A "Holution" to the climate crisis
When people talk about the climate crisis and share their ideas for addressing this issue they will often start by saying these three words: "We need to ...." Yes, there are plenty of really good answers about what "We" need to do. But there is no "We" to think through the issue, evaluate different options and co-determine the best path forward. And then, of course, to manage our overall progress in resolving the issue. At the Center for Wise Democracy we developed a set of Social Innovations by which to facilitate the missing global "We" into existence. These social innovations have been combined into an 8-step plan, The ToBe Project. One outcome of this project is a legitimate "We the People," who meet periodically to consider this and other issues creatively and collaboratively. This solution strategy is not only about the content of what we say, the ideas in which we choose to implement. More importantly, this solution strategy is effective because of ongoing process of thinking that it establishes.
Good news: The ToBe Project is accessible. A few of us with adequate resources can set it in motion. ... More good news: Each step is a benefit to society, making the existing System work better before it transforms it. ... More good news: There is no identifiable downside. We just convene a new conversation that is entirely voluntary. ... More good news: This is not a top-down or a bottom-up approach. We don't need to sell this strategy to the leaders or to a massive number of people first. It's possible for just a few people who understand this new approach to convene the new conversation, starting with a symbolic representation of "We the People" that "fills in" with ever more people ... until it becomes a legitimate, powerful "We the People." ... More good news: So, with enough funds to begin we can just start. And as impacts become evident this will generate more interest, funding, etc.
Heck, this is the conversation we all want to be in, where we support one another to creatively face and overcome the biggest most pressing issues. This solution strategy for addressing climate change isn't so much a "Solution" as it is a "Holution" because it affects all issues. It's like building a cocoon so the caterpiller can become a butterfly.
- The CONTENT: The ToBe Project structures a way by which "We" can all think together about the climate crisis and other impossible-seeming, existential issues and co-determe a shared clarity about what's going on (i.e. Truth) and what we need to do about it (i.e. Strategy) People often wonder what difference could possibly be made if a small group of randomly selected people who are brought together for a few days to address some big issue like the climate crisis. So what(!) if they reach unity on what is to be done? Who will pay attention to what they say? ... Key is to realize that when we randomly select a small group from the global population this "Wisdom Council" is a legitimate symbol of all of us. And when they are dynamically facilitated to reach unity, they now symbolize a new entity, a global "We the People." And it turns out in practice that when individuals thinking for themselves hear the Wisdom Council conclusions, they generally respond, "Yes, I think so too." This report is not a "recommendation" to the "leaders" for them to act. More importantly, it is a REFLECTION to all the people of how "We" see the problem. It's an invitation to each of us to consider what we are thinking and to recognize that this is really what is needed. Action comes in many ways, from individual actions, government actions, corporate actions, etc. This is a new form of governance where "We the People" eventually come into being and coordinate what "We" are going to do.
- The PROCESS: The ToBe Project facilitates a new whole-system "We the People" conversation into being. The process invites all of us into one empowering global conversation, educates us, helps us to listen to one another and appreciate diversity of views, and empowers us as "We the People" to redirect our society toward collective wisdom. This new conversational dynamic is choice-creating, not decision-making. Choice-creating opens people's to listen to others, to "own" the problem and to feel a new sense of empowerment. Co-determining a shared version of truth transcends media silos and partisan gridlock. Gaining shared understandings about what we all want removes a basis for wars and sparks a new sense of global community in meeting this and other challenges.
- SYSTEM Transformation: The ToBe Project offers a way to transform our current System so that we stop creating the climate crisis and other Monster Problems. Our global System of governance, economics and culture is currently causing the climate crisis by encouraging us to pursue individual "happiness" (i.e. profits) within a narrow frame of laws and norms. It sets up competition as the basis for our society, generating exponential growth of consumption and production. That is, our System is currently setting us on a path to self-destruction. The ToBe Project can change this by adding the missing conversation ... i.e. "one ongoing whole-system choice-creating conversation" ... to what we already have. This conversation can transition into a legitimate "WE THE PEOPLE" conversation and a new level of collective wisdom.
Good news: The ToBe Project is accessible. A few of us with adequate resources can set it in motion. ... More good news: Each step is a benefit to society, making the existing System work better before it transforms it. ... More good news: There is no identifiable downside. We just convene a new conversation that is entirely voluntary. ... More good news: This is not a top-down or a bottom-up approach. We don't need to sell this strategy to the leaders or to a massive number of people first. It's possible for just a few people who understand this new approach to convene the new conversation, starting with a symbolic representation of "We the People" that "fills in" with ever more people ... until it becomes a legitimate, powerful "We the People." ... More good news: So, with enough funds to begin we can just start. And as impacts become evident this will generate more interest, funding, etc.
Heck, this is the conversation we all want to be in, where we support one another to creatively face and overcome the biggest most pressing issues. This solution strategy for addressing climate change isn't so much a "Solution" as it is a "Holution" because it affects all issues. It's like building a cocoon so the caterpiller can become a butterfly.
- "The ToBe Project: A Shortcut to Global Transformation" published in Catalyst2030.
- "To solve climate change We need to … WAIT! … Who is “We”? published in MAHB, the Millennium Alliance for Humanity and the Biosphere.
- “A ‘Holution’ for the Human Predicament” published in MAHB, the Millennium Alliance for Humanity and the Biosphere.
Three 3-minute video trailers
#1: How to solve the Climate Crisis ...
See the whole 45 min informal talk... "How to really solve climate change" .
#2: Climate scientist discovers Society's Breakthrough
"I believe this is the solution that will save us."
-- Robert Holden, former climate scientist
-- Robert Holden, former climate scientist
You can see the 1 hour 18 min video, "Climate Scientist finds the solution".
#3: "Society's Breakthrough" in the light of "Post Doom"
In this short trailer Michael Dowd, a best-selling religious naturalist who currently focuses on helping people to understand and adapt to the coming collapse of our civilization (See his extensive website www.PostDoom.com), talks with Jim Rough about the potential impact of "Society's Breakthrough" on the climate crisis. (Sad news ... Michael died shortly after this interview was conducted.)
The full video is available at https://youtu.be/nUKmtugRkRM
More about the Holution ... how "The ToBe Project" can impact climate change
The ToBe Project sets up a "We the People" conversation by which 1) "We" address and achieve breakthrough progress on particular PROBLEMS like climate change. 2) where this conversation is ongoing so that the very existence of "We the People" is a transformation of the SYSTEM; and 3) where the PROCESS of stepping back periodically in the spirit of choice-creating involves and empowers all.
1) Content: Re-solving the PROBLEM
- Getting humanity to Act with collective intelligence... Society's Breakthrough facilitates "all the people" to get involved, face Monster Issues like climate change and co-create shared understandings —i.e. what is the Truth; what we want (i.e. Vision); what we need to do (i.e. Strategy) and to coordinate progress toward those goals. ...
- 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.
- 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.
- Removing the blocks to existing solutions ... Many solution strategies to climate change are blocked by the limitations of our System. For example, entrenched interests block new technologies and the absence of some form of global governance blocks our ability to do something about this. Our current System is set up as a competition among special interests with no emphasis on the public interest or collective thinking. Society's Breakthrough generates a clear sense of the public interest so that existing solution strategies can gain a foothold and be put together into a strategy to serve human values more importantly than profits.
- Sparking breakthroughs ... Many scientists are saying that it's too late for us to avoid horrible impacts of climate change. But We haven't started thinking yet. Especially, we haven't started thinking in a heartfelt creative way by which breakthrough progress is normal. What's missing is for us (just us) to facilitate one ongoing global conversation in the spirit of choice-creating. Choice-creating is the quality of thinking by which to create a legitimate "We the People" and by which breakthrough progress starts happening. It's also the quality of thinking by which breakthroughs can easily gain a thorough hearing and the chance to be widely accepted.
- Changing policy ... The Wisdom Council Process is not focused directly on gaining policy changes like other citizen involvement approaches. A number of Citizens Assemblies on climate change have been conducted, for instance, where the Assembly seeks to influence decision-makers about selected policy options. The Wisdom Council Process acts differently, seeking to spark all the people to come together, including decision-makers, as a global "We the People," the OWNER of this problem. And where we all co-create the strategies going forward, including policy choices when appropriate.
2) Process: Choice-creating has an immense impact
- Educating al the people and establishing shared values ... Here's a way that people can begin to understand the nature of Monster Problems and the human capabilities of addressing them. It's also a way to co-create a shared mythology about what is happening and a new hierarchy of values from which to redesign society.
- Facilitating a new quality of thinking . Our current System imposes a subject-object, individualistic, reductionist style of thinking best labeled "decision-making." Think of voting. It's where maybe we think deliberatively about possible options, but ultimately we use judgment to decide on which option is best. This is valuable of course, what we need to do most of the time. But also important but largely ignored is choice-creating, where we face big "HOT" impossible-seeming issues like the climate crisis with heartfelt creatively, seeking breakthrough progress. It's this kind of thinking that yields breakthrough progress and where experiential wisdom arises. The global Wisdom Council Process can spark this needed new capability in our collective and individual thinking processes, where we start thinking more holistically—including all people, other species, the planet, and future generations.
- Overcoming the impact of the competitive mindset ... In our System Special Interests dominate and corrupt collective decision-making. There is little shared sense of the "public interest". Once we all start thinking together in the spirit of choice-creating the Public Interest can be identified and become a priority for governments, corporations and the culture.
- Elevating consciousness, both collective and individual ... Many people think that increased consciousness is the answer to climate change. But educating and transforming individuals, even a critical mass of people, is not enough to generate collective consciousness. Key is to establish one ongoing whole-system choice-creating conversation. The Wisdom Council Process can facilitate this new kind of conversation at large scale.
3) Transforming the SYSTEM
- Establishing "We the People" as the problem "owner" ... Using the Wisdom Council Process it's possible to facilitate all the people to come together as "We the People." By itself, this new conversation is a form of global self-governance. Since it is an ongoing conversation it is a structural addition to the current System.. In addition it's a way of establishing a more conventional form of global governance, like what happened in the U.S, where "We the People ... ordain and establish" ... a Constitution.
- Transforming the System to stop creating the problem .. Our System is the ultimate cause for the climate crisis. It structures the dynamic of special interests competing for profits, where this game mindset naturally undermines the commons. Plus in this structure, there is little provision for achieving the common good. Or even addressing it. "The ToBe Project—Global" promises this level of change. There are three possible "Dynamical Systems" 1) Triangle (i.e. autocracy) or 2) Box (i.e. what is called "democracy" but which is really a "constitutional republic") or 3/ Circle (i.e. a Wise Democracy where we all participate as the new "We the People" conversation, which is the ultimate authority). See the article: The Circle System.
- Transforming global economics ... Our civilization is designed for a situation in which a competition of merit generates collective benefit. We are no longer in that situation. Today we are in overshoot, consuming the commons faster than it can replenish itself. We must transition to a new kind of economics where we face these collective problems collaboratively, serving the public interest. In this new environment capitalism will drive us to self-destruction. But with the global Wisdom Council Process in place we preserve the independence and freedoms of capitalism. There is no coercion to this. We just add the missing conversation where people think together about what's going on and co-create collective choices. Periodically we just step back and ask ourselves: "How are we doing? What are the Big Problems to address? What do we want? How do we best go forward?". And in time we will notice that the results of this thinking has a deeper priority than the simplistic motivations of the marketplace.
- Overhauling sub-systems ... Society's Breakthrough provides a way to reestablish and renew existing global organizations like the UN. or international treaties. Here's a way "We the People" can re-orient these organizations to address and managing issues like climate change and address its unfair impacts.. Here's how we can collectively assess or choose global ideas like geo-engineering, fusion research, green energy technologies, weapons of mass destruction, etc.
"What can I do to help solve the climate crisis?"
Many people are already acting with an "act local, think global" intention. But this problem is not one that can be addressed by a large sum of local actions because it's a classic "tragedy of the commons." Ultimately, the underlying structure of our society must be addressed. So how can one person help us all? Please, see this link ... What can I do?
More resources
To understand more deeply how this new-paradigm process works see:
- The free 5-part video Seminar on "Essential Wisdom for Solving Society's Biggest Issues"
- The recent fun and funny "Dr Future Show" conversation ... https://www.drfutureshow.com/drfutureblog/58-future-now-interviewdiscussion-making-democracy-wise-with.html
- Video of the national Citizens Assembly in Austria on Climate Change (Really good stuff but what's needed is a global Wisdom Council Process). See the contrast between the Citizens Assembly and the Wisdom Council Process.
- Society's Breakthrough to Climate Change ...Handout (with audio notes) about solving climate change ...
- Chart of "Solutions" to Climate Change ... There are many solution approaches to addressing the climate crisis. The ToBe Project releases many blocks to these solutions