We are running out of water, robots will take our jobs, we are eating ourselves to an early death, old age pension and health systems are bankrupting governments, and an immigration crisis is unravelling the European integration project. A growing number of nightmares, perfect storms, and global catastrophes create fear of the future. One response is technocratic optimism — we’ll invent our way out of these impending crises. Or we’ll simply ignore them as politically too hot to handle, too uncomfortable for experts — denied until crisis hits. History is littered with late lessons from early warnings. Cynicism is an excuse for inaction. Populism flourishes in the depths of despair. Despite the gloom, there is another way to look at the future. We don’t have to be pessimistic or optimistic — we can find realistic hope. This book is written by an international and influential collection of future shapers. It is aimed at anyone who is interested in learning to refresh the present, forge new common ground, and redesign the future.

Table of Contents:
Foreword: Realising Hope Ged R. Davis, former Managing Director, World Economic Forum (Davos) and co-author, Catalytic Governance Introduction: Building Better Futures 1. Making Globalisation Work Carl Dahlman, former Head of Research, Development Centre, OECD 2. Energy: A Better Life with a Healthy Planet Jeremy Bentham, Vice President, Global Business Environment and Head of Shell Scenarios, Royal Dutch Shell 3. Are Major Wars More Likely in the Future? Joëlle Jenny, Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, Harvard University and former Director for Security Policy and Conflict Prevention, EU External Action Service Alyssa Stalsberg Canelli, Assistant Director, Experiential Learning and Teaching, Brandeis University 4. The Future of Work Peter Schwartz Senior Vice President Strategic Planning, Salesforce.com and author of Inevitable Surprises. 5. Digital Technologies: Every Cloud has a Silver Lining Claire Naughtin, Research Scientist, Strategic Foresight, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation's Data61 Stefan Hajkowicz, Principal Scientist, Strategic Foresight, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation's Data61 and author, Making Globalisation Work 6. Cities to the Rescue: A New Scale for Dealing with Climate Change Tim O'Riordan, Emeritus Professor of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia and head of the sustainability policy programme for the British Academy Viviana M. Jiménez, researcher, UN Environment Programme and the University of Oxford Keith Clarke, CBE, Chair of Future Cities Catapult and Chair of Forum for the Future 7. The Future of Global Poverty Claudia Juech, Executive Director, Cloudera Foundation and former Managing Director of Strategic Insights, Rockefeller Foundation Chukwudi Onike, Program Associate for Strategic Insights, Rockefeller Foundation 8. Transcending Boundaries - the Realistic Hope for Water Alejandro Litovsky, Chief Executive, Earth Security Group 9. Health Systems: Doomed to Fail or about to be Saved by a Copernican Shift? Kristel Van der Elst, CEO of The Global Foresight Group and former Head of Strategic Foresight, World Economic Forum (Davos) Rudi Pauwels, Founder and President, Praesens Foundation, and co-founder, Biocartis, Tibotec, Virco, and Galapagos Genomics 10. Seeding the Future: Challenges to Global Food Systems Ariella Helfgott, Copernicus Institute, Utrecht University and Senior Researcher, Environmental Change Institute, University of Oxford Joost Vervoort, Copernicus Institute, Utrecht University and Senior Researcher, Environmental Change Institute, University of Oxford 11. The Great Livestock Trade-off: Food Production, Poverty Alleviation, and Climate Change Luke York, PhD, School of Agriculture, Policy, and Development, University of Reading Claire Heffernan, Director, London's International Development Centre 12. Rethinking Economics for Global Challenges Christian Kastrop, Program Director, Bertelsmann Foundation and former Director, Policy Studies Branch, OECD 13. Leadership and the Future of Democratic Societies Martin Mayer, co-founder, YouMeO Verena Ringler, Stiftung Mercator 14. Prototyping the Future: A New Approach to Whole-of-Society Visioning Alenka Smerkolj, minister responsible for strategic planning and development, Government of Slovenia Timotej †oo¿, National Development Strategy Lead, Government of Slovenia Five Principles of Realistic Hope Angela Wilkinson and Betty Sue Flowers Epilogue: From the Eclipse of Utopia to the Restoration of Hope Jay Ogilvy, Co-founder, Global Business Network Acknowledgements Index