Our vision

DRIFT works on achieving more just, sustainable and resilient societies. Our current age of enormous wealth in the developed world is also inherently unsustainable: inevitably transitions will take place. Inequalities, depletion of fossil resources, climate change, social tensions, isolationism and financial instability are symptoms of transitions in the making. Our vision is that such transitions offer opportunities for more radical, long-term changes. Changes that can lead to better futures, for us and our children.

At DRIFT we choose to focus on opportunities for transformative change. We seek to envision and empower new futures within the ecological, social and economic boundaries that our societies face. Our firsthand knowledge of the science and practice of transitions, gives us the confidence that it is possible to organise our economy, energy, food, mobility, solidarity, housing, education, health care and water management systems in fundamentally different ways.

This practical confidence stems from working with examples of energy collectives and renewables, circular economic models, industrial retrofitting, complementary currencies, new food systems, sustainable mobility and community health care. All these examples show us what a different future might look like and bring into the present tangible alternatives and pathways to get there.

We believe that it is possible to increase our collective capacity to follow through on these alternatives. Without a doubt, the transitions of our times will also bring along disruptions, counter-forces, regression, populism, chaos and instabilities. This is why we believe it is equally important to address issues of inclusion, justice, equity and democracy as issues of innovation, institutionalisation and governance.