Life on Mars!

Introduction

“The most powerful tool in economics is not money, nor even algebra. It is a pencil. Because with a pencil you can redraw the world.”  - Kate Raworth, Author “Doughnut Economics: Seven Ways to Think Like A 21st-Century Economist”.

(See this brilliant book review at: https://besharamagazine.org/finance-global-affairs/doughnut-economics/)

The Life On Mars activity was developed to encourage thinking and re-imagination around our interconnected, complex social systems and their relationality to people and the natural environment.

Using Kate Raworth’s idea of ‘redrawing the world’, I have turned this into a fun activity which may be most appropriate for Year 10 and 11 high school students and above, but can be adapted for any level of learning. Therefore, I propose setting the backdrop for the re-imagination work as a ‘blank canvas’ - which can be an imaginary place, but for facilitation purposes I have proposed Mars.

Since young people are growing in up in a time where talk of extending human activity beyond Earth’s boundaries is normalised, I feel the need to acknowledge this possibility. However, I urge learners to consider the implications of doing so.

Some useful links to provide background or context prior to delivering this activity can be found here:

Young Person’s Guide to Systems Change (The 50 Per Cent): https://the50percent.org/young-persons-guide/

Synergia Institute (Towards Co-operative Common Wealth Systems Change  MOOC):
https://synergiainstitute.org/toward-co-operative-common-wealth-transition-in-a-perilous-century/

The Feasibility of Interplanetary activity: https://www.nasa.gov/humans-in-space/humans-to-mars/

The UK North’s Space Innovation ambitions: https://www.liverpoolcityregion-ca.gov.uk/news/north-west-takes-a-giant-leap-into-space-with-landmark-axiom-space-agreement?utm_source=LinkedIn&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=Orlo

‘Becoming Intentional Gods’ Podcast with Manda Scott and Indy Johar: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/accidental-gods/id1492827360?i=1000632531114


Purpose

Life on Mars is a flexible tool which has been designed as an activity to introduce the notion of Systems Thinking and the idea of Systems Change.

The idea of establishing a new world on a blank canvas inspired me to create this activity, to encourage realistic as well as creative thinking to reimagine our societal systems - which is being opened up by the feasibility of interplanetary human existence.

Ultimately, if we can imagine a new world there, we could reimagine a new one here.

Ideally, this fun activity - on conclusion - will have enabled young people to identify systemic flaws and failures, and inspire the next generation of thinkers and practitioners to boldly explore paths towards revolutionary, life-affirming systems that enable people to thrive harmoniously and sustainably with the natural environment.


Delivery

It has been designed primarily with High School students in mind, but it is an adaptable tool that can be delivered with any interested group.

The idea is to allow the group to be imaginative, to facilitate their discussions and guide them to explore their boldest ideas.

You can use the following resources:

• Slides with accompanying notes (click on the ‘notes’ tab in PowerPoint)
• Facilitation sheet to guide you (as the Facilitator) through the entire activity from beginning to end
• Facilitation questions, which can be provided to the participants to assist their discussions

The ‘blank canvas’ doesn’t have to be Mars. You can adapt this activity in any way you feel is most appropriate.