The return of the story tellers
Storytelling is where both Ollie and I come from. We met in a vfx studio working on feature films back in 2009 and spent over a decade in the film industry. After a couple of years trying to break into the non profit think tank world, this summer we decided to go all in on storytelling at United Humans.
Stories (especially ones we can see ourselves in) help us believe change is possible. If we can’t picture a future we would want to live in, it’s hard to believe change can happen in our lifetime. That’s why optimistic science fiction matters. Many of the futures we see on screen are dystopian—collapse, corruption or war.
Ollie has spent years writing about the future that United Humans is working towards. This summer we decided to show it. Deliver Us, is an in development film set in a future where the governance and economic ideas United Humans advocates for have been put into practice. To read more about it, here is Ollie’s post about the project.
European field trip
Ollie and I backpacked across Europe like we were 20 again. Same energy, worse recovery time. We went to meet people and expand our frame of reference. We were seeking different points of view, away from North America. We were curious about how different communities handle trust, conflict and care.
In Amsterdam we joined a School for Moral Ambition member meetup, and watched facilitators turn a room of strangers into a network. In Istanbul, a workshop with Saye pulled together people from different cultures to debate alternative economic systems. In Berlin, at DWeb Camp, we explored decentralized solutions, from open social networks to peer-to-peer tools. And in Iceland, Ollie hosted an open mic during the solar eclipse festival, where we witnessed an interesting Venn diagram of astronomers and astrologists.
We are incredibly lucky to be able to sit across the table from diverse people to learn from and co-create with. We don’t take that for granted.
Then the fire came home
In August, an explosive wildfire reached our home town, Summerland BC Canada. It’s hard to write about a disaster in your own town while advancing a mission of hope. This August we found out what it’s like to really need hope. We didn’t know if we would have a home to come back to.
The fear and loss were real, and so was the way neighbors showed up for each other. In those days we saw how united people can be when disaster hits. In those days the first question was “do you have somewhere to stay?” followed by “is there anything you need?” What we heard, again and again, was that people stayed calm and cared for each other, despite the fear. We keep coming back to that as a confirmation that human nature is compassionate and kind.
For a few days, the political and ideological divisions we spend so much energy on simply weren’t there. If people can be like this under pressure, imagine what we could build when we’re not in crisis.
Why place matters.
I read (wish I remember where) that “A convergence is when multiple trends, forces and uncertainties intersect and create a combined impact greater than the sum of their individual effects” That’s what this summer was for us. Travel, new networks and a wildfire at our door, all landing in the same few months.
Away from home, we saw how differently communities handle trust, conflict and care. At home, under pressure, we saw which of those ideas actually hold up.
