Where Do We Go From Here?

How does hope look in an era defined by crisis? As a new year dawns, hattie crisell discovers a growing movement to reframe optimism

- Hattie Crisell

In recent years, the world has seemed a place of mounting worst-case scenarios. Any number of things might play on your mind in the middle of the night: the cost of living crisis; war in Europe; nuclear threats; climate emergency; energy shortages; the lingering Covid-19 pandemic; structural racism; a looming recession; or even the fact that British politics is about as consistent as our weather forecasts.

No wonder that, according to a 2022 Reuters Institute Digital News Report, 46% of us in the UK actively avoid the news – up from 22% in 2017. When asked why they wanted to disconnect, the respondents’ most common answers were that they felt powerless or depressed.

It’s a sad picture, but an understandable one. It’s natural to suffer anxiety in the face of grim headlines. A survey by Force of Nature found that 70% of young people feel hopeless about the climate crisis, while half of all tenants are worried they won’t be able to afford their rent this year, according to Market Financial Solutions. There’s no doubt that these problems are serious, but as we go into a new year, are things truly hopeless? Or is it possible that we’ve been too quick to accept that the world is on fire and society is doomed – and that there’s nothing we can do?