"Wake up in a world that is working together to move one billion people across borders. Get ready to pick your new destination."
I belong to a future simulation group known as Urgent Optimists, coordinated by The Institute For The Future (IFTF). The group is led by Jane McGonigal, Director of Game Research and Development and leader of IFTF’s public membership program, Urgent Optimists at IFTF. Jane is the author of the 2022 book Imaginable: How to See the Future Coming and Feel Ready for Anything - Even Things That Seem Impossible Today..
On February 6, 2023 we start a fictional future simulation known as Welcome Party,” where ten years from now. in 2033. nations are welcoming immigrants relocating from places in the world made "unlivable" by a worsening global climate emergency. Join this simulation to spend 10 days in the future of climate migration. Play begins 2/20/2023 after the 10-day simulation.
Although the scenario is fictional, it is plausible based on real signals of change and future forces that already exist today. Welcome Party may sound extreme to you, or ridiculous, at first. It may feel shocking, hard to imagine, full of “unthinkable” possibilities. That’s intentional. It is designed to help you get better at thinking the unthinkable and imagining the unimaginable before it happens — so you can respond more creatively and strategically to whatever future challenges you might face.
Here is a description of the scenario:
"Today, we face a growing climate migration crisis. But what if we flipped our way of thinking upside down? Let’s imagine another ridiculous, at first, possibility: a world in which climate migration is no longer seen as a great crisis but as an urgent solution.
In this future, it no longer makes sense for most people to live in one country their whole lives just because they were born there. The freedom to move is recognized as a fundamental human right, and keeping people trapped behind borders is considered a barbaric, outdated practice. Financial support is available to anyone who needs to relocate because of climate change.
It’s not just a matter of what’s fair. It’s also about fueling economic growth and innovation. More migration gets more people to where they can maximize their potential and make the biggest contributions to society. And most countries need more workers, not fewer. In this world, governments no longer ask how we limit migration. They ask how we maximize its benefits.
Some of the smartest and most creative people in the world are putting all their energy into figuring out the logistics of mass migration: How do we quickly help hundreds of millions of people move somewhere they can be happier and healthier? Which places will have the safest climates? How can we make room there for all of us?
Not everyone is on the move in this future. The rest of humanity is learning how to make others feel welcome and at home somewhere new. In fact, the art of welcoming is now ranked by online learners as the most useful and desirable practical skill to master, ahead of computer programming, data science, and even health care. It turns out that a “soft” skill may be the most essential one for humanity’s future.
Migration in this future is no longer an individual burden or a dangerous, illegal journey. It’s coordinated, intentional, and strategic— the whole world working together to build vibrant, thriving societies. The climate journey you choose to take, if you do move, will bravely make your family’s new history for generations to come.
How might we get to a world like this, where a crisis becomes a solution? What new kinds of political actions and social movements could lead us there? What would it feel like to live through the first waves of coordinated, intentional mass migration? What will be our greatest sources of happiness, comfort, and resilience, if we decide to do the hard work necessary to make a climate-safer life for all?
That’s what we’re going to try to find out in simulation #2: “Welcome Party.”
We have to free our mind, imagine what has never happened before and write social fiction. ~ Muhammad Yunus, social entrepreneur and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize