strategically, and affordably.
Alan AtKisson, President & CEO of AtKisson Inc., has been working at the forefront of sustainability since 1988 to empower and inspire individuals, communities, corporations, and governments. He writes books and articles, develops strategies, creates planning methods, trains professionals, and writes music, among other innovative approaches — all aimed at helping people transform complex systems. Visit Alan’s personal website
In 2013, Alan was inducted into The Sustainability Hall of Fame by the International Society of Sustainability Professionals in recognition for his pioneering work in establishing sustainability consulting as a profession, and for the inspiration he has provided to hundreds of other professionals around the world.
Alan AtKisson is an author, keynote speaker, and senior advisor in the field of sustainability, organizational strategy, and transformative change. He has nearly 30 years of experience and was inducted into the International Sustainability Hall of Fame in 2013 in recognition of his many contributions to the field, including bestselling books (Believing Cassandra, Sustainability is for Everyone), widely used tools and planning methods, training processes for “sustainability change agents,” and founding several sustainability businesses and voluntary initiatives. Alan has given hundreds of speeches and seminars around the world. He is also known as a professional singer, songwriter, and guitarist, who sometimes blends music into his presentations. He has been advising the United Nations Secretariat in New York since 2009, and he served on the President’s Science and Technology Advisory Council of the European Commission (2014-2015). Working through the international consultancy he founded in 1992, the AtKisson Group, as well as the Center for Sustainability Transformation, Alan has consulted for many years with large corporations (such as Levi’s, EY, and Nike) as well as many governments and international agencies. He is a past president of the Balaton Group, and a full member of the Club of Rome. A dual citizen of the USA and Sweden, Alan lives in Stockholm. For more information please see his website: AlanAtKisson.com
Alan AtKisson is the Co-Founder of Center for Sustainability Transformation, as well as the Founder & CEO of AtKisson Group. He has been working at the forefront of sustainability since 1988 to empower and inspire individuals, communities, corporations, and governments. He writes books and articles, develops strategies, creates planning methods, trains professionals, and writes music, among other innovative approaches — all aimed at helping people transform complex systems.
Alan is the lead developer of the VISIS Method, the Sustainability Compass, the Pyramid workshop for sustainable development planning, among other tools and methods. His work has influenced thousands of people who use these tools to manage CSR programs, learn the principles of systems thinking, convene stakeholders, and to facilitate other aspects of modern sustainability practice.
In 2013, Alan was inducted into The Sustainability Hall of Fame by the International Society of Sustainability Professionals in recognition of his pioneering work in establishing sustainability consulting as a profession; and for the inspiration he has provided to hundreds of other professionals around the world.
Parachuting Cats into Borneo: And Other Lessons from the Change Cafe
263.29 (July 18, 2016): p202.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2016 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Parachuting Cats into Borneo: And Other Lessons from the Change Cafe
Axel Klimek and Alan AtKisson. Chelsea Green, $24.95 trade paper (192p) ISBN 978-1-60358681-8
AtKisson (Believing Cassandra) and Klimek, cofounders of the Center for Sustainability Transformation, offer a shrewd and discerning look at systemic change within organizations and the many obstacles to such change. The coauthors do not claim to have a one-size-fits-all solution, rather telling the reader that the "answers are already there within yourself' or close at hand, among your colleagues. However, they do urge readers to shift the odds in their favor by building on existing knowledge, seeking out new viewpoints, becoming more mindful of ingrained habits, and focusing on their strengths and resources. Klimek and AtKisson offer up "four big questions": "What basic beliefs do we have?"; "What method do we have for supporting a system to move from state A to state B?"; "What is our relationship to the system?"; and "How can we increase the capacity of the system not just to change but to improve performance?" Elsewhere, they identify seven different ways of approaching change, including "following apian," "negotiating an outcome," and "enforcing the future." They close with insightful chapters on supporting others, coaching, and leadership that will be particularly valuable when initiating change but should be equally beneficial to daily work life. (Sept.)
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Parachuting Cats into Borneo: And Other Lessons from the Change Cafe." Publishers Weekly, 18 July 2016, p. 202+. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA459287574&it=r&asid=80f5a0556068cc0eb3800da954965e17. Accessed 26 Mar. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A459287574
Believing Cassandra - an optimist looks at a pessimist's world
.70 (November-December 1999): p15.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 1999 Life Media
http://www.naturallifemagazine.com/
Believing Cassandra -- An Optimist Looks at a Pessimist's World
Here's an original -- and for some people, controversial -- take on environmentalism. The first part of the book covers familiar territory: the current ecological disaster and the way most people are in denial about it. That's what AtKisson calls "Cassandra's Dilemma". Greek legend has it that beautiful Cassandra, youngest daughter of the last king of Troy, was endowed by the gods with the gift of seeing the future. But because she spurned the gods, her gift was cruelly twisted -- through her prophesies were true, no one would believe her.
Part two is an energetic look at what AtKisson feels is the solution: sustainability. He writes, "To prevent global collapse, we need something that is both visionary and highly profitable, something that can appeal to both the ardent altruist and the hardened venture capitalist. We need a source of hope that is also a business opportunity, a hot investment that is extremely idealistic."
Although he sells sustainability in business terms the former editor of In Context magazine is serious about the threat and the need to make major changes in order to avert an ecological catastrophe. He challenges businesspeople to understand the difference between "growth" and "development" and why the world needs less growth and more development. As inspiration and proof, he provides a number of examples of sustainability at work on a large scale.
And amidst the seriousness, is the author's love of life, especially music. An accomplished songwriter and performer, he has two CDs to his credit and in the book, he tells how one song, called Dead Planet Blues, helped him break through his despair about the state of the environment.
He's also a raconteur, and his book is written in a fresh, candid and sometimes humorous style, spiced with many personal anecdotes.
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Believing Cassandra - an optimist looks at a pessimist's world." Natural Life, Nov.-Dec. 1999, p. 15. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA30499820&it=r&asid=d2c1da9e2284596afcea49e9df84f49e. Accessed 26 Mar. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A30499820
AtKisson, Alan. Believing Cassandra: how to be an optimist in a pessimist's world
S. Hammer
48.11 (July 2011): p2115.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2011 American Library Association CHOICE
http://www.ala.org/acrl/choice/about
48-6235
GE170
2010-28011
CIP
AtKisson, Alan. Believing Cassandra: how to be an optimist in a pessimist's world. 2nd ed. Earthscan Publications Ltd., 2011. 226p bibl index ISBN 9781849711715, $125.00; ISBN 9781849711722 pbk, $29.95
In the 1970s, systems dynamics and the possibility for reinvention of culture offered dazzling new approaches to the way we looked at the world. In this book, AtKisson (international sustainability consultant) sets up a framework for connecting systems dynamics with environmental issues. Long ago, an "optimist" might have believed that community-based activism embracing scientific probity could provide a local answer to global problems. Today, the juncture of systems dynamics, sustainability, and community appear in a different light. Sustainability, the focus of this work, is a popular agenda. Energy conservation, recycling, and bicycle-friendly transportation are practiced by large parts of the community at a high pitch of enthusiasm, technological innovation, and systematization. However, at the same time, we poison our soil, water, and atmosphere by oversalting our streets so we can drive our hybrids faster. Optimism and pessimism do not play a role in the cycle of human stupidity: there is nothing new under the sun. This second edition of a 1999 book has been updated with a new preface and new data and information on world events. However, it proffers little new insight, and seems more in place in 1975. Summing Up. Optional. * General readers.--S. Hammer, Boston University
Hammer, S.
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Hammer, S. "AtKisson, Alan. Believing Cassandra: how to be an optimist in a pessimist's world." CHOICE: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries, July 2011, p. 2115. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA260330879&it=r&asid=6064e17149fb725be2bf9306d947ee22. Accessed 26 Mar. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A260330879
Believing Cassandra: How to Be an Optimist in a Pessimist's World
Carlos G.A. Ormond and Marilyn Palmer
30.2 (Dec. 2014): p271.
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/aee.2015.3
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2014 Australian Association for Environmental Education, Inc.
http://www.aaee.org.au/
Believing Cassandra: How to Be an Optimist in a Pessimist's World
Alan Atkisson Earthscan, London, 2011, 226 pp., ISBN 9781849711722
doi: 10.1017/aee.2015.3
Many of us can name the book that provoked our epiphany, that 'ah ha' moment when we realised the world was experiencing an ecological crisis of serious proportions. As a student in the 1980s, it was The Limits to Growth (Meadows, Meadows, Randers, & Behrens, 1972) that did it for me with its logic and simplicity: the Earth is a finite system, there are limits to its capacity to absorb the waste we spew into it and there are limits to what we can take out of it.
In this book, which is divided into two sections, Atkisson begins by summarising Meadows et al. (1972), using systems theory to explain the mess we have got ourselves into. Simply put, the [human] World takes stuff like fresh water, soil nutrients and minerals from the source (Nature) and puts stuff like pollution, carbon and other waste back into the sink (also Nature) at an exponential rate of growth, which means the flow of stuff happens at a much quicker pace than Nature can absorb. The feedback loops (such as ocean acidification, resource depletion and global warming) occur too slowly for humans to realise what is happening and take action within any reasonable timeframe. Atkisson suggests our slow reaction may be part of our neurological programming: we respond better to a hungry tiger than a slow creeping threat like climate change. Regardless, all the evidence is pointing to overshoot and collapse in Nature, which is bound to have a catastrophic impact on the human world.
Atkisson acknowledges, but does not dwell on the fact that the global poor are the ones who already disproportionally suffer from overshoot and collapse, even though they have not contributed to the problem in the same way as the over-developed West. He also acknowledges but does not dwell on the fact that there are powerful people in the world who deliberately deny or dilute the feedback messages about climate change, depleted fish stocks or species extinction, to protect their own interests.
New proper nouns are created in this book. Aware of the power of language and discourse formation, Atkisson entices us to share his take on environmentalism and seeks to convince us that he and his ilk have some of the answers. For example, he presents us with a typology of people based on how they perceived global change (drawing on the work of the TARGETS project in the Netherlands). We can all recognise the Individualists (think high flyer entrepreneur), Egalitarians (think Green), Hierarchialists (think EU bureaucrat), Fatalists (think Forrest Gump) and Hermits (think hermit). According to Atkisson, Egalitarians are the ones who have got it right. Even if they are wrong about the whole scenario, they are working towards a better, kinder, fairer world anyway, so it doesn't matter.
To prime the reader for the idea that sustainability is an antidote to ecological overshoot and collapse, Atkisson unsettles the dominant ideas about Growth and Development (more proper nouns): growth must cease and development accelerate. Clearly he has a different idea of development than most.
Through all of human history, these two concepts, Growth and
Development, have been joined together like Siamese twins. They
must now be separated, or human civilization inevitably will come
to a screeching halt. For the genuine Development of humanity to
continue, our species' physical Growth must slow down and stop. And
for Growth to stop, our understanding of Development must be
reinvented. (p. 21)
Atkisson argues that we can have as much development (innovation, creativity, movement, work, activity) as we want, but unconstrained growth, particularly as it relates to the production of stuff, is bad. In this sense, his thinking is line with Leonard (2010).
Throughout the book, the author maintains a friendly, accessible style; there is a light-hearted tone, with witty chapter titles and summaries such as 'The Future in a Word wherein we introduce, finally, after much beating around the bush, the "S" word and explain it in ways that will (possibly) silence its critics once and for all while rallying people to its flag' (p. iv).
Part 2 of the book, 'Reinventing the World', defines sustainability as sustainable development and presents us with a number of formula that can be used to understand and operationalise this reinventing. For example, there are Five Clarifying Declarations of Sustainability, and the first one is Sustainability is not environmentalism. Environmentalism (which he defines as Green activism) aims to 'protect Nature from the ravages of the economy [and] is different from working to redesign the economy itself (p. 140). Environmentalism is important but there needs to be support for sustainability or people can't see a way through the mess. The final declaration is that Sustainability is not the end of history: 'We have no idea what phase in the evolution of conscious organisms comes after sustainability. But it would certainly be nice to give our descendants a chance to find out' (p. 142).
At the core of Atkisson's model for change is Rogers' (1995) innovation diffusion theory, which describes how ideas or innovations are taken up by the mainstream. Rogers identified the players involved in the take-up (or discarding) of an innovation or idea such as electric cars, solar panels or marine parks. For example, Innovators invent, discover or initiate and are likely to be so wedded to their idea that they will be dogmatic and put people off. Change Agents are the people who can 'actively and effectively promote new ideas ... salespeople and organisers' (p. 169). They translate the Innovators' ideas for laypeople, particularly the Transformers or early adopters who will embrace the idea and make it acceptable and cool for the mainstream. The Laggards are the late adopters who only change under pressure, and the Reactionaries resist new ideas, often because they have a vested interest in the status quo; they will be the ones arguing that cloth nappies are bad for the environment. The Iconoclasts are the protesters and angry critics of the status quo, lacking alternative solutions, but useful for motivating the Innovators and keeping the reactionaries occupied while Change Agents do their thing. Spiritual Recluses have their place, although it is hard to find a useful role for the Curmudgeons, who 'project a nihilistic sense of disappointment and disillusionment' (p. 171) and sap hope from everyone else (aka the Mainstreamers).
The innovation diffusion theory is explained by Atkisson and others at workshops and seminars, which they run using games and simulations to get people motivated and active. To what end? Essentially, the purpose of all this is to motivate people toward transformation by promoting new inventions and ideas, holding a critique of the old and facilitating the switch to the new. Of course, Atkisson has a list for how this should happen as well, his 'Five Critical Characteristics of Successful Innovation'. You can tell when an innovation has been successful because it will: appear highly advantageous (and be cool), be relatively simple to understand, allow people to try it out before they irreversibly commit to it, result in visible improvements to people's lives or to Nature, and be relatively easy to incorporate into a person's (or society's) existing way of life. Innovations don't have to have these qualities, but if they do, they will be more likely (or more quickly) to 'sweep through a cultural system, and become the newest version of "normal"' (p. 181).
Atkisson's desirable version of normal is one where the world's economic, political, social and cultural policies, processes, products, activities and places undermine growth and promote sustainable development. Not surprisingly, for a book trying to sell optimism through principles, procedures and models, Atkisson avoids the tricky issues of politics and power. He never mentions the C[apitalism] word and avoids the P[atriarchy] word, staying upbeat about his ideas and those of his (mostly male) mates. However, for all that, I was entranced by this book and, more to the point, I developed a new sense of optimism.
This book is grounded in the history of the environment movement and offers a way of thinking about the global predicament that avoids blame and shame and encourages a sense of agency and activism. Naive? Yes. Arrogant? A bit. And yet, it provides a framework for action. Any action. It doesn't prescribe what you should do. It simply suggests with humour and optimism that it is worth doing something. The book ends with the author sharing the source of his own optimism:
But strangely, I also find hope in the fact that humanity has
already changed the planet's atmospheric balance and performed
other amazing acts of ecological destruction. If we can do that,
then we can do anything.... In a mere few centuries, with far fewer
people, using very primitive technology, we have managed to create
a huge, sprawling mess of a World, displacing much of Nature in the
process. This tragic yet undeniably enormous accomplishment
supplies the proof that we have the capacity to create--with
similar speed, and at a similarly large scale--a bountiful and more
sustainable World. (p. 194)
Finally, who is Cassandra and what is her dilemma? Cassandra tried to warn the Trojans about the Greeks hiding in the wooden horse, but she wasn't believed. To some extent, anyone reading this journal is probably a Cassandra living out the dilemma. If we warn people of impending ecological doom (as many of us do) and things go belly up for humans, then why didn't we act earlier or more convincingly so people could take heed. If the crisis is averted, because people took evasive action, then why did we bother? We were being alarmist and it was all going to turn out all right in the end anyway. Rock on Cassandra!
Reviewed by Carlos G.A. Ormond & Marilyn Palmer, Faculty Regional Professional Studies, Edith Cowan University, Perth, Australia
References
Leonard, A. (2010). The story of stuff: How our obsession with stuff is trashing the planet, our communities, and our health--and a vision for change. New York: Free Press.
Meadows, D.H., Meadows, D.L., Randers, J., & Behrens, W.B. (1972). The limits to growth. New York: Universe Books.
Rogers, E. (1995 [1962]). Diffusion of innovation (4th ed.). New York: Free Press.
Reviewer Biography
Marilyn Palmer (BSW, MArts [Social Work], PhD) lectures in the Social Work Program on the Bunbury Campus of Edith Cowan University in Western Australia. Her research and teaching focus on domestic violence, community development and ecosocial work in the context of education for sustainability.
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Ormond, Carlos G.A., and Marilyn Palmer. "Believing Cassandra: How to Be an Optimist in a Pessimist's World." Australian Journal of Environmental Education, vol. 30, no. 2, 2014, p. 271+. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA460507334&it=r&asid=7294c686d672a28081114e0f6509efc8. Accessed 26 Mar. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A460507334
Book Review- Believing Cassandra: an optimist looks at a pessimist's world by Alan AtKisson
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Donella Meadows posted Jun 30, 2000
Believing Cassandra: an optimist looks at a pessimist's world
by Alan AtKisson
White River Junction, VT: Chelsea Green, 2000.
236 pages, $16.95
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Of all the tragic characters in Greek myths, the one who gives me the most shivers is Cassandra. The god Apollo gave her a wonderful gift: the ability to foretell the future – then followed it up with a terrible curse – no one would ever believe her. I can just imagine Cassandra, standing there inside the walls of Troy, yelling, “No, no, whatever you do, don't haul that big wooden horse in here!”
Now a friend of mine has written a book called Believing Cassandra. (I have to acknowledge a strong positive bias for this author and this book from its very beginning.) His name is Alan AtKisson, and the question he asks is, what if you come to believe Cassandra?
What if you believe the modern Cassandras who say the climate is changing, the ecosystems are disappearing, the human enterprise is unsustainable and heading for disaster. You know, those unlistened-to folks who keep yelling, “No, no, whatever you do, don't haul those gas-guzzling, air-polluting sports utility vehicles in here!”
Alan believes those folks.
Furthermore, he believes that Cassandra's curse can be broken, in fact is just asking to be broken, because the gift of prophecy and the curse of being ignored must run together and therefore can be broken together. If no one listens to warnings, the prophets of doom will be right. But if people listen, they will ward off disaster, and the prophets will have egg on their faces.
Alan has crafted an unusual book from this insight. On one hand, it's a clear, sober catalog of the warnings being issued at this turn of this century and millennium. On another hand, it's a cheerful argument about why none of those warnings has to come true. And (would someone please fetch me a third hand?) it's a series of sketches from Alan's own adventurous life about what happens to a person who dedicates himself to proving Cassandra wrong.
I'd guess that everyone will read the sketches first. They range from a terrifying bus trip in Malaysia on a rainy night with no windshield wipers and no lights (“Obviously I survived”) to a meeting with Al Gore, back when Alan hoped he might actually exhibit strong environmental leadership.
Everywhere Alan goes, he sings. He wards off doom and gloom with his head, as a writer and consultant, and with his heart, as a minstrel and composer. His steady companion on his journeys is his guitar. More than once I've seen him sum up a conference on endocrine disrupters or sustainability indicators with a rollicking ditty that he wrote overnight and that gets the point across much better than the scientific report.
Some of his songs are funny, some are lyrical and moving, a few, especially the earliest ones he wrote, are just plain dismal.
Pull up a star and hear my tale of woe.
I built a planet just a few billion years ago.
It was a lovely little blue-green ball.
One of my life-forms became self-aware,
They started messin' with my recipe for air,
And now that planet's got no life at all!
Yeah, it's a Dead Planet
(Yeah, I'm just gettin' back from the funeral)
Dead Planet
(Don'tcha hate it when they leave the casket open?)
I got them old Dead Planet Blues
Well, that's what happens first, when you believe Cassandra. You get depressed. But the depression doesn't last. You begin to see how to make her wrong. Then you discover how much exciting, practical, doable work there is to do and fun there is to have in the process.
What I like especially about Alan's book is that his response to believing Cassandra is so different from mine. I'm a country creature; I hang out on organic farms. He's a city animal; he hangs out in boardrooms and in bars where the music is good. I spend a lot of time alone with computers and statistics; he works with groups, often large groups.
I write opinion columns; he writes songs.
Who would guess that songs could help save the world? Alan would, and that's the biggest point of his book. Once you believe Cassandra, there's no one right or best thing to do. Wherever you are, whatever you're good at, whatever you do with ease and joy, you can contribute in ways large and small to turning away from the doom. Especially if you can do it with both your mind and your heart, with humor and fun, even with song.
Book Review: Parachuting Cats into Borneo: And Other Lessons from the Change Café
Posted on February 3, 2017 Categories: Book Reviews, Change Makers, Climate Change Adaptation, Communiversity, Education, Resilient Communities, Uncategorized, Youth Leaders No comments yet
Parachuting Cats into Borneo: And Other Lessons from the Change Café
By Axel Klimek and Alan AtKisson, 2016.
SERES champion Sherry Miller with SERES facilitators and change agents.
Yes! It’s true. In the 1950s the World Health Organization (WHO) supported a call to create positive change in Borneo by parachuting 14,000 cats into the country! With their somewhat surprising arrival, the cats significantly helped decrease the rat population that was raising havoc, spreading typhus and plague. The people were also happy to have their feline friends back, most of whom had died eating geckos full of poisoned insects intimately tied to the outbreak of malaria, via mosquitoes hooked up with parasitic wasps and DDT-infected caterpillars–talk about the interconnectedness of life!
Yes! It’s true. The co-founders of the Center for Sustainability Transformation, Axel Klimek and Alan AtKisson, chose to title their new book after this classic example of creative transformation using systemic thinking and bold risk-taking for the greater good. I found this to be an excellent collection of strategies to affirm and nourish practicing change-makers and a great tool-kit for anyone looking for ways to jump into the growing pool of sustainability leaders our world so needs.
Working with empowered and transformative youth leaders via SERES here in Guatemala and El Salvador, I am delighted to be able to share this book with them and invite them to think about how they are thinking about and advocating change in their local communities, countries and ultimately, the world.
I love the way Axel and Alan use the Change Cafe model via invitations throughout the book to stop and think, to make it personal, to dig deeper inside and let the change emerge first in “me” before “we”. The book is more like a conversation than a lecture. It brings energy, deep pause, companionship, inspiration and motivation to the reader as few books I’ve ever read do. It makes me want to start a living book group to hold it, dance with it, nest in it and then go forth with even greater confidence, believing, “Yes, we can build/create/write a new story and become a healthier, more peaceful and truly sustainable world!”
The four basic questions they explore with us in this book that they consider crucial for a successful change process to occur include:
What basic beliefs do we have, as change agents, about the process of changing systems?
What method (or methods) do we have for supporting a system to move from state A to state B?
What is our relationship to the system?
How can we increase the capacity of the system to not just change but actually improve performance?
I highly recommend you explore their answers to these questions in which they share multiple strategies, deep wisdom, clear conviction and most of all, an invitation to find your own “change- maker” within. Nourished by both the proven tools and deep personal learning this book offers, I believe more than ever that together we can navigate the uncertainty, complexity and increasing ways we can connect virtually as well as face to face as we build our capacity for creating transformation in today’s world for tomorrow’s children–I mean, why not?!
Review by Sherry Miller, Ed.D.
SERES Global Ambassador