Progress on saving the world

From essays to pathways

With a hello to new subscribers, who are a happy wave in the wake of the How We Saved the World essay contest, there’s a buzz now for getting some movement going in this stuck world after the contest cracked our cosmic egg to let a little inspiration get out. These were some typical reactions that were an unexpected result of asking people to think:

Your contest was a truly generative experiment for me—in mapping out my own social-cultural paradigm shifts over the last years.

I was truly inspired by some of the other essays. I think you've catalyzed some real movement here.

This is a magical process and I am really enjoying.

Had I not entered your competition, I would not have crystallized my thoughts to the extent that I have in writing for you.

I think we're on the cusp of some real change. And you're contributing to that in a significant way!!

I am deeply grateful to Suzanne for initiating this essay contest, as it brought me to describe my vision starting from 2050 — a truly brilliant idea.

Thank you thank you! I look forward to what this has begun. I needed the hope. I think we all did.

Thank you. Thank you for having the idea and bringing the idea into the world and running this contest.

Thank you again for the opportunity. The essay I wrote for your contest has me excited again to help "save our world."

I’m still thinking about this. I thought I’d be begging people and I’d be lucky to get enough entries to where there were more choices than prizes. This was an eye-opener about the state of affairs, where it must be that our problems feel insurmountable enough that people feel helpless. This could be something to make comments about.

From the finalists and winners, to some writers who didn’t follow the contest guidelines but had great ideas, the 175 essays are a treasure trove. How to get ideas off the pages and into the world?  One thought is not to think. Let it develop.

Here’s what developed this week. Someone who’d read the 20 finalists’ essays in order to vote on them, remembered one of them,  Round-Up, when she came across something already in play with the same basic idea and even the same name. Stuart Johnstone, the essayist, had never heard of it. He pointed out that it’s a logical name for dealing with something that can happen with the change people get when they pay cash, but I was struck by the synchronicity. Like it’s a nudge that it’s something to go further with. The project that’s in play is a relatively small-scale version of the essay’s vision, where if survival was handled for so many who are struggling, via the method that’s in the Round-Up essay, it could do a lot to get to the cooperative humanity we need to be. We need to check on whether we can build on the one in play. You can find conversation about Round-Up, that includes the link to what is going on already, in these comments. There’s also conversation about other essays, and you can engage in anything that’s there, but new topics go here.

The more that subscribers think together, the merrier for me. On most Substacks the comment sections are responses to what the writers say, but the comments on my Substack will make me happiest when they are creative conversations about what we can do.

Think away…

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