What can I do to solve climate change?
and to help any of the other Monster Problems, like the maldistribution of wealth? ...prejudice & racism? ...the wave of misinformation? ... wars? ... the collapse of the biosphere?... the threat of AI?
... and the Monster Issue you care about most?
and to help any of the other Monster Problems, like the maldistribution of wealth? ...prejudice & racism? ...the wave of misinformation? ... wars? ... the collapse of the biosphere?... the threat of AI?
... and the Monster Issue you care about most?
#1 ... Stop listening to the frequent messages of experts who deny your creative capacity.
When experts say "There are no easy answers." or "There are no silver bullets", or basically "there will never be a creative breakthrough" ... don't go there! Even the Serenity Prayer starts out, "God give me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change ..." Who is inside you saying "I cannot change this"? ... OK maybe 95% of the time this attitude is helpful. But notice, everything around you right now was once an impossible-to-solve problem. It is natural to solve impossible-to-solve issues through some kind of breakthrough. Take that last 5% of your time to address some impossible problem that concerns you deeply. Oh! and you have to also shift your thinking to some kind of creativity. Choice-creating is recommended.
#2 ... Recognize that the big IMPOSSIBLE problems you care about are ultimately caused by "the System"
Our System structures a pursuit of self-interest, competition and exponential growth. Even if our young people care deeply about saving planet earth, they must earn a living. So they get a job, which structures our best efforts to join with others in placing the highest priority on profits. So even if everyone in the corporation or culture values the well-being of our biosphere as being most important, together we find ourselves stuck in a System created from a different set of values, where we will naturally trash the planet. So, look favorably on all the good things people are doing to address climate change. Yippie. But know that we can't really get there until we transform our System.
#3 ... Step back periodically and notice that Society's Breakthrough MUST HAPPEN!
It's as though all of us are on the deck of the Titanic trying to address pressing problems like homelessness, prejudice, inequities, malware, etc. with as much love and compassion as we can muster. But increasingly we can lean over the deck and notice that we are heading inexorably toward an iceberg. There are all kinds of "solutions" that are good and necessary but which do not address this existential threat. We can no longer rely on our System to protect us from the Monster Problems while we pursue individual happiness. Some of us must go up to the next level and turn the ship. Better is to restructure reality so we aren't on this ship at all. And we are all collaborating in determining and serving what is best for the situation. ... That's what Society's Breakthrough offers, how we can get free of the old system which no longer fits our situation and which is killing the biosphere. So #3) When someone seems depressed or hopeless about the direction of society. And non of the ordinary solutions seem to be working, please tell them that you know an organization that thinks there is an "easy answer" to all of it! ... And direct them to www.WiseDemocracy.org.
#4 ... Recognize that our System resists solving problems in this way.
Although this system-transforming strategy obviously needs to happen, it's difficult for people to acknowledge it. Over the past 30 plus years of bringing this strategy forward angry responses have surprisingly been the norm. Lately these or dismissive. You and I have built our self-identity based in large measure on our System as it is. So to just hear the beginnings of such a strategy can feel like a death threat to people, even though there NO identifiable downsides. ... For example, in December 2022 we took five people to the AGU conference in Chicago, the biggest gathering of climate scientists in the world. We rented a booth at the conference and posted a big sign in the back that said, "How to get humanity to act!" We expected a big line at our booth, given the frustration that climate scientists express about this need for action based on their research. But even in this setting, where people cared so deeply about this issue, we were surprised to find every kind of dismissal. ... So then we asked scientists from NOAA, NASA, the EPA, the Union of Concerned Scientists etc., "If someone were to invent a systemic breakthrough to solving climate change, who should they contact?" ... No one had an answer. Although each person we talked to was deeply worried, they were constrained to talk only about the kind of normal solutions our System allows, like new technologies, greater awareness, education, influencing legislators, etc. ...#4) Please, help us find philanthropists or funders who are fearful enough about what's coming to consider a system-transforming strategy for addressing the climate crisis! and the other Monster Problems.
#5 ... Investigate this "Holution" open-mindedly
Another common response to the ToBe Project is to meet it with critical thinking rather than curiosity, seeking to find the fatal flaw. Please go first to the place of "Hey, can this really work!!?" There must be a period of curiosity before critical thinking to be able to pick up on any breakthrough approach. Five elements are discussed in the free seminar "Essential Wisdom for solving society's biggest issues:"
#6 ... Check to find out if you are one of "Just Us"?
One big advantage of Society's Breakthrough (i.e. the ToBe Project), this whole-system transformation approach, is that it's a living-system approach.
We don't have to have the power to make the deep systemic changes. Even without official power or permission, given that we understand the nature of choice-creating and Dynamic Facilitation, we (just us) can convene the essential "We the People" conversation. We just need a few people who get it (i.e. just us), a few millions of dollars and probably that's enough to get started. Check out to see if you are one of "just us".
We don't have to have the power to make the deep systemic changes. Even without official power or permission, given that we understand the nature of choice-creating and Dynamic Facilitation, we (just us) can convene the essential "We the People" conversation. We just need a few people who get it (i.e. just us), a few millions of dollars and probably that's enough to get started. Check out to see if you are one of "just us".
#7 ... Help in your way
Please help in whatever way you can. ... OK we need money to start. So donate if you can. .. Or help in some other way. Maybe you can help us stay in contact with those who express interest, or rework this website, or write to media about this approach, or to philanthropists, or to climate experts, or to politicians, or to high schools ... or to your friends who are scared about the direction of our society.