changing the world

I take the bike to work. It makes me feel that I’m making a statement about the kind of future I want for my children. However, we can’t expect to change the world with such small steps. The task requires a more important sense of urgency. With Worldchanging: A User’s Guide for the 21st Century (see sidebar), we get a book full of ideas on how to achieve a greener future:

Stuff (which covers topics like green design, reducing one’s ecological footprint, biomimicry, sustainable agriculture, clothing, cars and emerging technologies);

Shelter (covering topics like green building and landscaping, bright green home decor, clean energy, sustainable water systems, disaster relief and humanitarian design);

Cities (topics like smart growth, sustainable communities, transportation, greening infrastructure, product-service systems, leapfrogging and megacity challenges);

Communities (topics like education, women’s rights, public health, holistic approaches to community development, copyleft, South-South science, social entrepreneurship and micro-lending, and philanthropy);

Business (topics like socially responsible investment, worldchanging start-ups, ecological economics, corporate social responsibility and green business);

Politics (topics like networked politics, new media, transparency, human rights, non-violent revolution and peacemaking);

Planet (the big picture — everything from placing oneself in a bioregion to climate foresight to environmental history to green space exploration).

In the post a convenient solution: community living I shared a few thoughts on how relevant the study of our global culture is to accomplish a more sustainable life style.