MIT's Council on the Uncertain Human Future
Participate in an upcoming Council. Are you an MIT faculty member, researcher, student or staff member? We invite you to join a conversation among members of the MIT community that heightens our collective awareness of the climate crisis and creates momentum for what is possible from here.
A series of conversations about the future
The Council on the Uncertain Human Future (CUHF) is a series of small, intentional conversations to consider and reflect on the climate crisis and its implications for our lives, our work, our relationships, and our commitments. Without predetermined outcomes or product, the emergent nature of the conversation brings forth new solidarity, momentum, creative insights and collaborations.
At the outset of a CUHF session, we frame the conversation within the contemporary social and political context. We review the natural and societal symptoms of the collapse, and explore its root causes – cultural, political, economic, psychological and spiritual. From there, we face together the implications of what is taking place, lean into the loss and uncertainty, and feel out possibilities for our individual and collective behavior. Finally, we ask ourselves: given what we know, how do we live now?
Launched at Clark University in 2014 with a national circle of environmental leaders, the Council on the Uncertain Human Future is now an international network, with circles at MIT, Clark, the University of Edinburgh, NCAR, Kathmandu, the Bay Area, UC Berkeley, Santa Fe, Swarthmore College, Bard’s MBA program, University of Hawaii and more. Learn more about the CUHF network and process.
Councils for the MIT Community
To foster an environment of deep reflection, creativity, and possibility about climate change within the MIT community, the MIT Environmental Solutions Initiative (ESI) and the Office of the Dean, MIT School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences (SHASS) opened a CUHF circle at MIT.
In summer 2020, twenty-three faculty members from across all five schools met in weekly two-hour virtual sessions in two Councils over five weeks. This format was replicated for thirty-eight staff members in winter/spring 2021 and summer 2021. Based on the overwhelmingly positive feedback from participants, a Steady Council begun in fall 2021 has continued conversations for those who have participated in MIT circles. ESI is also planning additional Councils for postdocs, staff and faculty.
Read about the CUHF at MIT in this article, published April 2022: Given what we know, how we live now?
Contact: Laur Hesse Fisher (ESI) at cuhf@mit.edu.
Photo by Harli Marten on Unsplash