‘Horizon’ - the game that supports teenagers who face eco-anxiety.
Eco-anxiety or climate anxiety is a well documented challenge for the mental health of young people around the world. What do we do about the wave of young people feeling hopeless about their future?
As individuals, we can't fix their future or give them guarantees, but we can help them face uncertainty with active hope. By “active hope” I mean finding reasons to keep going and to live with passion and gratitude. To that end I’ve invented a ‘thinking game’ for groups of high school aged youngsters. I've called it Horizon, since the metaphor is poignant. The horizon is the edge of all we can see — but a tiny part of all that exists. If you apply and enjoy this game, please send me a brief note. It would make my day!
There are three prerequisites for hosting this kind of game:
A genuine respect for young people
A good imagination
Courage to face difficult discussions
Discussions during this game may get a bit ‘dark’ because so many young people are expecting the worst from climate change, environmental degradation and conflict. But their need to vent is a valid one. Avoidance, superficial optimism or platitudes don’t help them. If ‘dark discussions’ arise out of this, so be it — just guide them with compassion.
Here’s the game…
Step One: Take a group of young people on the following tour of thought:
Begin the 'tour' by showing them clips of people living in very different cultures or times - it doesn’t matter which, just far away or long ago. Then ask them to suggest things about OUR life - here and now - that those people could not possibly imagine. For example, technologies, medicines or scientific discoveries about the universe.
Give them time and space to discuss this question and whatever arises.
Step Two: Dig deeper. Invite the group to think of a problem that those 'far away' people may have had - for example, a serious, life threatening illness, predator or lack of something essential. Invite them to consider examples of solutions that we have for those problems in our present world - whether by luck, invention or discovery. Get the group to list examples of the 'far away' problems and the solutions we now benefit from. See how many pairs of problems and solutions can be found in about 10 or 15 minutes.
Let those thoughts linger over a short break.
Step Three: Resuming from your break, now is the time to ignite the imagination. How many pairs of problems and solutions did your group come up with in step two? Let’s say for example they came up with four.
Now, invite these young people to imagine a group of descendants in our civilisation, who are living 200 years in the future. Your group has the task of brainstorming problems that the descendants face — and then selecting four. Invite a spokesperson to describe each problem to the rest of the group.
Once the group has articulated these ‘future problems’, challenge them to invent at least one solution for each - completely from their imaginations. The solutions can be anything from plausible to sheer fantasy. They may struggle with this, or they may come up with heaps - either way it’s fine.
Step Four: This is the final step. If your group had difficulty coming up with solutions, this is the perfect opportunity to highlight the following idea… They are no different to the people in the initial ‘far away’ place or time - who could not have possibly imagined what we now take for granted. Their lack of ability to invent solutions, doesn’t mean solutions won’t be discovered.
If your group found it easy to invent solutions, it’s an opportunity to propose the idea that if they can imagine such solutions, how much more likely is it that solutions will unfold when thousands of minds are working on it and discoveries are to be made that we cannot yet imagine?!
If you have a large group and want to add some light-hearted competition, divide them into teams. Whichever team has the most problem & solution pairs wins.
The take-away message / philosophy from this game is…
We need not assume the future is hopeless, simply because all the bad stuff is so visible and easily understood. Solutions, by their nature, are not visible until they are discovered. History and anthropology show us that life and solutions to problems can change immensely between a few generations. So it’s virtually impossible to imagine the full potential of the future. How can we be encouraged by discoveries or solutions that we can’t yet see? We tap into the most renewable resource of all — the human imagination!
