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Alex Steffen

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Alex Steffen, in 2008.

Alex Steffen (born c. 1968)[1] is an American futurist[2] who writes and speaks about sustainability and the future of the planet. He emphasizes the importance of imagining persuasive, positive possible futures: "It's literally true that we can't build what we can't imagine,... The fact that we haven't compellingly imagined a thriving, dynamic, sustainable world is a major reason we don't already live in one."[3]

Biography

From 2003 to 2010, Steffen was executive editor at the website Worldchanging. Worldchanging practiced "solutions-based journalism". The non-profit organization announced that the goal of its work was to highlight new solutions to what the editorial team saw as the planet's most pressing problems, rather than to spread news of those problems or critiques of their causes.

The site won or was nominated for a number of awards and prizes, including winning the Utne Independent Press Award (2005), finalist for a Webby for Best Blog (2006), finalist for a Webby for Best Magazine and Bloggie awards for Best Group Weblog and Best Writing for a Weblog (2007), won the Green Prize for Sustainable Literature for its book, won Organic Design Award, Prix Ars Electronica nominee, and in 2008 was named a Webby Official Honoree.

In November 2006, Steffen published a survey of global innovation, Worldchanging: A User's Guide for the 21st century (ISBN 978-0810930957), with a foreword by Al Gore, design by Stefan Sagmeister and with an introduction by Bruce Sterling. A new, updated edition, with a foreword by Van Jones and an introduction by Bill McKibben, was published in 2011.

In 2012, Steffen released Carbon Zero: Imagining Cities That Can Save the Planet,[4] a book which explored the innovations and policy changes that a North American city would need to make to become carbon neutral.

In 2013, he became "Planetary Futurist in Residence" at the design company IDEO.[5]

In 2016, Steffen successfully ran a crowd-funding campaign for The Heroic Future, a three-part series of documentaries on how we might imagine a sustainable future. The theme was "you cannot build what you cannot imagine". The series was filmed in front of a live audience over three nights in September 2016 at the Marines' Memorial Theatre in San Francisco.[6]

In 2017, following the election of President Donald Trump, Steffen modified his style to a form of "anticipatory journalism", taking the same themes as The Heroic Future and setting them in the near future, post-Trump. This series of newsletters are titled The Nearly Now.[7]

Public speaking

Steffen is a frequent public speaker and has spoken at TED,[8] Poptech, Design Indaba, Amsterdam's PicNic, The Royal Geographical Society[9] and New Delhi's Doors of Perception.[10] As well as keynote addresses at industry events like the AIGA[11] and IDSA[12] national conferences, O'Reilly's Emerging Technologies (eTech),[13] FOO Camp and the Business Expo Bright Green held during the Copenhagen Climate Summit.[14] Steffen has given keynote speeches at three different South by Southwest conferences (SxSW).[15] He has also spoken at universities including Harvard, Yale, Oxford, Stanford and the London School of Economics.[16]

See also

References

  1. ^ Cordova, Kristin (9 November 2009). "Spotlight On: Alex Steffen". Seattle Met. Alex Steffen ... the 41-year-old
    - Williams, Alex (6 April 2008). "Duck and Cover: It's the New Survivalism". The New York Times. Alex Steffen, the executive editor of www.worldchanging.com, ... Mr. Steffen, 40
  2. ^ Rachlin, Natalia (18 December 2009). "Trade Fair Offers Ideas to Combat Climate Change". The New York Times. Retrieved 23 April 2010.
  3. ^ Rinde, Meir (2016). "Imagining a Postcarbon Future". Distillations. 2 (3): 24–33. Retrieved 24 March 2018.
  4. ^ "How cities can lead the climate fight: Introducing Alex Steffen's 'Climate Zero'". Grist.
  5. ^ "Alex Steffen Speaker Profile". The Lavin Agency.
  6. ^ Peters, Adele (24 February 2016). "This planetary futurist wants us to fundamentally reimagine a sustainable future". Fast Company. Retrieved 5 April 2017.
  7. ^ Cory, Doctorow (17 March 2017). "The Carbon Bubble is About to Pop". Boing Boing. Retrieved 5 April 2017.
  8. ^ "Alex Steffen sees a sustainable future". TED. Retrieved 18 October 2011.
  9. ^ Purt, Jenny (13 October 2011). "MIC: Guardian Sustainable Business". The Guardian. London.
  10. ^ "Bright Green: Notes from the Road: Design Indaba and Doors of Perception". Worldchanging. 19 March 2007. Archived from the original on 19 June 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2011.
  11. ^ "AIGA Design Conference 2007". Design Conference 2007, AIGA. Archived from the original on 12 October 2009. Retrieved 18 October 2011.
  12. ^ "designBytes: 10.30.06". Industrial Designers Society of America. Archived from the original on 12 October 2013. Retrieved 10 March 2012.
  13. ^ "ETech 2009: Sustaining the American Family". O'Reilly Conferences. Archived from the original on 3 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2011.
  14. ^ "Technologies for Sustainable Growth". Bright Green. 28 April 2009. Archived from the original on 28 November 2010. Retrieved 18 October 2011.
  15. ^ "Alex Steffen and Bruce Sterling | South by Southwest Interactive 2005". I TC Conversations Network. 15 March 2005. Retrieved 18 October 2011.
    - "Alex Steffen". SxSW Eco. Retrieved 20 March 2012.
  16. ^ "OOS News | Sustainability Leaders Blog". Yalesustainabilityleaders.wordpress.com. Retrieved 18 October 2011.
    - "The Hidden Future of Cities". London School of Economics. Retrieved 10 March 2012.
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