Reasons to be cheerful: thinking sustainably in a (climate) changing world

Although some still claim them as purely technological and economic concerns, climate change and sustainability present profound challenges to all levels of practice, from international governance institutions to domestic day-to-day habits. This diagnosis has become increasingly emphasised in environmental governance debates, which raises questions about how we all might engage with and think about making changes to these often highly charged spheres of practice, to encourage environmental and socially sustainability. In this article, I draw on recent experiences of a sustainable living workshop in Adelaide, Australia, to discuss how insights from participants’ views on appropriate models of social change – particularly the perspective of one ‘street philosopher’– along with human geographical environmental governance research, and aspects of gestalt theory can together suggest a positive and creative research praxis: one that works to draw out subjects (and our own) stories and aspirations to ‘think sustainably’