On December 18, 2022, Thrivers came together from all over the world to celebrate a year of THRIVE’s achievements at THRIVEFest.
In areas such as Brisbane, Sydney, and Melbourne, Thrivers gathered in person, however, members from all over the globe attended online, (from Australia, Indonesia, Singapore, Canada, and Ghana). We took the time to recognise that despite the progress that organisations like ours make, the world (unfortunately) still has a long way to go towards thrivability, leaving us atoundingly aware that immediate and enduring action is needed to mitigate and adapt to climate change.
We gathered, remembering that, as individuals, we can all take action to protect biodiversity, reduce harmful emissions, reduce waste, and bridge the availability of societal resources. On the heels of COVID, this year saw the war in Ukraine, disruption to food and other essential supplies, further human rights abuse towards women and children, doubling down on investments in non-renewables, and many efforts towards creating tensions in China, the middle-east, and elsewhere.
Humankind has not been so kind to humans.
Morris D Fedeli
Reflection on 2022
We also celebrated positive milestones together. As a for-impact not-for-profit organisation, The THRIVE Project employs a science, evidence-based approach, to analyse and develop policy, theory, and technology, to help us move towards thrivability. We achieve this by operating across the three arms of research, education, and advocacy. We inform the sciences and develop tools and technologies, to provide forward guidance towards a thrivable future that benefits us all.
THRIVE’s monthly Thrivability Matters Webinar series featured guests from all around the world, including academics, experts, leaders, and business owners, with experience in each of the webinar’s themes, sharing their insights on approaches to the UN Sustainable Development Goals. The “Thrivable Future” podcast saw similar results covering far ranging topics from “how to motivate society towards sustainability” to “why should we care”.
Our social media team also reached a milestone in followers on LinkedIn, advocating for action on sustainability. Mid-year saw the THRIVE Framework cited by United Nations research groups as “a key data platform for further disseminating implementation of the [sustainability performance] indicators!”, showing once again that we are the leader in the field of sustainability metrics worldwide.
It’s certainly been a busy year!
High Achievers
At THRIVEFest we celebrated the individual contributions of a few special Thrivers. Our ‘Most Co-operative Award’ went to Cheyenne Wynia. Cheyenne is one of THRIVE’s researchers and has written on subjects from sexual health education to world hunger and poverty. She has become the glue between our editorial and research teams. Voted the ‘Most Essential’ was Sabrina Schmid, a passionate and award-winning animator for our multimedia team, and the leader of several other THRIVE media initiatives. Finally, the award for ‘Most Promising Newcomer’ went to Research Assistant Abdul Al Issah Osmanu, who has taken on the role of leading next year’s online THRIVE Conference.
THRIVE promotes a call to action. With humanity having already entered the 6th mass extinction, there is no time left to procrastinate. In many ambits of life, such as the need for sustainable water, energy, shelter, transportation, education, health, and well-being we have the answers on hand. We need to share our knowledge with those in power and lobby governments to take drastic steps immediately. As individuals, there are actions we can take immediately!
We sincerely hope that your year has been as fantastic as ours. Have a prosperous 2023, and remember to keep on thriving, as #ThrivabilityMatters!
