Trying out a sitting down 'Step into the Doughnut'

Occasionally, my work with religious Congregations brings me to audiences that are older and might have mobility issues, or to formal settings where doing the traditional 'Step into the Doughnut' with ropes etc isn't possible.  To get around this, I have tried to come up with a sitting down version of the workshop. Although not movement-based or as immersive as the original workshop, participants afterwards commented that their understanding of Doughnut Economics had gone beyond the merely theoretical and that they had felt moved by the workshop questions.

In this version, I hand out an A3 sheet to each table, along with an envelope with blutack, and dark and light green pieces of card.

I read out the 3 workshop questions in turn:

Question 1: Think about the outer boundary of the Doughnut - the Ecological Ceiling. Think about a place in nature that you love and hope to never lose.

Question 2: Think of the inner boundary of the Doughnut - the Social Foundation. Think about something that has made it possible for you to be here that you’re grateful for, that others might not have.

Question 3: Think of the safe and just space of the Doughnut. Think of a gift you bring that could help your community get into the Doughnut.

Answers were written on different coloured card, dark green or light green, until each table had made their own "Doughnut":

I asked each table to first look at their table's Doughnut and read eachother's responses to the 3 questions, and then to swap with the table beside them. At the end of the activity, all the Doughnuts were laid out on a long table for all to see.

After the day, I collated all of the answers into ring-shaped word clouds, which, when put together, formed a Doughnut of all the responses:

Question 1: Think about the outer boundary of the Doughnut - the Ecological Ceiling. Think about a place in nature that you love and hope to never lose.

Question 2: Think of the inner boundary of the Doughnut - the Social Foundation. Think about something that has made it possible for you to be here that you’re grateful for, that others might not have.

Question 3: Think of the safe and just space of the Doughnut. Think of a gift you bring that could help your community get into the Doughnut.

These word clouds were shared with participants in a follow up Zoom call on Doughnut Economics, and in the monthly Dominican justice newsletter Through Shadows, which is accessible here: https://dominicansisters.com/news-events/through-shadows-newsletter/ and which you can sign up for at the bottom of this page: https://dominicansisters.com/what-we-do/justice/

When I planned this activity, I was worried it would come a poor second place to the 'real' Step into the Doughnut workshop but I was pleasantly surprised by people's engagement in the activity and how moved and energised they were after doing it.