Taking Transformations Seriously: Reflections from Andy Stirling
As we prepare towards our 2025 Residential, let’s throw it back to our 2023 residential when we had the privilege of being accompanied by Andy Stirling, Professor of Science and Technology Policy at the University of Sussex and long-standing co-director of the STEPS Centre (Social, Technological and Environmental Pathways to Sustainability). More than his academic accolades or his role advising governments on questions of power, uncertainty, and diversity in science and technology, what stood out most was Stirling’s humility, generosity, and constant presence, setting the tone for an atmosphere of openness and conviviality throughout our days together.
What Stirling offered was not a toolkit or a roadmap to sustainability. Instead, he invited us to question the very notion of a roadmap, to challenge the dominant narratives of sustainability transitions and think critically about the pathways we’ve accepted, often without realizing how narrow they may be. His message was clear: if we are serious about transformation, we must start by taking transformation itself seriously.
What If It’s… Something Bigger Than Capitalism?
“Why is it easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism?”
This question, often cited in critical sustainability circles, was Stirling’s entry point. But rather than simply indicting capitalism as the root of today’s social and ecological crises, he took us deeper. According to his research, sustainability, understood in its full social, economic, and ecological breadth, may be so hard to achieve not just because of capitalism, but because of something older and more deeply embedded: colonial modernity.
This idea comes from the fact that societies have long been destructive — environmentally and socially — even before capitalism took form. The challenges we now associate with “sustainability” are not exclusive to capitalism, but are features of a broader human condition that has unfolded over centuries through extractive, controlling, and racialized systems of organization. Colonial modernity, as Stirling calls it, isn’t merely a historical legacy but a living structure that continues to shape how businesses, governments, and cultures operate.
At the heart of colonial modernity is a powerful idea: progress. For centuries, “progress” has functioned as a directional force, pointing toward industrialization, innovation, and expansion, but only through continued extraction, appropriation, and accumulation. Stirling does not moralize these processes; rather, he lays them out as the social facts on which the modern world is built. To achieve sustainability, then, is not simply to continue progressing in a “greener” way, but to transform our understanding of progress itself.
The Power of “No Alternative”
One of the most compelling aspects of Stirling’s argument was his dismantling of the myth that “there is no alternative.” This phrase, popularized in political discourse, has seeped into the very heart of sustainability narratives, particularly in how we talk about transitions. Too often, we ask “How much?” or “How fast?” but rarely “Why?” or “In which direction?”
For Stirling, these latter questions are essential — they help unlock alternative trajectories, revealing the plurality of ways societies might evolve. But these alternatives remain difficult to imagine or pursue because of what he calls “blinkers”: limitations in our collective vision of the future that are not natural, but curated, shaped by historical pathways and reinforced by entrenched power.
The tunnel vision that results from these blinkers reduces “progress” to technological and scientific advancement alone, reinforcing dominant systems while sidelining other possibilities. And power — political, economic, epistemic — plays a key role in keeping us on these rails.
Risk, Control, and “Organized Irresponsibility”
Modern societies, Stirling argues, have developed a deep faith in control, especially through science. Risk assessments, cost-benefit analyses, and modeling tools have become central to how decisions are made. But at what cost?
Stirling warns that such frameworks often obscure real uncertainty and ignore ambiguity. By attempting to control risk, we end up in a paradoxical state he terms “organized irresponsibility” — where benefits are privatized, and impacts are shared, often unequally.
A striking example he offered is the lack of academic consensus on the risks associated with certain energy technologies. The “science” is never as settled as we like to believe — assumptions and parameters always shape outcomes. Recognizing this, Stirling calls on us to accept uncertainty and ambiguity as part of our assessments, not as failures to be corrected but as features of real-world decision-making.
Transforming Our Imaginations
What does it mean to take transformations seriously? For Andy Stirling, it means letting go of the illusion of control, dismantling the myth of singular progress, and embracing the messy, plural, uncertain nature of social change. It means recognizing the power structures that lock us into certain paths, and bravely imagining, and enacting, others.
No single pathway will deliver “sustainability.” But by asking different questions, opening space for alternatives, and acknowledging the limits of our knowledge, we can start to shift not only what we do, but how we think about change itself.
In the end, Stirling reminded us that transformation is not only about outcomes, it’s also about process, and about the courage to see differently.
