"People who choose to take this course need to take the warning very seriously from the course facilitators that it is a deeply, profoundly, uncomfortable unlearning, and learning experience. With that, somewhat surprisingly, comes an incredible amount of personal and professional freedom and lack of attachment to harmful systems, even whilst navigating said systems. For every single CEO, Chief People Officer, Chief Financial Officer, Sales Director, and any other senior executive or business owner that asserts that Sustainability or ESG matters, they MUST take this course. I am forever changed, and I changed multiple times fundamentally throughout this 5-month journey. I feel more alive, more clear, and have better relationships with myself, my wife, and those who matter most to me as a result of this experience. Thank you POSSIBLE FUTURES Crew."
- Garry Turner, United Kingdom
"With Intro to Decolonial Sustainability I feel like I am looking at the world again with a new pair of eyes, shoving off the blurry lens of Western-centric conditioning and narratives. It's helping me filter out all the noise and with clarity, zoom into what really matters. The course, with emphasis on crewing together, reminds me that I am not alone and supportive community is a big part of possible futures for this planet."
- Animah Kosai, United Kingdom
"Words cannot describe what I went through during this course but I will try my best. It arrived at a crossroads where I was questioning most of the things around me. Hence, the course led me into tears, fears, frustrations, laughs, and multiple life crises. And I would go through all of that again and again. What stays with me are the unlearnings, a deep commitment to the possibilities that we weave, and connections to people who support each other on the steps ahead."
- Ana Cristina Vides, Switzerland
"This course deconstructed me entirely. It contextualized the people and practices that have always felt a little or a lot wrong, the relationships I hold with the world and what I wish were different, and the systems upon systems of oppression that are working precisely as intended - to feed profit and power in the mouths of those who have continuously extracted. Taking this course felt like jumping into a deep pool of cold water on a hot day: relief, shock, surprise, and joy. A multitude of ways of being, living, working surround us, and we can begin step into those different modalities with clear direction and strong connections. We can begin to imagine different futures by interrogating what a relationship is and how to honor it, tend it, and - if it's time - let it die. If you're ready, this course can unmold you from how you believe you need to exist. If you're not ready, turn around."
- Margaret Lee, United States
"This is the most transformative course I have taken part in. It was therapeutic (though not therapy, as the course facilitators clarify several times throughout) in that it helped me peel back and clearly examine the layers of my own and others' socialisation into capitalism and coloniality. At some point along the way, it became impossible to look away and/or go back to what I was doing, thinking or feeling beforehand, in the realm of Sustainability, Inc. and beyond. This course was a rough, collective ride on choppy seas, and I am so glad I took part."
- Isabella Coin, United Kingdom
2024 Testimonials
"Are you really ready for this? It’s a fierce 5-month voyage on fiery seas where motion-sickness is the least of your worries.
This is learning as you’ve not experienced it. Your navigators have designed intricate, ancient, modern, living metaphors to guild and challenge you. Their methods will bring you constant joy.
Which is good, as the content will make you weep. You’ll be overwhelmed by what you don’t know, and underwhelmed by the elasticity of your heart as it breaks at least three times a week.
Are you really ready to slay old stories of virtue, seeing history how it really happened? You’re saying you want deep transformation - are you sure about that? Removing your own large, sticky, old band-aids to reveal your privilege and weakness for comfort and not-knowing? Under there are epistemicide, narratives of Empire, violence and more violence. Whole species, including your own, un-alived, objectified to keep you feeling safe.
Happily, your worst moments will be carried and shared by others learning with you - alive, confused, seeking honesty in themselves, boldly uncovering the narratives. You will not be alone. You will return changed.
Are you really ready? Then get on this course if you can."
- Rachel Pryor, United Kingdom
"This course is critical for anyone wishing to meaningfully contribute to helpfully build a sustainable socially just future. It helps clarify the hidden and powerful inner machinations of our society and illuminate possible pathways towards better futures. Atypical in all respects, this course compels personal change and seeds right relationships as a foundation for emerging futures."
- Monica Da Ponte, Canada
"I highly recommend this course to anyone who is struggling with the realities of trying to transform our economy in pursuit of a flourishing future for all life on Earth. I learned a lot, and unlearned a whole lot more. It's as if I have tuned in to a new radio frequency that I wasn't previously aware of, but that I now can't stop hearing, and my perception of the world is far richer for it. A unique and truly rewarding experience."
- Geoff Kendall, United Kingdom
"The journey I've been on over the last five months helped me navigate through a heavy blur of feelings, experiences, thoughts, emotions, to find a clarifying new 'pair of glasses' with which to view the world. I call it a new ability 'to read between the lines'. At the end of it, rather than feeling hopeless and helpless, I feel awake, aware, energized. The 'truth will set you free' they say. Although getting to that truth is raw, deep, dark and excruciating, getting to it does indeed somehow 'liberate you'."
- Katrien Rennemeier, Belgium
"Before it asks what you can do, the course prompts you to question what you're already doing. What is it for? For whom? And dictated by whom? Becoming aware of the water we swim in, the myths we swallow and retell, the system that we feed on, and in turn we feed, can be a painful, uncomfortable process.
This course doesn't soothe you but instead challenges you to feel in entirety the many ends that have already come to pass and continue to occur on a daily basis across worlds. With your cohorts by your side, it doesn't have to be a solitary ordeal, nor should it ever be."
- Anonymous course participant, DecSust23
"Intro to Decolonial Sustainability is so much more than a course.
It is a transformative experience that has helped me deconstruct ties and build new ones, profoundly challenging my identity. It's a space of vulnerability, deep humility, respect and dignity. This course has transformed my experience of the world and allowed me to question my relationship with it, offering infinite nuances to the dualism rooted in Western culture."
- Ségolène Montigny, France
"It fundamentally deepened my understanding of deep-seated patterns and mindsets of colonialism and what it means to be genuinely regenerative, sustainable, and climate-conscious.
While the focus is on sustainability, what I learned applies across all other areas of social impact and tech: patterns of colonialism are consistent and persistent across every aspect of society."
- Kelly Neuner, United States
"I would highly recommend this course. It is sticky in that it will both challenge / shift your perspective(s) as well as sit in the forefront of your mind as you move through your day-to-day. You will question and analyze everything. Plus - the facilitation is incredibly thoughtful & creative and art is centered and embedded in all aspects. A must for anyone looking to surrender to the realities of our global context & strip through the narratives we've been brought up to worship."
- Isabel Nuesse, Kenya
2023 Testimonials
2022 Pilot Testimonials
"Intro to Decolonial Sustainability was an unsettling but rewarding course that highlights the need to centre Global South voices and nature and to do the continuous work for actual sustainability, instead of the watered down version that we have become accustomed to. A must for all those who are in corporate sustainability, philanthropy, international development and social impact."
- Anonymous pilot course participant
"The journey was one of rediscovery, unlearning, and moments in the mirror. Facilitated discussions, curated libraries of video and articles, and invigorating moments with our crew navigating the seas of uncertainty were the highlights of the experience. I've been awakened, my eyes opened, and my spirit has emerged fierce, grounded, and ready."
- Anonymous pilot course participant
"This course is one of the most powerful experiences I've had and potentially one of the most transformative. The instructors are deeply informed and uncompromising in their commitment to decolonizing sustainability efforts, as well as deconstructing Global North mindsets. It is not for the faint or quaint of heart, but for those willing to look critically at themselves and the world through a new lens as part of a growing community dedicated to rebalancing and rebuilding human society. The Possible Futures Crew introduces key concepts like "Right Relationship", "Centering the Oppressed", and "Tunnel Visioning", among many others, to guide students toward a more enlightened understanding. In addition, their compass frameworks of "Harmful Behaviors" and "Fantasies and Denials" will challenge you to contemplate your role within Sustainability Inc. It is a brilliantly and beautifully constructed course… rigorously demanding and regeneratively caring at the same time."
- Eli Ingraham, United States
"This course has changed me forever. Not only in a professional sense but also as a human.
The POSSIBLE FUTURES Crew took us on a unique, well-organised and often extremely uncomfortable journey that made us deeply question our beliefs and work on them. With very creative storytelling elements, the team of facilitators guided us into a new journey of learning and un-learning – long before we knew it. And once started, there is no return.
As a result of joining this course, we decided to not work with corporates anymore, as well as making significant changes in the narrative and language used on our website and all other materials.
Thanks to POSSIBLE FUTURES, I fell out of love with my privileges and learnt to see them for what they really are: tools of ongoing oppression that still harm so many others."
- Christina Forster, Germany
"I would like to Thank You guys for offering the course. It was an experience I wasn't quite prepared for. I might have mistaken it for any other course but week for week the content and engagement sessions became quite intensive, challenging my approach not just to sustainability inc and any role I might play (in and around it) but it also impacted my personal life. As a visual storyteller I can say that I have found myself scrutinizing collaborative opportunities a lot more since the course. The breakout room sessions and crew sessions have added new layers of understanding for me. I no longer take for granted what it means to relay other peoples stories; who is "paying" for the story, why do they get to have access to these voices, where are the owners in the negotiations around their story, what does the story being told do for the individual/business paying for the story ... The extensive and in-depth nature of some of the materials lost me along the way. With the size of each weeks crew session 'homework' growing in demand as the weeks went, it became harder to meet and fulfil the expectation. Because I don't deal with sustainability inc in as direct of a way as what I felt the course might have been speaking too, I did find myself drifting between some of the resource and in-contact material which I am not too proud off. I would like to keep revisiting the material."
- Siviwe James, United Kingdom / South Africa
"This course challenged me in multiple ways and across multiple layers as it dragged me (in a positive and nourishing way) out of my comfort zone and confronted me with the many blind spots and ignorances I have shown but not acknowledged while navigating the field of sustainability. The journey went far beyond any of my expectations and the dialogues, exercises and powerful narratives truly changed how I view the "world of sustainability". The POSSIBLE FUTURES Crew has not only provided rich, detailed and multi-faceted perspectives, but fundamentally questioned my assumptions about sustainability for which I am deeply grateful and sent me on a journey I will never forget."
- Marina Schmitz, Germany / Slovenia
"The Introduction to Decolonial Sustainability Pilot course has opened doors to a level of conversation, learning, and interrogation that is not often seen in the sustainability world. The team shared uncomfortable realities and helped the cohort navigate these through careful and well-held sessions that challenged us in our use of language, levels of accountability , and types of action. Though I have been aware and working in elements of decolonial sustainability, the course helped me define and deepen purpose and "sift through the detritus" of what persists in the worlds of "sustainability" and "regenerative thinking". I'm looking forward to the Possible Futures Crew's next steps in unwinding Sustainability Inc.!"
- Kara de los Reyes, United Kingdom
"Taking this course was humbling, eye-opening, empathy building, and deeply uncomfortable. I went into it hoping to learn more about all the obvious and subliminal ways in which the sustainability industry perpetuates colonial narratives and how to address and challenge that.
But throughout the journey I was forced to look inwards instead and confront my own beliefs, perceptions and actions. By turning worlds upside down, giving a voice to people and stories in the Global South and challenging everything, this unconventional learning experience is desperately needed to help navigate the world and ensure we don't fall into the same harmful patterns that have gotten us into this mess in the first place. It's not for the faint of heart and requires both openness and commitment, but the more you put into it, the more you'll get out of it."
- Maria Correa, Netherlands