Wicked

Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande co-star in Wicked. Photo: Universal Pictures

As 2024 draws to a close, we’d like to take a different approach to a conventional annual review of Carbon Copy by reflecting on the fantasy musical, Wicked. What’s wicked and what have the people we interact with been doing about it this year, not only to escape its darkness but shine a light?

The December blockbuster adaptation of the musical Wicked, starring Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande, follows the relationship of the two main characters, Elphaba and Glinda, and how they became the Wicked Witch and the Good Witch, respectively. Elphaba identifies a wicked problem in her home land of Oz – but without the support of her peers, without others willing to help solve this problem, it is impossible to find a way out of the darkness.

As a definition, a wicked problem is one that is extremely difficult to solve because it’s tied up in so many incomplete, contradictory and changing conditions. There is no single solution and no determinable stopping point; it’s ‘wicked’ because it is resistant to resolution, rather than evil. It’s not the degree of difficulty that’s the challenge with wicked problems, the issue is that traditional approaches and typical ways of thinking don’t work.

The climate crisis is a wicked problem.

Fortunately, there are several ways of making a wicked problem less wicked. In looking back at the high-impact projects that people have worked on together during 2024, three approaches immediately stand out. Collaborating is key – between different communities, organisations and sectors – as these differences provide new answers. Learning by doing, as this leads to better outcomes through real world feedback and iterations. Turning the place where you live into the seat of the solution, because that’s always been the first place to start.

The movie Wicked highlights several challenging themes. In the words of the director, Jon M Chu, the story “is about change and the uncomfortableness of that. And we have to get used to it because on the other side is something really beautiful – but the only way out is through.”

Climate change is happening and we will inevitably change with it. Will we rally together as our way through or will we widen the societal divisions that already exist? In Wicked, the positive message is that our hopes and dreams are more powerful than our fears. Chu makes clear that his musical is “a story about human beings, and the way human beings have existed and moved forward is through connection, no matter how different we are.”

Our Impact Report 2024 is full of these connections and of hope through action. Through the stories we share and their shining example, we would like to pass this feeling of hope and collective power on to you, as you look ahead to the possibilities in 2025.