My reading from the world of systems thinking encourages me to search for so called ‘high leverage interventions’. Might this be one?
[For more on the idea of high leverage interventions see Donella Meadows seminal paper.]
There are many younger people who have more access to wealth and power than most, and who are intensely concerned about the climate emergency and want to contribute to the solution. And some of those will follow the path of their parents in boldly trying to change the world through a tech startup.
But many will have had few opportunities to question much of the conventional wisdom. And so they come to the climate emergency without questioning whether a technology driven, market led approach is appropriate for the scale of the challenge. And they often buy in to the many questionable schemes for carbon offsetting.
And worse they never get to questioning whether this approach is worsening our predicament.
How might we help them to ask themselves whether tech solutions are effective or even sufficient – when many are ‘sticking plasters’ trying to fix a symptom rather than dealing with the underlying causes? And how might we help them to realise that some essential steps must be done whether or not a profit can be made?
Our current political and economic systems have failed us. We need ‘paradigm shift’! This shift will mean change in every part of our lives: in the ways we relate with others, in how we decide what must be done, in how we live and work, and in how resources are shared, managed and exchanged.
And then, wouldn’t it be great to help them understand and imagine the necessary paradigm shift, so they could start to buy in to it? Because then, they would be able to bring in their connections, enable access to funds, mediate with power, and contribute their expertise – so helping the shift come about sooner and faster.This shift will be beneficial to them as well as those less fortunate.
In order for them to contribute to this paradigm shift, we need to help them change their ways of seeing the world, their values and their behaviour. How might we do this most effectively?
If we can, the resulting change of approach might bring significant change faster than we’ve ever dreamed!
Framework for taking this forward
There appear to be a number of different stages of interconnected work:
- Establish the case for this proposition (both that a technology driven, market led approach is rarely appropriate, and that many young believe it is appropriate). Here’s a start on the former.
- Decide the vehicles for making the case eg a social media campaign, a TED talk, a talk at Intelligence2, ….
- Decide the messaging
- Making it happen
If you feel energised by this please make your suggestions and contributions in the comments!
Thank you!