Open IDEO: Ideas shaped together to improve the world

New ideas by the bucketful on Open IDEO  with a unique format. 

Open IDEO is a place to share good ideas and make them better.  Imagination, technology and a community based platform to let people work together for a better world

It is exciting to see so much enthusiasm and thoughtfulness.

As Bono from U2 said the other day:  It is critical to tell success stories so people know we can change the world for the better and reduce poverty, improve health care, stop wars, cut carbon and solve these big problems together.

Hope in a stalk of grain

NYT story on adapting grains for a warming climate.  Hope in a stalk of grain to bring more food to poor people around the world.  I read the story for the shifting narrative we're beginning to get as mainstream media led by the New York Times starts to cover climate crisis as a front page rather than just a science niche story that Andrew Revkin has beat the drum on for year.

Maude Barlow

Speech given in Fall 2010:  Solid as a rock.  More pithy quote to follow.  This is a bookmark for Maude's powerful voice.  

Raymond Williams: To be truly radical is to make hope possible..."

"To be truly radical is to make hope possible rather than despair convincing." - Raymond Williams

Thanks to Casper ter Kuile 

Connector, Creator, Campaigner. Lover of kale and polyphonic folk singing from Twitter

Alan Atkisson: Hope springs from history

The main thing that gives me hope for the future is looking back at the past. I know, intimately, how very, very far along the sustainability movement has come since its early days. I remember when corporations scoffed at anything remotely like "corporate sustainability," which is now standard practice. I remember when collections of Nobel Prize winners were signing statements warning us about the danger to the planet from the way we were trashing up the atmosphere ... and they weren't talking about global warming. They didn't even mention global warming (1992, "World Scientists' Warning to Humanity"). They were talking about the ozone hole, which is now considered a "fixed" problem. By looking backward, and reminding myself of the momentous changes that *have* occurred, I get more hope about the changes we still need to make, no matter how daunting they are.


Alan Atkisson

Marianne Williamson: Hope is borne...

“Hope is borne of participating in hopeful solutions.”  — Marianne Williamson.





(Thanks to friend Joelle Robinson @ Climate Solutions for her favorite quote, and these good words to live by.)

Al Gore: We can solve the climate crisis.

From Al Gore's new book:  "Our Choice"

Vandana Shiva: Fearlessness and joy

How do I do it? Well, it's always a mystery, because you don't know why you get depleted or recharged. But this much I know. I do not allow myself to be overcome by hopelessness, no matter how tough the situation.

 I believe that if you just do your little bit without thinking of the bigness of what you stand against, if you turn to the enlargement of your own capacities, just that itself creates new potential. And I've learned from the Bhagavad-Gita and other teachings of our culture to detach myself from the results of what I do, because those are not in my hands. The context is not in your control, but your commitment is yours to make, and you can make the deepest commitment with a total detachment about where it will take you.

You want it to lead to a better world, and you shape your actions and take full responsibility for them, but then you have detachment. And that combination of deep passion and deep detachment allows me to take on the next challenge, because I don't cripple myself, I don't tie myself in knots. I function like a free being. I think getting that freedom is a social duty because I think we owe it to each not to burden each other with prescription and demands. I think what we owe each other is a celebration of life and to replace fear and hopelessness with fearlessness and joy."
— Vandana Shiva

Bill McKibben

"There are times when I can almost feel myself simply being."

— Bill McKibben (The Bill McKibben Reader: Pieces from an Active Life) 

   Climate change disproportionately affects poor people and people in third-world countries. How can those of us in better economic circumstances help alleviate their burden?
"Two ways. We can send them the aid they need to leapfrog past fossil fuel and into the renewable future. (It's money we essentially owe them, having filled the atmosphere and thus taken away their ability to burn coal and oil to get rich as we did). And we can cut our own emissions dramatically and quickly, which will help slow the progress of climate change that threatens them so badly. "

A working definition of hope.  

Wendell Berry

"When despair for the world grows in me and I wake in the night at the least sound in fear of what my life and my children's lives may be, I go and lie down where the wood drake rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds. I come into the peace of wild things who do not tax their lives with forethought of grief. I come into the presence of still water. And I feel above me the day-blind stars waiting with their light. For a time I rest in the grace of the world, and am free."
— Wendell Berry (Sex, Economy, Freedom & Community: Eight Essays)
  
Much protest is naive; it expects quick, visible improvement and despairs and gives up when such improvement does not come. Protesters who hold out for longer have perhaps understood that success is not the proper goal. If protest depended on success, there would be little protest of any durability or significance. History simply affords too little evidence that anyone's individual protest is of any use. Protest that endures, I think, is moved by a hope far more modest than that of public success: namely, the hope of preserving qualities in one's own heart and spirit that would be destroyed by acquiescence.

"A Poem of Difficult Hope"

Terry Tempest Williams on her creative process

“Most of the day I am doing nothing,” she confessed of her writing process. “I am waiting. Writing is a natural process, like evaporation, we might not see it going on but it is happening.” As a writer she keeps a candle lit in her workspace, a sacred space she says, one that is spiritual. She also has a bowl of water nearby, in the writing room, because even if she is not writing anything, it is good to know that there is still evaporation - that something is happening in the room.
“Writing is saying the things you don’t want to say, and this takes stamina.” Those who are fortunate enough to have read her work, and even more fortunate to experience meeting her, are certainly thankful that she says them.
~Ian Isherwood

From an interview in The Progressive:

Q: Why do you remain hopeful?

Williams: Hope is not attached to outcomes but is a state of mind, as Vaclav Havel says, "an orientation of the spirit." And I have faith; maybe more than hope, I have faith. I think of my great-grandmother, Vilate Lee Romney, who came from good pioneer Mormon stock. She always said to us that faith without works is dead, so I think if we have hope, we must work to further that hope. Maybe that is the most important thing of all, to have our faith rooted in action. Our community in Castle Valley, Utah, gives me hope. It is a group of people who have committed to caring for a place, both human and wild. If I walked forever, I would never be able to cover this native ground of wonder and awe. I really do believe if there is hope in the world, then it is to be found within our own communities with our own neighbors, and within our own homes and families. Hope radiates outward from the center of our concerns. Hope dares us to stare the miraculous in the eye and have the courage not to look away.
I refuse to walk away.

-- David Kupfer is a longtime contributor to The Progressive.  Williams has a story in the 6/11 Progressive.  See link for a taste of her fine writing.

Reason to Hope

Jane's Reasons for Hope

"It is easy to be overwhelmed by feelings of hopelessness as we look around the world. We are losing species at a terrible rate, the balance of nature is disturbed, and we are destroying our beautiful planet. We have fear about water supplies, where future energy will come from – and most recently the developed world has been mired in an economic crisis. But in spite of all this I do have hope. And my hope is based on four factors.

The Human Brain
Firstly, we have at last begun to understand and face up to the problems that threaten us and the survival of life on Earth as we know it. Surely we can use our problem-solving abilities, our brains, to find ways to live in harmony with nature. Many companies have begun "greening" their operations, and millions of people worldwide are beginning to realize that each of us has a responsibility to the environment and our descendants. Everywhere I go, I see people making wiser choices, and more responsible ones.

The Indomitable Human Spirit
My second reason for hope lies in the indomitable nature of the human spirit. There are so many people who have dreamed seemingly unattainable dreams and, because they never gave up, achieved their goals against all the odds, or blazed a path along which others could follow. The recent presidential election in the US is one example. As I travel around the world I meet so many incredible and amazing human beings. They inspire me. They inspire those around them.

The Resilience of Nature
My third reason for hope is the incredible resilience of nature. I have visited Nagasaki, site of the second atomic bomb that ended World War II. Scientists had predicted that nothing could grow there for at least 30 years. But, amazingly, greenery grew very quickly. One sapling actually managed to survive the bombing, and today it is a large tree, with great cracks and fissures, all black inside; but that tree still produces leaves. I carry one of those leaves with me as a powerful symbol of hope. I have seen such renewals time and again, including animal species brought back from the brink of extinction.

The Determination of Young People
My final reason for hope lies in the tremendous energy, enthusiasm and commitment of young people around the world. As they find out about the environmental and social problems that are now part of their heritage, they want to right the wrongs. Of course they do -- they have a vested interest in this, for it will be their world tomorrow. They will be moving into leadership positions, into the workforce, becoming parents themselves. Young people, when informed and empowered, when they realize that what they do truly makes a difference, can indeed change the world. We should never underestimate the power of determined young people.

I meet many young people with shining eyes who want to tell Dr. Jane what they've been doing, how they are making a difference in their communities. Whether it's something simple like recycling or collecting trash, something that requires a lot of effort, like restoring a wetland or a prairie, or whether it's raising money for the local dog shelter, they are a continual source of inspiration. My greatest reason for hope is the spirit and determination of young people, once they know what the problems are and have the tools to take action.

So let’s move forward in this new millennium with hope, for without it all we can do is eat and drink the last of our resources as we watch our planet slowly die. Let’s have faith in ourselves, in our intellect, in our staunch spirit and in our young people. And let’s do the work that needs to be done, with love and compassion."

--Jane Goodall, PhD, DBE

Tavis Smiley on Hope, Creativity and Optimism

Tavis Smiley hosts a television and two radio shows on NPR. I have listened to Smiley talk for so many years now he's part of my family.

Tavis just published his 15th book "Fail Up." In this book, he spells out the importance of hope and creativity in the face of failure.

Smiley was asked in a recent interview about a distinction between hope and optimism within the context of the current American economic depression:

What can people do if they are unemployed and don't have any money? Not at a policy level, but an individual level?

He said:

"I give this advice to my family and friends:

One, now is the time to do whatever it is you've always dreamt of doing. There's no downside. You don't have a job, you don't have any money, so there's no downside whatsoever to trying that thing you always said you wanted to do. Going back to school or whatever it is.

Two, this is the best time to be creative, try something new, get those juices flowing. Figure a way out, because the times demand that.

Three, people have to remain hopeful. There's a distinction to be made between being optimistic and being hopeful. Optimism suggests there's a set of facts or circumstances or conditions, something you can see, feel or touch, that gives you reason to feel good about the future. Hope is a different thing. It's having faith in the substance of your future even when there's no evidence that it will be better. Even if you don't have reason to be optimistic, you can always be hopeful. I'm an example of an individual who has built an entire life on hope. Now, conversely, if you give up hope, you ain't got much of anything else."

This distinction is crucial to looking forward in life: It's having faith in the substance of your future even when there's no evidence that it will be better.

Having faith in the substance of your future makes all the difference.