simply by the terms in which we have been conditioned to think.”
– Buckminster Fuller, “Cosmography: A Posthumous Scenario For The Future Of Humanity”

In these critically important words, Bucky stated that humanity lives in a mental prison. Being stuck in this prison is the greatest challenge humanity faces. Because, as long as humanity remains in this prison, the solutions to all of the other challenges we face – from global warming to human rights violations to corruption in politics – will remain beyond our reach... beyond the awareness of the critical mass of humanity needed to solve them.

The problem my solution will solve is humanity’s ignorance.

My solution will solve humanity’s ignorance of (a) how much better our world can be, (b) the fact that how the great masses of us currently think is a product of a many centuries old, scarcity-based reality that no longer exists, and (c) that an alternative way of thinking – based on an abundance and collaboration-based principles and hope - is how we can get to the much better world that is waiting to be born.

The preferred, ideal state I intend to achieve is (a) the hope-driven awareness by a critical mass of humanity of the possibility that we can have A World Beyond War In Our Lifetime and (b) the commitment by that critical mass to using the transformational communication and behavioral principles required to give birth to a post-“war is an accepted solution to our sociopolitical economic system developmental problems” world.

My solution:

The first part of my solution is to use both modern and traditional educational channels and methods to generate a transformational force within the existing corporate social responsibility and sustainable development movements which – using the Trimtab principle – will steer those movements towards advocating a whole system solution to the problems they are working to solve.

By getting those movements to move beyond their existing, exclusively analytic approach (where they attempt to fix the individual, broken parts of the global system such as the environment, human rights, labor relations, education, and heath care separately) to the point where they examine the design of the larger system in which those broken parts belong, the first part of my solution will result in the participants in those movements seeing – learning for the first time - that the fundamental design of the larger system is a scarcity-based design. Then they will see that by working to alter the design of the larger system from a scarcity to an abundance based design – initially through a coordinated communication strategy which I will champion with the help of my project’s communication partners – they will finally get to a “cultural tipping point” where the necessary resources (cultural, financial, and political) become available for implementing the solutions that exist to making the “parts” of our global system work.

Initial leverage points for this Trimtabing effort are as follows:

(1) In the corporate social responsibility movement is The UN Global Compact ( http://www.unglobalcompact.org ) which uses a “learning organization” approach to helping its participants become better corporate citizens over time. Unlike external standards-based groups, The Global Compact does not accuse organizations of being bad because they are not perfect. This pro-learning, anti-regulatory model mindset is a break from an essential element of the “prison” of which Bucky spoke. And it is a huge leverage point within the corporate social responsibility movement which I am already, slowly working to use towards the aim of this project… of my solution.

(2) The quality management profession (based in part on Dr. W. Edwards Deming’s work and used by The Global Compact as the basis of its “learning organization” approach) is beginning to champion the goal of a sustainable society. This is another leverage point I already have a professional relationship with, one which – again – exists at least partially outside of the mental prison which has most of humanity trapped.

(3) The engineering profession is desperately seeking to gain the political influence it has never had, because – due to the collapse of the levies in New Orleans and the I-35 bridge near Minneapolis – it now sees that not having political influence is killing people. As a former civil engineer and engineering program manager, I am positioning myself – by writing an article for the upcoming special issue on engineers and politics of the Journal of Management and Leadership in Engineering, published by the American Society of Civil Engineers – to influence how that profession communicates to the public.

(4) The UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development ends in 2014. This little-publicized aspect of the sustainable development movement is a perfect leverage point for the transformational, “from the parts to the whole system” knowledge my project will teach. And my corporate social responsibility partners will help make that happen.

The second, parallel part of my solution is to use those same educational channels and methods – some of which might be called “marketing” rather than “educational”, although the difference between the two is not very large – to generate a transformational demand by the customers of these two movements. By “transformational demand” I mean demanding what they currently don’t know they can have: Hope, not just fear!

By calling my Buckminster Fuller Challenge “A World Beyond War In Our Lifetime”, I am positioning myself – and BFI – to communicate with the public about Hope, about what we could have if we got “beyond war”(with the knowledge that this is not a fantasy). By using new media methods (Facebook, YouTube, The Huffington Post, etc) and old (I am writing a book and doing workshops and speeches)... and by reaching out to the media, I know I can reach a significant part of the “conscious public” over time, especially with the added leverage of being the winner of the Buckminster Fuller Challenge. In my message, I reference the “hope vs fear are fighting for control of the future” case made in Tom Friedman’s “The World Is Flat”, which adds mainstream legitimacy (another leverage point) to my project. The truly educational aspect comes from how I am introducing “new thinking” (I say we need to Think Differently – http://www.thinkdifferently.us ) to the conversation. And I have plans to reach out to Hollywood. Tom Hanks, in particular, is the perfect spokesperson. Tom can be Walt Disney to my Wehrner von Braun, who worked together in 1955 to teach the American people that space travel was no longer a fantasy. Here's another reason why Tom is perfect:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BLgAYzv1VCc

My solution is currently self-financed, by my outside real estate income. The “web 2.0” aspects require no real financial investment. Event participation costs are my primary expense.

My solution is Comprehensive because it addresses the core How We Think / We Are In A Mental Prison challenge that cuts across all efforts to solve all of society’s problems.

And it is Anticipatory because it leverages both the “Where are the leaders?” conversation building around the 2008USA presidential elections and the “Innovation is hot” movement in the business world that enables me to talk about “innovation applied to the CSR movement”.

Because it is communication and education focused, the environmental impact is limited to my travel (which I mitigate using tools such as TerraPass ).

It is Verifiable because participation can be measured. And it is Replicable because other people will take what I teach and teach it to others. (This is about knowledge and wisdom, not my personality.) And it is Achievable because offering people Hope of achieving A World Beyond War - and getting them thinking about what that world could look like – will make this World Changing project the most optimistic, positive project there is.