24 Hours to Envision a Sustainable Future

University of Sussex researchers, Dr Chris Sandom and Dr Joseph Walton along with Brighton based artist, Daniel Locke, took on the challenge to develop a 24-page comic in just 24 hours to illustrate what a sustainable future for the South Coast of England could look like by 2050.

The comic, 'Dark clouds bright skies', illustrates a journey into the future to explore the how we can tackle the different sustainability challenges that we face today. As one of the most nature depleted countries in the world, the vision was to engage with the local community and work together to create a mindset that allows for positive change and helps us to better visualise what a sustainable future could look like.

Before taking on the 24-hour comic we held three workshops to develop ideas with the local community, alongside specialists and experts in this field. All your visions and your voices are present in big ways and small, and you are as much the creators of the comic as we are.

You can read more about the project in an article here, in The Conversation journal.

A huge thanks to Angela Blair, David Blandy, Alex Briggs, Benedict Dempsey, Sarah Dobson (The Living Coast Biosphere), Hannah Eaton, Naomi Foyle (The University of Chichester), Isabella Green, Jessica Green, Victoria Phillips (University of Sussex), Graciela Madrid (University of Sussex), Sophie Robinson (Brighton & Hove Food Partnership), Minnie Sandbach, and Peter Williamson (Climate Friends – Residents for a Nature and Climate Friendly Parish in East Dean and Friston, East Sussex) for all your energy, ideas, and hopeful visions. We would also like to thank all the visitors on the day for their zines and contributions to the comic, and especially Eloise (aka Missy) and Eliot.

We would also like to thank the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) Impact Acceleration Account (IAA) at the University of Sussex for funding this project; Katherine Blackadder, Margaretta Jolly, Carolyn Watt, Lizzie Thynne for their advice and support; Knowledge Exchange and Public Engagement Team at the School of Life Sciences, University of Sussex for their advice and support; Flavio Ferrari, Tom Staniford, Phil Medway, Jemma Levine, Zak Thorpe, Danni Baxter, and Gusto Film for helping us to document the day (and night); the Future Observatory Design Accelerator Programme, Sussex Sustainability Research Programme and Sussex Digital Humanities Lab for supporting related activities; and the Knepp Wildlands Foundation and Phoenix Art Space for hosting us.