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The future isn’t what it used to be.
Ecological breakdown and climate impacts are undermining resilience and disrupting communities. But there is so much to learn about how we can chart a path towards a more just future, one where we can all thrive in harmony with the natural world.
Join Nathan Surendran and Sarha Kress on this 8 week course to explore these questions and take your next step toward building a resilient and just future.
Nathan Surendran is a advocate for Strong Sustainability, with a passion for honest conversations regarding the future we actually face. With a BEng (Hons) in Building Environment Engineering from the University of Nottingham, early career work focused on large-scale, multi-disciplinary projects (up to $1Bn NZD), integrating high-efficiency systems and renewable energy solutions within mixed-use buildings, often challenging conventional architectural trends. Chartered as a professional engineer through CIBSE 2009-2016, he has developed a broader ‘biophysical limits’ systems perspective combining economics, environment and energy, and use of the Transition Engineering framework. Alongside entrepreneurial and academic endeavours, he aims to communicate to a broader audience the underappreciated driver of change that is energy resource depletion, the benefits of asking the right questions, and the early mover advantage of well informed transition decisions.
Sahra Kress is a community midwife, and also the coordinator of the NGO Degrowth Aotearoa NZ (DANZ). She comes to this role passionately from her position as a midwife, deeply concerned about the future of the children she delivers. She has spent years working at the interface of social, cultural, and environmental complexity. Her work includes 20 years of Lead Maternity Practice, regular emergency skills teaching in Vanuatu and Papua New Guinea, and leading a research study on family planning in the Solomon Islands. Unable to continue flying due to the obvious environmental impacts, she felt her work needed to focus locally and expand from protecting mothers and their children, to advocating for nature and collective wellbeing within ecological limits. An overview of the intersection of her worlds can be found here: Sahra is currently most engaged with Deep Ecology and processing grief, facilitating group work towards psychological resilience.
Course Structure
This course will take the form of six weekly modules. In each module there will be a 20 minute video lecture, a 90 minute class on Zoom, a list of resources for reading, watching, or listening, a shared group chat on Signal, and e-mail access to the course instructor.
Course Modules
Week 1- Breaching the planet’s boundaries- investigating the biophysical limits we are exceeding, and how scientists have tried to calculate a safe operating space for humanity.
Week 2- Challenging economic growth– investigating the insistence on economic growth in modern society and the problematic use of GDP as a proxy for social progress.
Week 3- Understanding risk better- investigating the multiple, interacting risks human civilization is facing through the concepts of polycrisis and metacrisis.
Week 4- Green Growth vs Degrowth- investigating the key debate about whether we can achieve sustainability through technological and regulatory change without also reducing our use of energy and materials.
Week 5- Digital Technology and Decomputing— investigating the role that digital technology is playing in contributing to the crisis of sustainability and how the decomputing can bring us closer to our planetary boundaries.
Week 6 – Wellbeing within environmental limits– investigating the rise of wellbeing economics, Doughnut Economics, and Degrowth.
Week 7- The challenge of change- investigating the question of how to bring about change, and how we might transition toward a more just and resilient future.
Week 8- Project presentations and community building- This last week will be a participant-led session where you can talk about your experience in the course, your plans for the future, and share your project if you chose to complete one.
Final project (voluntary)– Students will be encouraged to complete projects relevant to overshoot, risk, and transition with support from the course leader. This might take the form of; letters to newspapers, a short article for the DANZ blog, submissions to government, a pitch to local government, a report on, or address to, a local group, a survey of civic initiatives or activist endeavour, or an investigation of topics from the course. Projects may be submitted in written, recorded, or filmed form.
Zoom sessions for this class are:
Tuesday 7:00 pm NZST
Tuesday 5:00 PM AEST
How this course works
Taking inspiration from the long history around the world of folk education, particularly the Scandinavian and Appalachian traditions, this course is designed to offer a fun, affordable and rigorous experience–that serves the needs of working adults.
Like all folk education, liberation and movement building is at the core of the course. We save ourselves together–and we educate ourselves to build solidarity, share tactics, and create a shared vision for a better future for all of us.
There’s no grades, no assessments, no credentials.
This is about learning for the love of learning and the love of each other.
Course Tools
- Zoom, links will be sent out via email shortly before each class session begins
- Signal (optional)
We will be offering an optional “tech support session” early in the course so that you can ask questions, get help with Signal, and try out the tech tools we will be using.
Please come along if you need any help feeling comfortable with the tools we are using. If you aren’t comfortable with technology, please don’t worry! We will be happy to help you out and work to increase your comfort level.
Model for Each Week and Expectations
Each week will include a ~20-minute pre-recorded lecture and a 90-minute Zoom class session to discuss the material and engage in hands-on activities related to the course material.
We will also provide a list of resources including readings, podcasts, and videos for each week. You can choose to engage with these as we go along or save them for later.
Our goal is to provide readings at a range of levels—if you struggle with reading or have other literacy barriers, you should still find plenty of learning material for you.
You don’t have to be a reader to participate and we aim not to privilege those with better literacy skills.
You are good enough as you are.
Code of Conduct
Our goal is to create a vibrant and engaged learning community where we all prioritise learning and building relationships with each. This course and all Dark Times Academy classes and events aim to be accessible to all people regardless of age, disability, sexuality, background, religion, gender or ethnicity.
A respectful, open attitude towards others is expected from all. Harassment of any kind will not be tolerated and may result in your removal from the course.
Life is hard enough as it is; leading with kindness and patience is key to a great learning experience, one that ensures all members feel welcomed.
Anxiety, Busyness, and Stress
Doing an online course on top of your full-time job, care responsibilities, and other life stuff is really hard. It’s ok to fall behind! Please don’t let anxiety or stress lead you to avoid engaging or cause you to feel inadequate.
Do your best, it will be good enough. Ask for help if you need it. We are always happy to support you as best we can.
Accessibility
Please email mandy@darktimesacademy.co.nz with any accessibility needs. We are happy to work together to make this class work for you
Content Warnings
The nature of this topic means that we will occasionally discuss material that includes upsetting topics. We will do our best to warn you ahead of time when this is likely to happen. Please feel free to do what you need to do to protect your well-being.
Your health and mental well-being should always be your first priority and we will always respect that.
Register here.