Imagining a Better Future: The Magic of Thinking Positively

The news often talks about really bad things that might happen in the future. But have you ever wondered where are the good and exciting visions of the future? Rob Hopkins, who started the Transition Town Network, wants to help us imagine and make those positive dreams come true.

Glenn Burgess

Rob Hopkins has a wonderful vision of the future, and he wants you to see, smell, and hear it too. In his vision, kids are playing in the streets, birds are singing loudly in the morning, bike lanes are full of people during rush hour, small independent shops are everywhere, restaurants spill out onto the streets, there’s no homelessness, and people take pride in their community. Rivers are clean and full of life thanks to beavers, there are community orchards, and the air is filled with pollen, not pollution.

He’s talking about the year 2030, which is only seven years away. Now, you might be wondering how he got a glimpse of this future. Well, he has a secret time machine hidden under Totnes Castle in Devon, near where he lives. He also has some fancy gadgets like a “disbelief suspender” and a “cynicism overrider.”

But here’s the real secret: it’s not about time machines or gadgets. It’s about using our imagination. Our imagination and our memories are connected in our brain. That’s why thinking about the future, just like remembering the past, can be so powerful. Rob Hopkins believes that tapping into our imagination is a super important tool for dealing with big problems like climate change and loss of nature.

When people have a positive vision of the future, it gives them hope and inspiration to take action. And that’s what he’s all about. This positive way of thinking is what guides our journalism too.

Something really interesting happens when Rob Hopkins gives his talks. People approach him afterwards and ask questions about the future, just like they’re asking about a city he’s just visited. They don’t sound sarcastic or cynical at all.

For instance, after one of his talks to people in the sports world, someone asked him if there were a lot of repair cafes in 2030.

Rob was amused by this and said, “I can answer that in a minute, but I have to say, I love how you’ve let your imagination run so freely that you’re asking me that.” He said this with a big grin on his face.

Rob Hopkins believes that this little story proves his point. He thinks we should use our imaginations more & tell creative stories about the future to get people excited & engaged.

"It gives people a hopeful vision, a longing, which breeds creativity and action"

Our society is built on stories. We tell them all the time, especially to kids, and we encourage them to use their imagination. But as people grow up, many forget how important imagination is.

Rob Hopkins thinks we should make imagining the future a daily habit for all of us. The more we do it, the better we become at it.

But he knows it’s not easy, especially when there’s so much bad news around us.

He explains, “Our imagination can only be as good as the stories we hear, the places we go, and the things we experience. So, when people ask me how they can imagine a better future, I tell them to change what they see on social media and to read stories from places like Positive News.”

Rob Hopkins chose the year 2030 because it’s close by and not too far into the future. This closeness makes it more real and relatable for most of us, and it’s a timeframe where significant societal changes can happen.

He gives an example to explain his choice: “It took just 10 years from Rosa Parks refusing to give up her bus seat to the Civil Rights Act being passed in the US.” There are many other instances where big changes happened in a similar timeframe.

Rob believes that we have already glimpsed the future. We don’t need to make a huge leap of imagination to picture it because it’s already unfolding around us. He travels to experience this future, not in a time machine, but by train. He captures the sounds of this future for a project called “Field Recordings from the Future,” which he’s working on with musician Mr. Kit.

For instance, he asks, “What does a morning rush hour for bicycles sound like? You can go to Utrecht at 8 o’clock in the morning by the train station to find out. What’s it like in a neighborhood without cars? Visit Vauban in Freiburg, where 3,000 people live in such a place – it’s amazing. And what would it sound like if beavers helped restore our landscapes? Head to Woodland Valley Farm in Cornwall to experience it – once again, incredible.”

"It took 10 years from Rosa Parks refusing to give up a seat on the bus to the Civil Rights Act being passed"

Interestingly, Rob Hopkins’ inspiration for his work on envisioning the near future came from a simple T-shirt. He saw a woman wearing it at a Black Lives Matter protest in Washington in 2020, and it had a powerful message: “I’ve been to the future. We won.”

This message gave him goosebumps and made him think, “What if we approached climate change activism with the same kind of optimism and determination?”

So, what does the year 2030 really look like in his vision?

He explains, “It’s not a perfect paradise, but things are headed in the right direction. There’s a strong feeling that we might actually achieve our goals, and people can see the positive changes happening around them. It’s the 2030 that we reached by doing absolutely everything we could to make it better.”