Three Transitions for a Human-Nature Recovery

这是一个在危机时代提供实用乐观主义的网络体验

We worked with Hitachi’s R&D Division to create an interactive web experience exploring sustainable transitions within the interconnected areas of biodiversity, climate, and human life.

First shown at Hitachi’s exhibition in COP26 in Glasgow, in which Hitachi participated as a Principal Partner, ThreeTransitions.earth is an informative interactive web experience designed by Takram that provides a framework for thinking about global crises and a starting point for radical action.

Since 2020 we have worked with the R&D division of Japanese multinational Hitachi to research and visualise the process of transition towards sustainable futures. As a way to build on the research conducted, the R&D division wanted to create an interactive experience that opens up the research and makes it accessible to the public.

Sustainable transformation within three inter-connected domains

Avoiding climate catastrophe and environmental destruction can seem like an unfathomably complex and insurmountable task. From governments and organisations down to individuals, most of us recognise that change is urgently needed, but many don’t know where to start. The experience we created with Hitachi focuses on the vital importance of initiating co-occurring transformation in how we act in relation to the climate, biodiversity, and human culture and life.

In the experience we visualise the current state of the world; we describe the disastrous consequences of the current carbon paradigm, acknowledge the destructiveness of the ongoing mass extinction, and interrogate the extractive dynamics created by the relentless pursuit of growth. Yet the experience also seeks to make tangible the potential for stabilising the climate through transformational re-orientations towards restoring natural environments and committing to justice and circularity.

Transition thinking – focus on the journey, as well as the destination

It’s impossible to accurately imagine transformational outcomes for the future when you’re completely embedded in the paradigms of the present. When creating ThreeTransitions.earth, we responded to this challenge by focussing on making tangible the process of change rather than focussing only on the desirable outcomes. This process made it possible for us to develop viable routes to positive futures.

Shifting paradigms through experience

We knew that the success of the experience was closely tied to being able to tell a different story of the relationship between humans and nature. We had to build something which is communicative, affirmative and constructive at its core.

Therefore, illustration and world-building are used extensively in the experience to help describe and visualise every step along with the transition towards sustainable futures. Used together with resources about the different actors, theories, and data behind obstacles and breakthroughs, the experience emphasises understanding of the present in order to step towards positive futures.

Public online event: A World in Transition

On 27 January 2022, we co-hosted A World In Transition, an online event based on Three Transitions that brought the project team together with leading thinkers and activists in the field of sustainability. During the event, we discussed diverse perspectives on climate emergency, explored new ways of thinking about transition, and mapped out the pathways that will lead to better futures for all.

Event archive: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKsb7lSQjtQ