Book Excerpts

All the World’s Problems, Solved! | EXTRACT

The future we want is already here – it’s just not evenly distributed. Andrew Wear brings together for the first time, tried and tested solutions by other countries to society’s most pressing problems, from violence to inequality, to prove that the world we want to live in is already within reach.

Read this extract from Solved to get your much-needed dose of optimism in an atmosphere of what seems like permanent doom and gloom.

 

On a sunny Saturday, I was browsing my favourite bookshop when I was struck by a sense of gloom. The shelf in front of me was dominated by books that were depressing in their subject matter: our crisis in democracy, the rise of racism and global inequality, the decline of civilisation. I inhaled their sense of panic and malaise almost unconsciously; my previously sanguine mood skirted the aisle and disappeared out the back exit.

The politics section of this bookshop was a dismal place. The titles on display, although likely written with insight and wisdom, focused on the problems our world faces and conjured a bleak and desperate future. Yet just an aisle away, in the self-help and business sections, the books were affirming. They reassured the reader that with the right attitude and an appropriate strategy, change was possible and obstacles could be overcome.

The difference in approach between these categories sat uneasilywith me. The world was facing serious challenges, but I knew from my work in public policy that there had been enormous progress in a number of areas, with some countries achieving remarkable results. I was fatigued by doom and gloom. I wondered if I could take the positive perspective of self-help and business books and apply it to the politics section. If I could shed some light on how countries around the world are working to crack the big problems, it might help to illuminate what sort of government and community action is required to make a difference. Readers might take heart from other countries’ successes and be reassured that we can make real progress towards solving humanity’s biggest challenges.

This book is the product of that ambition. I hope that the insights, stories and strategies in these pages inspire you. Because if other countries can do it, so can we.

For every depressing statistic you hear about, somewhere in the world there is also a story of incredible success. These stories show us that with sufficient will and the right approach, difficult problems can be solved.

For example, fifty years ago the average life expectancy in the United States was among the highest in the world. Americans could expect to live two and a half years longer than those in the rest of the developed world. However, with rising obesity, a startling homicide rate and a lack of universal healthcare, life expectancy there is declining. A child born in the United States today will have a shorter life than one born in 2010.2 Yet spin the globe to South Korea and the improvements in life expectancy are spectacular. In 1960, Koreans could expect to live just fifty-two years.

With universal healthcare, a healthy diet and a huge reduction in infant mortality, a South Korean child can now expect to live to eighty-three. Some experts even predict that by 2030, the average life expectancy for Korean women will exceed ninety years.

In 1990, when climate change first began to be taken seriously, Australia’s carbon emissions were among the highest in the industrialised world, trumped only by Luxembourg, Estonia and the United States. Subsequently, Australia has torn itself apart with rancorous, highly politicised debates about how to address climate change. The government introduced an emissions trading scheme only to abolish it soon afterwards. Thirty years later, each Australian emits 16 tonnes of greenhouse gas a year, the worst rate in the world, and an increase on 1990 figures. But in Denmark, there is a national consensus on the scientific evidence and the moral obligation to respond. The Danes are moving steadily towards producing 100 per cent of their power from renewable sources. The country has managed to fast-track its economy while scuttling emissions: each Dane now contributes half the emissions they did twenty years ago, and Copenhagen is on track to become carbon neutral by 2025.

Another example: in 2000, New Zealand school students were achieving some of the best results in the world. In reading, the country was third globally, behind only Finland and Canada. Yet the reading performance of New Zealand students has deteriorated. In 2018, fifteen-year-olds were reading at a level more than six months behind their predecessors of fifteen years earlier. By contrast, Singapore has built an education system from scratch, which is now delivering world-best results. Within a government-run system that values and invests in teachers, Singaporean students are reading at a level more than a year ahead of the average in many parts of the world, and achieving results in maths more than two years ahead of their counterparts in New Zealand.

 

To learn more about leading examples of sustainable change, order your copy of Solved by Andrew Wears today!

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