Rushkoff’s talk takes aim at climate crisis

Rushkoff’s talk takes aim at climate crisis
Douglas Rushkoff at his office in Hastings

By Kerry Lyons

 MIT calls bestselling author and Hastings resident Douglas Rushkoff one of the “world’s 10 most influential intellectuals.” He’s broadly known as a futurist but if you ask him, he’s “more of a presentist.” And so began the Irvington Green Policy Task Force’s first Climate Talk of the new year at the Irvington Public Library on Jan. 15.

With Rushkoff as the featured speaker, the topic was “Remaking the landscape without remaking people: Toward a new theory of change.” Rushkoff’s premise, according to an Irvington Village email publicizing the event, is that “we don’t need to ‘get people’ to do anything rather, we can create a better world by recognizing the underlying assumptions behind our economy and institutions and shifting them to work for us rather than against us.”

As he stepped up to speak in a room full of residents and road-trippers (one couple made a date of it, coming from West Point), Rushkoff exuded dynamic, contagious energy. He had no notes, no PowerPoint presentation, and no interest in the projector. What he did have was a story to tell and a rapt audience eager to engage. 

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