Sarah Housley
@sarahhousley.bsky.social
Design futures researcher. Author of Designing Hope: Visions to Shape Our Future (The Indigo Press, 2025). Monthly research and writing at designintelligence.substack.com
Pinned
Sarah Housley
@sarahhousley.bsky.social
· Mar 12
My new book Designing Hope: Visions to Shape Our Future will be published by The Indigo Press in September! It’s available for preorder at @waterstones.bsky.social here: www.waterstones.com/book/designi... #Booksky #BookAnnouncement
Reposted by Sarah Housley
The accumulated waste of generations of mass consumption is decaying in landfill, + the chemicals those goods were drenched in - lead, mercury, cadmium, PFAS, PCBs - are seeping slowly back out into water, soil + air.
Our report with @investigate-europe.eu:
euobserver.com/eu-political...
Our report with @investigate-europe.eu:
euobserver.com/eu-political...
Europe’s landfill crisis exposed: new map reveals toxic cocktail of environmental risks
Thousands of landfills across Europe lie in flood-risk zones, areas which could endanger drinking water or sensitive conservation sites, Investigate Europe and Watershed Investigations can reveal in t...
euobserver.com
December 4, 2025 at 5:21 PM
The accumulated waste of generations of mass consumption is decaying in landfill, + the chemicals those goods were drenched in - lead, mercury, cadmium, PFAS, PCBs - are seeping slowly back out into water, soil + air.
Our report with @investigate-europe.eu:
euobserver.com/eu-political...
Our report with @investigate-europe.eu:
euobserver.com/eu-political...
Reposted by Sarah Housley
Yesterday we spoke to 100s of the UKs MPs, Peers, faith leaders, CEOs, and celebs for the first @nebriefing.bsky.social on the climate & nature crises.
What happened needs to reach millions more, please sign this letter to the PM and media organisations: www.nebriefing.org/open-letter-... 🧵...
What happened needs to reach millions more, please sign this letter to the PM and media organisations: www.nebriefing.org/open-letter-... 🧵...
November 28, 2025 at 11:02 AM
Yesterday we spoke to 100s of the UKs MPs, Peers, faith leaders, CEOs, and celebs for the first @nebriefing.bsky.social on the climate & nature crises.
What happened needs to reach millions more, please sign this letter to the PM and media organisations: www.nebriefing.org/open-letter-... 🧵...
What happened needs to reach millions more, please sign this letter to the PM and media organisations: www.nebriefing.org/open-letter-... 🧵...
How TV shows depict AI futures: “When the end comes, it’s depressing to think that your final thought will now probably be: Oh, I think I saw this on Black Mirror once.”https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2025/nov/25/years-and-years-black-mirror-tv-show-depictions-ai-repurcussions
From Years and Years to Black Mirror: the best TV prophecies for how AI will end us all
Will AI take all our jobs? Prevent all crimes from being committed? Or finally develop skills beyond that of a trainee copywriter? Here are television’s finest depictions of our imminent future…
www.theguardian.com
November 25, 2025 at 7:31 PM
How TV shows depict AI futures: “When the end comes, it’s depressing to think that your final thought will now probably be: Oh, I think I saw this on Black Mirror once.”https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2025/nov/25/years-and-years-black-mirror-tv-show-depictions-ai-repurcussions
“There is something paradigmatic and powerful about robots that dominates our imagination of the future.” Laura Tripaldi on useless robots, companion species and sublime otherness thereader.mitpress.mit.edu/in-praise-of...
In Praise Of Useless Robots
The most intriguing robots aren’t built to work, but to make us imagine other worlds.
thereader.mitpress.mit.edu
November 2, 2025 at 8:06 PM
“There is something paradigmatic and powerful about robots that dominates our imagination of the future.” Laura Tripaldi on useless robots, companion species and sublime otherness thereader.mitpress.mit.edu/in-praise-of...
Reposted by Sarah Housley
People are opening up Meta AI Ray Ban glasses and modding out the LED recording light, then selling them on eBay. There is huge interest in disabling this functionality, which means basically you cannot trust anyone wearing these (i'm sure you already weren't)
www.404media.co/how-to-disab...
www.404media.co/how-to-disab...
A $60 Mod to Meta’s Ray-Bans Disables Its Privacy-Protecting Recording Light
Meta’s Ray-Ban glasses usually include an LED that lights up when the user is recording other people. One hobbyist is charging a small fee to disable that light, and has a growing list of customers ar...
www.404media.co
October 23, 2025 at 2:32 PM
People are opening up Meta AI Ray Ban glasses and modding out the LED recording light, then selling them on eBay. There is huge interest in disabling this functionality, which means basically you cannot trust anyone wearing these (i'm sure you already weren't)
www.404media.co/how-to-disab...
www.404media.co/how-to-disab...
“Perhaps the biggest cost of ignoring the voices of the reasonable majority of those in tech is how it has grossly limited the universe of possibilities for the future.” Anil Dash on the ‘majority view’ of AI www.anildash.com/2025/10/17/t...
The Majority AI View - Anil Dash
A blog about making culture. Since 1999.
www.anildash.com
October 18, 2025 at 7:38 PM
“Perhaps the biggest cost of ignoring the voices of the reasonable majority of those in tech is how it has grossly limited the universe of possibilities for the future.” Anil Dash on the ‘majority view’ of AI www.anildash.com/2025/10/17/t...
Reposted by Sarah Housley
Damn. This is amazing. £325 per week, paid monthly, for 3 years - and the result was a profit for the Irish economy:
www.citizensinformation.ie/en/employmen...
www.citizensinformation.ie/en/employmen...
October 6, 2025 at 10:03 PM
Damn. This is amazing. £325 per week, paid monthly, for 3 years - and the result was a profit for the Irish economy:
www.citizensinformation.ie/en/employmen...
www.citizensinformation.ie/en/employmen...
Reposted by Sarah Housley
Meta is constructing its largest data center yet: a $10 billion facility in Louisiana, as big as 70 football fields, requiring more than twice as much electricity as the City of New Orleans.
Louisiana has had to greenlight $3 billion in new energy infrastructure to service Meta's facility.
Louisiana has had to greenlight $3 billion in new energy infrastructure to service Meta's facility.
New Meta Data Center Needs Twice as Much Energy as New Orleans
Meta is constructing its largest data center yet: a $10 billion facility in Louisiana requiring more than twice as much electricity as New Orleans.
buff.ly
October 4, 2025 at 1:45 PM
Meta is constructing its largest data center yet: a $10 billion facility in Louisiana, as big as 70 football fields, requiring more than twice as much electricity as the City of New Orleans.
Louisiana has had to greenlight $3 billion in new energy infrastructure to service Meta's facility.
Louisiana has had to greenlight $3 billion in new energy infrastructure to service Meta's facility.
Reposted by Sarah Housley
Book review: Designing Hope, by Sarah Housley
In 2021 a survey asked 10,000 young people in ten countries how they felt about climate change. 75% said the future was frightening and 55% thought humanity was doomed. "People are not excited about the future any more," notes design futurist Sarah…
In 2021 a survey asked 10,000 young people in ten countries how they felt about climate change. 75% said the future was frightening and 55% thought humanity was doomed. "People are not excited about the future any more," notes design futurist Sarah…
Book review: Designing Hope, by Sarah Housley
In 2021 a survey asked 10,000 young people in ten countries how they felt about climate change. 75% said the future was frightening and 55% thought humanity was doomed. "People are not excited about the future any more," notes design futurist Sarah Housley, and that has consequences. Without a vision for the future, it's hard to summon the will to change what's broken and create anything better.
earthbound.report
September 24, 2025 at 12:28 PM
Book review: Designing Hope, by Sarah Housley
In 2021 a survey asked 10,000 young people in ten countries how they felt about climate change. 75% said the future was frightening and 55% thought humanity was doomed. "People are not excited about the future any more," notes design futurist Sarah…
In 2021 a survey asked 10,000 young people in ten countries how they felt about climate change. 75% said the future was frightening and 55% thought humanity was doomed. "People are not excited about the future any more," notes design futurist Sarah…
New for @dezeen.com - “the idea of designing for virtual worlds is just getting started” www.dezeen.com/2025/09/25/m...
"The idea of designing for virtual worlds is just getting started"
Rumours of the metaverse's demise are greatly exaggerated – particularly when it comes to designing virtual buildings, writes Sarah Housley.
www.dezeen.com
September 25, 2025 at 9:29 PM
New for @dezeen.com - “the idea of designing for virtual worlds is just getting started” www.dezeen.com/2025/09/25/m...
Utopia, with solar panels: me on solarpunk for @thenewworldmag.bsky.social www.thenewworld.co.uk/sarah-housle...
Utopia, with solar panels
Solarpunk began as a sci-fi vision of a beautiful, sustainable planet. Now it inspires Hollywood movies and real-life tech. Can it change the world?
www.thenewworld.co.uk
September 25, 2025 at 9:26 PM
Utopia, with solar panels: me on solarpunk for @thenewworldmag.bsky.social www.thenewworld.co.uk/sarah-housle...
Reposted by Sarah Housley
Far from reducing reliance on fossil fuels, many nations are planning higher levels of fossil fuel production for the coming decades than they did in 2023
#productiongap #climatecrisis
Story by @fionahandley.bsky.social
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
#productiongap #climatecrisis
Story by @fionahandley.bsky.social
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
Nations’ plans to ramp up coal, gas and oil extraction ‘will put climate goals beyond reach’
New data shows governments now planning more fossil fuel production in coming decades than they were in 2023
www.theguardian.com
September 24, 2025 at 12:05 PM
Far from reducing reliance on fossil fuels, many nations are planning higher levels of fossil fuel production for the coming decades than they did in 2023
#productiongap #climatecrisis
Story by @fionahandley.bsky.social
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
#productiongap #climatecrisis
Story by @fionahandley.bsky.social
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
Reposted by Sarah Housley
Some findings of note: ChatGPT has a global and diverse user base, with usage growing faster in poorer countries than in wealthy ones. And people are increasingly using it in their personal lives rather than for help at work. www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2...
Here’s what the data says people ask ChatGPT
OpenAI released the first detailed public study on who uses its chatbot and what they most often ask it to do.
www.washingtonpost.com
September 15, 2025 at 6:18 PM
Some findings of note: ChatGPT has a global and diverse user base, with usage growing faster in poorer countries than in wealthy ones. And people are increasingly using it in their personal lives rather than for help at work. www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2...
Reposted by Sarah Housley
Only the rich are gaining. Women across the board are loosing
The latest data out from #Census today show median earnings and median household incomes kept pace with inflation in 2024. Men's earnings rose 3.7% increasing the gender wage gap back to 2019 levels. Income grew at the top, but not the middle or bottom, reversing recent trends.
#EconSky #NumbersDay
#EconSky #NumbersDay
September 9, 2025 at 2:50 PM
Only the rich are gaining. Women across the board are loosing
Reposted by Sarah Housley
"...it is notable that no major, forward-looking future visions have taken root in our collective imagination since smartphones came to dominate our way of communicating."
(@sarahhousley.bsky.social)
(@sarahhousley.bsky.social)
Societies can be united and inspired by ideas of the future. We urgently need more of them, argues futurist Sarah Housley
We have run out of new visions of the future. This needs to change
Societies can be united and inspired by ideas of the future. We urgently need more of them, argues futurist Sarah Housley
www.newscientist.com
September 6, 2025 at 2:26 PM
"...it is notable that no major, forward-looking future visions have taken root in our collective imagination since smartphones came to dominate our way of communicating."
(@sarahhousley.bsky.social)
(@sarahhousley.bsky.social)
Reposted by Sarah Housley
"I look at four future visions being developed today: more-than-human futures reimagines our relationship with nature; degrowth redesigns the role of the economy; solarpunk recharges cultural innovation; and the metaverse immerses us in vivid digital worlds."
www.newscientist.com/article/mg26...
www.newscientist.com/article/mg26...
September 4, 2025 at 12:35 PM
"I look at four future visions being developed today: more-than-human futures reimagines our relationship with nature; degrowth redesigns the role of the economy; solarpunk recharges cultural innovation; and the metaverse immerses us in vivid digital worlds."
www.newscientist.com/article/mg26...
www.newscientist.com/article/mg26...
Reposted by Sarah Housley
@sarahhousley.bsky.social author of Designing Hope names solarpunk among the top positive visions to shape better tomorrows #BooksForChange #FutureVisions
www.bigissue.com/life/the-way...
www.bigissue.com/life/the-way...
From solarpunk to the metaverse: The way we think about the future needs to change
Though over half of us think humanity is doomed, if we can imagine a better future, we can start to move towards it.
www.bigissue.com
August 30, 2025 at 10:29 AM
@sarahhousley.bsky.social author of Designing Hope names solarpunk among the top positive visions to shape better tomorrows #BooksForChange #FutureVisions
www.bigissue.com/life/the-way...
www.bigissue.com/life/the-way...
Reposted by Sarah Housley
There’s a word in modern Swedish slang, smygflyga, which describes not admitting to taking a flight because of shame about carbon footprints. It literally means “sneak flying.”
And the word tågskryta describes when you proudly tell everyone that you took the train instead (literally “train brag”).
And the word tågskryta describes when you proudly tell everyone that you took the train instead (literally “train brag”).
August 28, 2025 at 2:50 PM
There’s a word in modern Swedish slang, smygflyga, which describes not admitting to taking a flight because of shame about carbon footprints. It literally means “sneak flying.”
And the word tågskryta describes when you proudly tell everyone that you took the train instead (literally “train brag”).
And the word tågskryta describes when you proudly tell everyone that you took the train instead (literally “train brag”).
Reposted by Sarah Housley
“This, without a doubt, is neoliberalism’s
single most damaging legacy: the
realization of its bleak vision has
isolated us enough from one another
that it became possible to convince
us that we are not just incapable of
self-preservation but fundamentally
not worth saving.”
- Naomi Klein
single most damaging legacy: the
realization of its bleak vision has
isolated us enough from one another
that it became possible to convince
us that we are not just incapable of
self-preservation but fundamentally
not worth saving.”
- Naomi Klein
August 22, 2025 at 11:11 AM
“This, without a doubt, is neoliberalism’s
single most damaging legacy: the
realization of its bleak vision has
isolated us enough from one another
that it became possible to convince
us that we are not just incapable of
self-preservation but fundamentally
not worth saving.”
- Naomi Klein
single most damaging legacy: the
realization of its bleak vision has
isolated us enough from one another
that it became possible to convince
us that we are not just incapable of
self-preservation but fundamentally
not worth saving.”
- Naomi Klein
I’m thrilled to be speaking at this year’s #CheltLitFest (10-19 October 2025) 📚🍂
My session Hope for the Future, with Emily Buchanan, is on the 14th October: www.cheltenhamfestivals.org/events/hope-...
Tickets go on sale 4 September
My session Hope for the Future, with Emily Buchanan, is on the 14th October: www.cheltenhamfestivals.org/events/hope-...
Tickets go on sale 4 September
Hope for the Future | Cheltenham Festivals
Author and campaigner Emily Buchanan and futures expert Sarah Housley blend storytelling and strategy to inspire climate action and resilience. Buchanan’s
www.cheltenhamfestivals.org
August 13, 2025 at 10:03 AM
I’m thrilled to be speaking at this year’s #CheltLitFest (10-19 October 2025) 📚🍂
My session Hope for the Future, with Emily Buchanan, is on the 14th October: www.cheltenhamfestivals.org/events/hope-...
Tickets go on sale 4 September
My session Hope for the Future, with Emily Buchanan, is on the 14th October: www.cheltenhamfestivals.org/events/hope-...
Tickets go on sale 4 September
“This is nature only as spectacle.” www.theguardian.com/environment/...
I travelled the globe to document how humans became addicted to faking the natural world. Here’s what I found
In his new book, The Anthropocene Illusion, photographer Zed Nelson reflects on the surreal environments created as people destroy nature, yet crave connection to it
www.theguardian.com
July 24, 2025 at 7:04 AM
“This is nature only as spectacle.” www.theguardian.com/environment/...
Reposted by Sarah Housley
This has always been clear: plant-based meat alternatives are better for the planet and, at least compared to red meat, better for your health. That this is not widely accepted is the product of meat industry disinfo, science illiteracy, and some very stupid journalists.
www.cnn.com/2025/07/21/h...
www.cnn.com/2025/07/21/h...
Eating this ultraprocessed food may be good for you and the planet, experts say | CNN
Plant-based meats have been viewed at times as ultraprocessed and possibly unhealthy. But some experts believe they deserve a second look.
www.cnn.com
July 23, 2025 at 12:36 PM
This has always been clear: plant-based meat alternatives are better for the planet and, at least compared to red meat, better for your health. That this is not widely accepted is the product of meat industry disinfo, science illiteracy, and some very stupid journalists.
www.cnn.com/2025/07/21/h...
www.cnn.com/2025/07/21/h...
Reposted by Sarah Housley
I wrote about how Geoff Lewis, one of OpenAI’s long running investors, has sparked concern among peers who believe he may be facing a public mental health episode brought on by ChatGPT.
futurism.com/openai-inves...
futurism.com/openai-inves...
A Prominent OpenAI Investor May Be Suffering an ChatGPT-Related Mental Health Crisis, His Peers Say
Bedrock co-founder Geoff Lewis has posted increasingly troubling content on social media, drawing concern from friends in the industry.
futurism.com
July 18, 2025 at 6:30 PM
I wrote about how Geoff Lewis, one of OpenAI’s long running investors, has sparked concern among peers who believe he may be facing a public mental health episode brought on by ChatGPT.
futurism.com/openai-inves...
futurism.com/openai-inves...
Reposted by Sarah Housley
Among all the big bad things happening on our planet, there's one Big Good Thing, the sudden, startling rise of solar energy.
It changes the power dynamic, in every sense of the word 'power.'
www.newyorker.com/news/annals-...
It changes the power dynamic, in every sense of the word 'power.'
www.newyorker.com/news/annals-...
4.6 Billion Years On, the Sun Is Having a Moment
In the past two years, without much notice, solar power has begun to truly transform the world’s energy system.
www.newyorker.com
July 9, 2025 at 1:36 PM
Among all the big bad things happening on our planet, there's one Big Good Thing, the sudden, startling rise of solar energy.
It changes the power dynamic, in every sense of the word 'power.'
www.newyorker.com/news/annals-...
It changes the power dynamic, in every sense of the word 'power.'
www.newyorker.com/news/annals-...
Reposted by Sarah Housley
New research predicts global warming will reduce farm yields enough to, in effect, cost all humans their breakfast
open.substack.com/pub/billmcki...
open.substack.com/pub/billmcki...
So many moving pieces
Trying to understand the planet and its politics on the longest day
open.substack.com
June 20, 2025 at 3:58 PM
New research predicts global warming will reduce farm yields enough to, in effect, cost all humans their breakfast
open.substack.com/pub/billmcki...
open.substack.com/pub/billmcki...