Signals Of Change #1
Creating visions of the future start in the present. When we look at things that are taking place around us, we can use our imaginations and foresight, to form basic ideas of where those things could go, and importantly, how these make us feel.Each week we’ll observe three signals of change, understand what’s driving them and curiously question how they could play out in the future.
Signal 1: Coffee, Less The Beans
Still getting your head around all the meatless meat and milkiness milk? Well now you can try coffeeless coffee.
Food tech start-up, Atomo Coffee is shaking up the $100 billion coffee industry by using upcycled ingredients like sunflower seed husks and watermelon seeds, which undergo a patented chemical process to yield molecules that mimic the flavor and mouthfeel of the real thing.
The resulting grounds are brewed just like a regular cup of coffee. And yes, it has caffeine.
What’s driving this change?
Coffee is the world’s favourite beverage – and the second most traded commodity after oil, and one crucial to the economies of several countries.
But it is also one of the world’s most vulnerable to climate change. The plants that grow Arabica beans—the most common worldwide, favored by both coffee snobs and global chains, thrive in cool regions with distinct rainy and dry seasons. But global warming is causing those regions to shrink.
Within the next seven decades, Arabica is likely to lose at least 50% of its habitat, possibly even more according to a study by scientists at Britains Botanical Gardens, Kew.
As temperatures continue to rise and growers move their farms in search of cooler temperatures, rates of deforestation rise, as well.
As people become more conscious about the environmental footprint of all consumable products, and increased accuracy in traceability, this means that you can now have a choice if you want a coffee that isn’t linked to deforestation, where previously you didn’t.
What could this mean for the future?
Will the future of coffee as we know it today become so scarce that it becomes an exclusive luxury good, like a modern day caviar?
Could the reliance we have on this habit, and desire to protect it become one of the great drivers of climate protection?
As our planet warms, will we develop new cold beverage cultures on a new set of eco-friendly taste profiles?
How do you feel about a future without coffee?
Signal 2: TikTok’s Green Power
TikTok users are teaching each other eco-friendly sustainability hacks, like making banana peel fertilizer and regrowing lettuce.
TikTok is the world’s fastest growing social network. The platform currently 1 billion active users, and has seen growth of 1,200% in the past two years. Critically, 48% of it’s users are between 10-29, the life force of the Gen Z creative movement.
TikTok remains shrouded in mystery, safety concerns and conspiracy. But there is no escaping that the platform has been the centre of creator culture, and has strong links with influencers on the hunt for fame, simply free stuff.
But now the community is going green with a range of sustainability hacks - and could become the most powerful influence on behaviour change liked to sustainability, and break the divisive, narcissistic codes that social media has created to bring people together around a critical issue.
What’s driving this change?
Gen Z are more conscious of climate protection than any other previous generation. In fact, they rate the state of the environment as their number one fear, and show far less apathy toward action in comparison to their older counterparts.
We’re also seeing a shift in the social currency attached to meaning. Put simply, it’s cool to care - people in search of fame and influence are achieving it through their empathetic, planet centric views on the world. Not just how many pairs of sneakers they own.
What could this mean for the future?
Could social media finally find it’s place and save the world?
Will we see ‘influence’ rated, and scored according to environmental impact?
Could we see platforms like TikTok partner with global climate change groups, or better yet, government?
How do you feel about a future where social media is saving the planet?
Signal 3: Philanthropy As An Employee Benefit
What if your employee benefit package included a personal fund to make charitable donations?
That’s what Groundswell envision through their platform - employees and employers add money, employees give as they see fit.
Corporations traditionally make their tax deductible donations to causes that they define, and largely as gestures for that tax benefit. And whilst many employees of companies have a ‘will’ to be more philanthropic to causes that matter to them, when it comes time for action, sadly apathy takes over.
By creating a platform built into the employees package, and setting them up with personal funds to donate as they see fit, employees are empowered to engage and support with causes that matter to them with ease, and link that impact to their performance, as well as get their companies support.
Companies also capture data based on causes that are authentically linked to their most important asset, their people.
What’s driving this change?
Across the world, brands are trusted more than governments. The increasing expectation for these companies to use their influence, agility and resources to behave as more active social citizens, is unavoidable.
Matching this is the desire for employees to be attached to entities that represent them. This has been evident in the ‘Great Resignation’ where employees have bowed out of toxic cultures, and lack of belief that the entities they serve, are in fact serving them.
What could this mean for the future?
Could we see philanthropic impact become a status badge or metric for candidates?
Will we see corporate social impact reported as frequently as stock price?
Will we be more innovative if we all have a philanthropic score?
How do you feel about a future where philanthropy is mainstream?
