Alexi (and the others replying to the post),
You Strike a problem which determines a lot of my life right now.
Il give you some recources first to illustrate:
Solutions for the World's Biggest Problems - Cambridge University Press
->This link is a link to a book which makes calculations about which problems the solutions are most urgent. This in order to save as much lives and guaranty a safe future.
Worldchanging: Bright Green
->This is a website, it offers a book with concrete answers to big problems.
WiserEarth: Connecting You to Communities of Action
->This is a website that is a database of institutions worldwide working on development and ecological issues. It holds more than two million organisations right now (and counting).
Spiral Dynamics Integral (SDi) courtesy of Clare Graves, Don Beck, & Ken WIlber
-> a video on spiral dynamics, a system that talks about the concepts of change. I don't think it's thouroughly correct, but it gives a structure to think about global change.
The Story of Stuff with Annie Leonard
-> a film about the way we use stuff, read "consume"
My personal opinion is as follows:
We need to urgently start to think about these problems, we need to start making concsious effort to see the reality of the problem in order to make the real changes needed.
I agree on the fact that it's hardly possible to change anything when you yourself are not content. This is partly because we are attracted to people who feel good and suspect bad things from people who feel bad. It is something well discussed and written about in these forums and website.
Transcending your ego makes a lot of things possible which otherwhise aren't.
But there is more:
- We need concepts to think about change.
Spyral dynamics by Ken Wilber is such a model, it talks about change. It's a very complex model, it takes time to grasp it fully, but it gives a possibility to grasp change. But according to me it is also just a model. Much more models like this could be made. Think about kapitalism, socialism. These models are obsolete. We need to formulate better ones. We need to make models of how people can change, models which others can understand and relate to. Models that truly invite to action.
- One of the most important things one might do for the moment is connecting people around this subject. I, for instance live in Belgium, which is not a huge country, but holds a very large number of NGO's (non governamental organisations in aid) that all do their own things, they all try to get money to get their projects funded, but they are only starting to interconnect. This means networking, making bridges.
- Information needs to flow better and needs to become more accesible, digestible, more easy to understand. "
The story of stuff" for example is a very nice example of a simple explanation of complex problems surrounding us. I vaguely understood the concepts of the film, but seeing it explained changed my realisation about it profoundly.
- This makes up for a big difference - the difference between "knowledge and realisation". Helping people to realize something profoundly will help them to think differently.
Everyone needs to be occupied by the problems of our world, only together we can come to solutions. And for this we need conscsiouc effort, thinking about it and developping ourselves.
I feel I could write much more about it but this gives a first idea to how I percieve it. Hope it helps.
Saigim