What The Future

The impact of climate change poses significant challenges to human systems. Infrastructure solutions will not be sufficient for people to adapt at scale. Understanding inner transformation and how we make sense of ourselves, each other, and reality is essential. As such, people living in the regions need to explore a more nuanced inquiry into the collective, inner dimensions of community sustainability between and beyond climate emergencies.

This film and a PhD research will address the need to show a potential pathway for communities to build capacity and cohesion. The initiative will document communities with a strong inner capacity for regenerative sustainability, aiming to develop knowledge, skills, and cultural readiness for integration in the Northern Rivers and across regional Australia.

We focus on three impact domains—skills, culture, and knowledge—across two key cohorts: our research participants and public audiences.
We intend to grow skills during the production phase by showcasing participants’ abilities to negotiate power, engage in critical feedback, and collaborate creatively. We hope to inspire and build similar capacities within our own community.

During the distribution phase, we intend to grow knowledge by increasing public awareness of effective organising structures, governance models, and decision-making practices during eco-social crises. We aim to enhance understanding of existing proof-of-concept approaches.

During the post-production phase, we intend to grow culture by deepening coherence in how our land-share community makes shared meaning—internally and with the outside world. We want to model cultural transformation as a foundation for collective resilience.

We intend to provoke a broader discussion on how cohesive community can be a viable way forward. Many recognise that conventional living arrangements—rural, urban, or inner city—often fail to support human well-being. Loneliness and isolation are on the rise, with the World Health Organisation reporting that 15–25% of the population experiences social isolation. While not everyone will choose to join an ecovillage, intentional community, or cooperative, there is growing interest in adapting existing living models to foster greater connection and resilience in the face of climate change.
Our research and film will showcase real-world examples of these adaptations, offering inspiration and practical insights to a growing audience. This PhD and documentary will contribute to an emerging research and public discourse field by positioning the community as a vital resource in addressing climate challenges.

Our community, where we will be filming the opening and closing sections, consists of around 150 people on 300 acres of land. We are currently gaining approval from the board to film on the land and in a committee and shareholder meeting. Susanna has already facilitated some workshops and guidance groups, and another shareholding meeting, specifically on this topic, will occur in August, where we plan to film.

We have not yet contacted most of the chosen locations. The UTS Ethics Committee has requested that we go through the ethics approval process first. We are expecting ethics approval in May. Michael does have a relationship with the Sarvodaya Movement in Sri Lanka. We have included some raw, unedited footage shot on a recent trip. They verbally approved their willingness to be included in the film, and we will send them appropriate documentation soon.

The call to action is for supporters and viewers to consider and learn from the research findings. It is hard to be specific about the call to action, as that will depend on what we find and what the research uncovers. This is a new research field: cohesive communities have more versatility and sustainability to face climate change challenges. Anecdotal evidence may suggest that the answer is affirmative.

We propose that the answers to the current predicament are not to be found only with technology, engineering or political fixes. This path needs to be matched with a concurrent change of mind and heart within ourselves. Our audience, supporters and followers will be asked to consider this and take action as they see fit. We will provoke the question, and at this stage of the project, cannot elucidate what that looks like. The call to action will be visible as the audience watches and decides whether to implement these ideas into their own lives, wherever they live – rural or urban.