Technical Report: Reimagine the future

Karakislak, Irmak, Eberle, Caitlyn, Fontanella Pisa, Paola, Zanghi, Alice and Abbas, Syed Muhammad Jaffar (2025). Technical Report: Reimagine the future. Interconnected Disaster Risks 2025. United Nations University Institute for Environment and Human Security.

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  • Sub-type Research report
    Author Karakislak, Irmak
    Eberle, Caitlyn
    Fontanella Pisa, Paola
    Zanghi, Alice
    Abbas, Syed Muhammad Jaffar
    Title Technical Report: Reimagine the future
    Series Title Interconnected Disaster Risks 2025
    Publication Date 2025-04-09
    Place of Publication Bonn
    Publisher United Nations University Institute for Environment and Human Security
    Pages 34
    Language eng
    Abstract Our current expectations of the future are deeply problematic. The decisions we make today focus on short-term gains to meet the needs of the present, while long-term interests and well-being of future generations are disregarded. As the current generation, we are responsible for protecting the future from the threats of global challenges, such as climate change or biodiversity loss. This causes us to make choices about our environment, social systems, and infrastructures that are rushed and shortsighted while their long-term impacts persist and accumulate. So, how can we break this cycle? By applying the Theory of Deep Change, developed for the 2025 edition of the Interconnected Disaster Risks report, this technical background report discusses the risks perpetuated by presentism and what a better system could look like. The report discusses the benefits of a long-term mindset that can strike a balance between the immediate needs of today and the sacrifices we need to make for tomorrow. The report highlights the necessity for deep change that can be achieved by changing societal assumptions and values, called inner levers, combined with structural changes, such as new laws, infrastructure or behaviors, called outer levers. By saving and building for the future, we can recognize our place within a chain of generations and leave better legacies for future generations. Deep change for a sustainable, fair, and resilient future is possible only if we start to imagine.
    UNBIS Thesaurus EDUCATION
    Keyword Presentism
    Nuclear waste
    Language loss
    Dark extinctions
    Long-termism
    Humility
    Sufficiency
    Care
    Youth representation
    Future generations
    Imaginaries
    Discount rate
    Deep change
    Transformation
    Copyright Holder United Nations University Institute for Environment and Human Security
    Copyright Year 2025
    Copyright type Creative commons
    DOI 10.53324/ZGCO8447
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    Created: Wed, 09 Apr 2025, 02:36:28 JST by Aarti Basnyat on behalf of UNU EHS