If the politics of climate change end up polarised, is that so bad? No – it’s disastrous. Or so I’ve long thought. Look at the US – where climate...
Alex Evans
Alex Evans is founder of Larger Us, which explores how we can use psychology to reduce political tribalism and polarisation, a senior fellow at New York University, and author of The Myth Gap: What Happens When Evidence and Arguments Aren’t Enough? (Penguin, 2017).
He is a former Campaign Director of the 50 million member global citizen’s movement Avaaz, special adviser to two UK Cabinet Ministers, climate expert in the UN Secretary-General’s office, and was Research Director for the Business Commission on Sustainable Development.
Alex lives with his wife and two children in Yorkshire.
Freedom and Justice Week – “tell me how we change”
Welcome to our Freedom and Justice Week series, in response to the wave of protest that was triggered by the murder of George Floyd. Our aim is to provide a platform for a diversity of voices to explore how we respond to the protests.
Scenarios Week Round-Up
Last month, we launch the #LongCrisisScenarios in partnership with the Local Trust. The four scenarios describe COVID-19 futures where the response is polarised or where collective action predominates, and where decision-making is centralised or distributed. For the past week, we’ve been inviting contributors to share their perspectives on a what COVID-19 future might look like. From education to cities, from citizenship to future foreign secretaries, you’ll find all the articles here.
Local Week Article Summary
Following our Local Week on Global Dashboard, we have collated all the articles into one easy to read flipbook
After COVID, Where Will We Be?
Yesterday afternoon, representatives from the Long Crisis Network, Local Trust, and The Alternative UK came together to explore the implications of the Long Crisis Scenarios for the future of communities.
Scenarios Week on Global Dashboard
Today, we’re kicking off Scenarios Week, a week of articles from leading thinkers who have formed their own responses to the Long Crisis Scenarios, perspectives on what our world might soon look like, or insights on how we can prepare for an uncertain future.
Our COVID Future: The Long Crisis Scenarios
COVID-19 marks a turning point in the 21st century.? Levels of uncertainty are off the chart, making predictions impossible. ?But if we can create plausible stories about different futures, we create a foundation for decision makers, campaigners, and communities to influence the process of change.?
Protecting our Critical Global Infrastructure
In the final section of our Shooting the Rapids report, we present a plan for collective action with four elements. In this post, we’re focusing on one in particular: protecting critical global infrastructure.
Shooting the Rapids: COVID-19 and the Long Crisis of Globalisation
Shooting the Rapids: COVID-19 and the Long Crisis of Globalisation is a major new report that explores what we do and don’t know about each of the three layers of the COVID-19 crisis, sets out a playbook for collective action, and presents a plan for international co-operation.
This Too Shall Pass: Mourning Collective Loss in the Age of COVID-19
The nature of this crisis goes right to the core of how we live – and die – as social beings, and forces us to look our unease with death squarely in the face. We are experiencing widespread loss, and this inevitably leads to the need to grieve. As such, we recognise that grieving well and collectively will be essential.
Wrapping Up Local Week
The initial call for collective action has taken on new life during our Local Week series. Throughout the week, we’ve shared insights from leading thinkers on public health, policy, community empowerment, local politics, urban planning, and more, each exploring the effects of the unfolding coronavirus pandemic at a local level – you’ll find them all here.
Local Week on Global Dashboard
Over the next seven days, we’re enlisting the help of prominent thinkers on health, food, local government, community empowerment, and urban planning to examine the global crisis through the lens of the local.
Building Trust, Confidence and Collective Action in the Age of COVID-19
Resisting the slide towards polarisation, harnessing the power of the “Larger Us” rather than retreating into “them-and-us” rhetoric, will be key.
Building Trust, Confidence and Collective Action in the Age of COVID-19
In spite of questionable handling of the crisis so far, David Steven and Alex Evans say it’s not too late for leaders and individuals to formulate a response...
New Ideas to Tackle Coronavirus – Global Dashboard takes up the Challenge
Big challenges demand big ideas, and at Global Dashboard we’re ramping up our content in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Ideas for Tackling COVID-19 in the Short-Term
Already, our contributors to the newly relaunched Global Dashboard are churning out new ideas for tackling the coronavirus pandemic in the short-term.
Planning for the World After the Coronavirus Pandemic
In an article written for the World Politics Review, Global Dashboard authors David Steven and Alex Evans call for a coordinated global action plan in...
COVID-19 and the Intergenerational Covenant
Until a month ago, a deep generational divide was the new front line in our polarised politics. But COVID19 could be about to change that – if we get this moment right.
The Collective Psychology of Coronavirus
Just like climate change or political tribalism, coronavirus asks us: do we see ourselves as part of a Larger Us, a them-and-us, or an atomised "I"? Each of...
10 thoughts from an Extinction Rebellion newbie
Two weeks ago, I went to my first Extinction Rebellion meeting in Leeds, curious to find out more about it ahead of its national actions in five UK cities...
More from Global Dashboard
Let’s make climate a culture war!
If the politics of climate change end up polarised, is that so bad? No – it’s disastrous. Or so I’ve long thought. Look at the US – where climate is even more polarised than abortion. Result: decades of flip flopping. Ambition under Clinton; reversal...
Big Elephants and Small Islands: getting beyond the New Aid Orthodoxy
Official development assistance (ODA) – or aid – is a small but conspicuous pillar of the international order, and its frailties are being exposed by COVID as surely as those of the other foundations of this order. The assumptions underpinning aid and its management...
Uncertainty and Humanitarian Action: What Donald Rumsfeld can teach us
Since its onset, one striking feature of the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) has been the narrative power of its novelty. This global narrative depicts COVID-19 pushing humanity towards a ‘historical divide’ of BC and AC (before and after COVID-19), where unknown,...