Hi folks,
We did not make the MIT semi-finals. FYI the rejection email and my response are below.
Rejection email
No clear goals, outcomes or specific impacts are detailed in this proposal. The idea of education is nice, but this reads more like joining a hippie, cultish organization that's only goal. I don't see any real impact here. I was excited by the title and intro: Catalyzing Systemic Change to solve global warming, but there is nothing systemic about this proposal. Instead it relies on marketing an idea that doesn't have any actionable steps or concrete impacts associated with it. There is nothing required by any actor here to participate other than using the right phrase to describe yourself.
My response
Thanks for your consideration.
My critique of Earth Hour that it is a feel-good event with no follow-through. You make the same critique of my proposal. So far as you can tell, it’s only goal is to get the phrase "transitioning to a life-affirming global culture" as visible as possible. If that were all there is to it, I would agree with your assessment.
Even though I did not make it to the semi-finals, I invite you to go back and explore the proposal in detail with fresh eyes. Why? Because I want you as an ally.
The goal is to change the operating character of our society so that we reverse global warming and other looming existential threats. If you dig into the supporting materials for the proposal you will see that our educational approach is to:
1 Enable people to grasp the magnitude and consequences of current existential threats, including of course global warming.
2 Enable them to see that the continuation of business as usual will destroy us.
3 Help them grasp the systemic nature of the changes we need, including changes in big picture drivers such as economic policy.
4 And help them grasp the operating principles of a healthy, sustainable life-affirming global culture.
Thinking this through equips people to support transformative large-scale leadership when it emerges. And we give many indicative examples of how people can exert leadership to contribute to the transition to a life-affirming global culture within their own sphere of influence.
With warm regards,
No response has come back.
There is a story that when Ferdinand Magellan’s ships first anchored off of Tierra del Fuego, the native people there were literally unable to see them. Except for the shaman.
Normally people see what they expect to see, and find it difficult or impossible to penetrate a new paradigm unless somebody mentors them in the process. I sometimes comment that to ’see reality is a great creative act’.
Smiles,
Andrew
#gr8transition
