Alex Steffen

Alex Steffen (born c. 1968)[1][2] is an American futurist[3] 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.”[4]

Alex Steffen, in 2008.

Biography

From 2003–2010, Steffen was Executive Editor at the website Worldchanging. Worldchanging practiced "solutions-based journalism." The nonprofit announced 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: 2005 won the Utne Independent Press Award; 2006, finalist for a Webby for Best Blog; 2007 finalist for a Webby for Best Magazine, as well as for Bloggie awards for Best Group Weblog and Best Writing for a Weblog; won the Green Prize for Sustainable Literature for its book; won Organic Design Award; Prix Ars Electronica nominee; 2008 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 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,[5] a book which explored the innovations and policy changes 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.[6]

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.[7]

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.[8]

Public speaking

Steffen is a frequent public speaker and has spoken at TED,[9] Poptech, Design Indaba, Amsterdam's PicNic, The Royal Geographical Society[10] and New Delhi's Doors of Perception.[11] As well as keynote addresses at industry events like the AIGA[12] and IDSA[13] national conferences, O'Reilly's Emerging Technologies (eTech),[14] FOO Camp and the Business Expo Bright Green held during the Copenhagen Climate Summit.[15] Steffen has keynoted three different South by Southwest conferences (SxSW).[16][17] Steffen has also spoken at universities including Harvard, Yale, Oxford, Stanford and the London School of Economics.[18][19]

See also

References
  1. Cordova, Kristin (November 9, 2009). "Spotlight On: Alex Steffen". Seattle Met. Alex Steffen ... the 41-year-old
  2. Williams, Alex (April 6, 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
  3. Rachlin, Natalia (2009-12-08). "Trade Fair Offers Ideas to Combat Climate Change". The New York Times. Retrieved 2010-04-23.
  4. Rinde, Meir (2016). "Imagining a Postcarbon Future". Distillations. 2 (3): 24–33. Retrieved 24 March 2018.
  5. "How cities can lead the climate fight: Introducing Alex Steffen's 'Climate Zero'". Grist.
  6. "Alex Steffen Speaker Profile at The Lavin Agency". thelavinagency.com.
  7. Peters, Adele (24 February 2016). "This planetary futurist wants us to fundamentally reimagine a sustainable future". Fast Company. Retrieved 5 April 2017.
  8. Cory, Doctorow (17 March 2017). "The Carbon Bubble is About to Pop". Boing Boing. Retrieved 5 April 2017.
  9. "Alex Steffen sees a sustainable future | Video on". Ted.com. Retrieved October 18, 2011.
  10. Purt, Jenny (October 13, 2011). "MIC: Guardian Sustainable Business". The Guardian. London.
  11. "Bright Green: Notes from the Road: Design Indaba and Doors of Perception". Worldchanging. March 19, 2007. Archived from the original on June 19, 2011. Retrieved October 18, 2011.
  12. "AIGA Design Conference 2007". Designconference2007.aiga.org. Archived from the original on October 12, 2009. Retrieved October 18, 2011.
  13. "designBytes: 10.30.06 | Industrial Designers Society of America". IDSA. Archived from the original on 2013-10-12. Retrieved 2012-03-10.
  14. "ETech 2009: Sustaining the American Family – O'Reilly Conferences". En.oreilly.com. Retrieved October 18, 2011.
  15. "Technologies for Sustainable Growth – Bright GreenProduktside – DI – Organisation for erhvervslivet". Brightgreen.dk. April 28, 2009. Archived from the original on 2010-11-28. Retrieved October 18, 2011.
  16. "Alex Steffen and Bruce Sterling | South by Southwest Interactive 2005". Itc.conversationsnetwork.org. March 15, 2005. Retrieved October 18, 2011.
  17. "Alex Steffen". Sxsw Eco. Retrieved 2012-03-10.
  18. "OOS News | Sustainability Leaders Blog". Yalesustainabilityleaders.wordpress.com. Retrieved October 18, 2011.
  19. "The Hidden Future of Cities - Video and audio - News and media - Home". .lse.ac.uk. Retrieved 2012-03-10.
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