Backcasting: Visioning Our Way to a Sustainable Future

Abstract

This paper presents an example of the process called backcasting, a means for stakeholders to envision the future and work backwards to determine the steps needed to reach it. The author conducted this game in Spring 2020 with teacher colleagues as part of a place-based education course in the Ed.D. in Educational Sustainability program at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. The group used backcasting to envision their ideal Sustainable School in 2040, and determine what steps were needed to achieve that goal.

The paper and a presentation on this topic were given by the author at the 5th All-Ukrainian Scientific and Practical Conference “Psychological Coordinates of Personality Development: Realities and Perspectives” on 27 April 2020. The virtual conference was hosted by the Department of General, Developmental, and Practical Psychology, Poltava V.G. Korolenko National Pedagogical University, in Poltava, Ukraine.