Moral Courage & Disco Balls: Gemma Lannon's episode

By Sandy Glanfield

Talking with Gemma Lannon for Let’s Reboot the Future got me thinking about courage, community, and disco balls.

I recently visited Treo House, the space Gemma has created, and it feels like a place built around the idea that people matter. It is warm, creative, welcoming, and full of life. There is homemade food, good drinks, glowing clouds overhead, and a disco ball hanging in the garden. Honestly, if I am going to spend time problem solving for the future, I would quite like to do it with people who have a disco ball.

What I admire about Gemma is that she does not pretend certainty exists. She speaks openly about uncertainty and complexity, and about how difficult it can feel not knowing what the future will hold. But rather than becoming paralysed by that, she seems to approach it with openness, humour, honesty, and moral courage.

Again and again in our conversation, I found myself thinking that Gemma is not trying to gather people because she has the answers. She is gathering people because we all might have pieces of an answer, that together could make a difference. There is something deeply hopeful in that stance. The willingness to say: we may not know exactly what comes next, but we can still learn together, care for each other, create together, and move forward together.

For a long time, conversations around climate and the future have understandably carried huge amounts of fear, grief, and anxiety. Those feelings are real and important. But being around Gemma and seeing what she is building felt different. There was energy, warmth, creativity, and optimism. Not naive optimism. More a belief that even in uncertain times, we still have a responsibility to show up well for each other.

One part of the conversation that particularly moved me was when Gemma reflected on what she would say to her younger self. She spoke about wanting to reassure her that she would not always know the outcome of the choices ahead, but that she should go with it anyway. Then, almost immediately, she acknowledged how difficult that actually is. How learning to live with uncertainty is not something we simply master once and for all. It is an ongoing practice for all of us.

That feels important. We are living through a time that asks us to navigate complexity constantly. The challenge is not just intellectual. It is emotional and moral too. How do we remain open, collaborative, hopeful, and brave when outcomes are unclear? How do we keep contributing without guarantees?

Listening to Gemma, I kept thinking about the Golden Rule. About the idea of going first. Showing up with generosity, curiosity, care, and courage without waiting to see whether others will do the same. Not because success is certain, but because it is the kind of future we want to help create.

And perhaps that is part of the answer. More spaces where people feel welcomed. More tables where people gather honestly. More moral courage. More collective imagination.

And hopefully, more disco balls too.