In 2002, before the Age of Social Media, I wrote a regular column called "Find/Replace." The following "Letter to Santa" went sort-of-viral, which means it got copied and sent out on various people's email lists (including science fiction writer Bruce Sterling's list, which was an important list at the time). I thought about that article … Continue reading Letter to Santa Claus 2002: The 2016 Update
Writing
Launching “Swedified” – a new blog
For years, I have wanted to write about what it is like to come to this small, unusual country — Sweden — and then become part of it. There is a Swedish word used to describe foreign people (or things) that have been absorbed by the unique culture of Sweden, but have been given a … Continue reading Launching “Swedified” – a new blog
New Book: “Parachuting Cats into Borneo”
"Fascinating" (Paul Polman, CEO Unilever) ... "Highly Recommended" (Maureen Hart, ISSP) ... "Indispensable" (Michael Kobori, Levi Strauss) The Center for Sustainability Transformation and the AtKisson Group are pleased to announce the publication of a new book by our co-founders, Axel Klimek and Alan AtKisson. Parachuting Cats into Borneo - and Other Lessons from the Change … Continue reading New Book: “Parachuting Cats into Borneo”
About Those Parachuting Cats
On September 1, my latest book — written together with my dear friend and business partner Axel Klimek — hits the shelves, both physically and digitally. Parachuting Cats into Borneo distills our many years of working together into very readable little book on how to make change happen, and also how to avoid the common … Continue reading About Those Parachuting Cats
Seven Pieces of Joan – and a Song about Water
My dear friend Joan Davis passed away on Monday, 11 January, 2016. She was a unique and inspirational person, a top scientist who also believed strongly in the spiritual dimension of human life, the "non-quantifiable variables" as she liked to say. Her extraordinary life is being remembered, in English and German, on a special website … Continue reading Seven Pieces of Joan – and a Song about Water
An Open Letter to Future Generations
Dear Future Generations, I’m sure this is obvious to you — you can see things better than we can, in hindsight. But I want to report to you that we are living through a time of dramatic change. Historic change. The kind of moment where everything seems to be balanced on a knife edge, and … Continue reading An Open Letter to Future Generations
A Brief History of Self-Sharing
On a recent ski-vacation, we bumped into one of my wife’s old school-friends. My wife was a little surprised, but not her friend. “Oh, I knew you were here,” she said. “I saw Alan’s posting on Instagram.” Unwittingly, by sharing a photo on social media — just a nature scene, shot from a moving train … Continue reading A Brief History of Self-Sharing
“A Fresh Start for Sustainable Development”
Note: A different, chattier version of this post was sent to WaveFront newsletter readers. The eight-point summary is the same. To read WaveFront, sign up at http://www.AtKisson.com. The new issue of the leading journal Development, under the new editorship of Tariq Banuri, is finally out! Much food for thought there. I have an essay in … Continue reading “A Fresh Start for Sustainable Development”
Knowledge and Sustainability: The Global State of The Art
Recently I had the honor — and the amazingly complex challenge — of preparing a report for the new United Nations Office for Sustainable Development (UNOSD), based in Incheon, Korea. The title of the report signals its state-of-the-art global breadth: “Knowledge, Capacity Building, and Networks for Sustainable Development: A Review.” This report has been published … Continue reading Knowledge and Sustainability: The Global State of The Art
Why I Wrote “Purging Wallace Stevens”
Unfortunately, I was deeply affected by the poetry I loved and/or studied as a university student -- Rimbaud, Tagore, Elliot, and so many others. Wallace Stevens was perhaps the most difficult to understand, and I loved his work all the more for that, just as I loved Wittgenstein or Hegel. I really understood very little … Continue reading Why I Wrote “Purging Wallace Stevens”
Alan AtKisson 