What would 1.5° lifestyles look like? And the road towards them?

GreenDependent Institute organised a second Citizen Thinking Lab on 28 October 2023 in the framework of its EU 1.5° Lifestyles project. The topic of this lab was to develop and discuss visions of a sustainable world together, as well as mapping the possibilities and challenges we will face.

Already four thinking labs have been organized within the project with citizens and experts with the goal of exploring acceptance of individual behaviour change required for a possible 1.5° lifestyle and how societal contexts enable or constrain these. The lab and the project aim to provide a guideline for decision makers, business leaders, civil society organisations as well as households for these required changes. The Thinking Labs are organized in five European countries parallel – Germany, Hungary, Latvia, Spain and Sweden.

The labs are always started with an introductory icebreaker game. This time the citizen participants had to align themselves along to axis put on the floor 1) whether they are optimistic or pessimistic about our future, and 2) who they think is mainly responsible for solving the climate crisis we all face together and reaching the 1.5°C goal.

After a short introductory presentation the work continued in four small groups along the four main consumption areas the project researches – housing, mobility, nutrition and leisure. Two topic areas were discussed in each group.

The main focus of the Thinking Lab was a vision of 2030, where

… anywhere we look we can see solar panels, and hear the murmur of heat pumps;

… almost no one owns a car, but does not need it either due to the highly developed cycling and public transport infrastructure;

… everyone can afford healthy, local and fresh food, and where animal based nutrition is significantly reduced;

…. public spaces provide space for community life, and though travelling is a bit slower, the train system is developed and comfortable, besides we have more free days for holiday.

Listening to the vision of 2030, the participants had to write a letter to their present self about how they feel themselves in this imaginary future. Before lunch, in the morning session a group discussion followed about what the citizens felt positive and/or negative about, in the afternoon the conflicts alongside our road towards this vision were in the focus.

Before concluding the day, a so called Gallery walk took place where the participants were invited to walk around the room and see the results of the other small groups, and they could ask questions to the present moderators. Finally, a short plenary evaluation of the day was the closing act.

The event was hosted in the elegant rooms of MEMO Mesterek és Módszertanok Házának, while the local, sessional and vegan delicacies were provided by Közös. Naturally, the participants could try the customary cakes too with the project logo on top.

GreenDependent calculated the carbon footprint of the event and will plant native fruit trees to compensate for the emmissions.

The short video of the workshop can be seen here.

Anita Szőllőssy, GreenDependent Intézet

Fotók: GreenDependent ©