Same Word – Different Worldviews: The Many Meanings of “Transition”

If humanity and the natural world are going to survive rising temperatures, there are going to need to be some meetings without the US or Saudi Arabia taking control and watering down everything.

That’s exactly what happened this weekend – and there was some complexity to it! But that’s ok; it’s probably even a very good thing.

I use software to monitor the internet for examples of “network intelligence” and write about them. This weekend the biggest story in that field (and one of the most important stories in the world) came from Santa Marta, Columbia.

Beginning on Friday and through this week, Columbia and the Netherlands are hosting a 60-nation “coalition of the willing” at the First Conference on Transitioning Away from Fossil Fuels in Santa Marta.

In this case it’s preparation for the big global climate summits, where commitments will be debated and consensus will be required. But at this summit, the countries infamous for throwing the breaks on fossil fuel transition weren’t invited.

However: that doesn’t mean everyone in attendance at Santa Marta agreed on everything.

Two interesting plays run: Oppositional nodes in the network were barred from participation. And instead of firm commitments, the conference was largely focused on knowledge sharing and scientific, economic, and political roadmaps for countries willing to drive transition forward with urgency.

But “transition” still meant different things to different people. That presents some challenges but also some opportunities. I analyzed 10 articles covering the event and statements made at it to infer the following map of different interpretations and priorities. Think of this as a draft map of the landscape of collaboration. (Email subscribers click through to see the chart below and hover over the cells for quotes.)

Is this a problem? Not necessarily. It’s an opportunity for a process to unfold. Perfect alignment isn’t a requirement for effective collaboration, but places of outright opposition are worth noting!

To cite a local analogy – ecosystems don’t need to be tidy to be functional, even the opposite is true in fact: the Oregon river caretakers at the Upper Willamette Soil and Water Conservation District wrote today about their fish passage work on a place called Bear Creek Stream, where dam removal and culvert replacement with a bridge over the floodplain “will reintroduce complexity to the stream.” Mmmmm….

May the complexity between collaborators at Santa Marta, and in all our supportive networks, be engaged with respectfully, effectively, and fruitfully. We shouldn’t expect everyone to see things the same way.