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Are you ready to make a change in society? What are ways to make the world a better place?
Even with so many advancements that have made lives easier, the world is far from perfect. With climate change getting worse every year and people not getting along, there’s room to make the world a safer and more enjoyable place to live in.
Keep reading to learn the actions you and others can take to make the world a better place.
1. Reduce Carbon Emissions
Every aspect of our way of life—from the food we eat to our energy production to manufacturing—relies heavily on fossil fuels. But burning fossil fuels releases carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gasses that cause climate change. In How the World Really Works, Vaclav Smil says that the primary causes of climate change are:
- Fossil fuel combustion, deforestation, and cement production, which release carbon dioxide
- Cattle, natural gas production, landfills, and rice fields, which release methane, and
- Fertilizers, which release nitrous oxide
Carbon dioxide is responsible for about 75% of global warming, methane for 15%, and nitrous oxide for about 10%. Smil argues that we need to reduce energy use in all areas—transportation, buildings, agriculture, and industry—to cut down on carbon emissions and learn how to make the world a better place. Two primary ways to do so are by generating electricity from renewable sources and by using nuclear energy.
- Generating electricity without relying on fossil fuels is the fastest way to cut down on carbon emissions because solar and wind-powered electricity is now cheaper than other forms. Countries like Germany now generate 40% of their electricity from renewable sources.
- Smil says that burning fossil fuels causes far more deaths from air pollution than nuclear reactors cause. He explains that even when fatalities from Chernobyl and Fukushima are included, nuclear electricity generation is far safer than generating electricity from fossil fuels.
Other Ways to Cut Down on Carbon Emissions From Energy Use
Smil points to a variety of other ways to reduce carbon emissions. For example, he says homes should be required to be well-insulated to keep in heat and reduce carbon emissions. And people shouldn’t drive SUVs—any emissions gains resulting from electric cars have been erased many times over by SUVs.
Additionally, Blowout by Rachel Maddow discusses some possibilities for curbing the negative effects of the energy industry. Namely, by bringing an end to tax breaks for oil and gas companies, requiring more transparency on their dealings with foreign governments, and enforcing stricter government regulation of where, when, and how these companies can drill.
She argues that requiring energy companies to pay higher taxes would mean that their profits would enrich the citizens of the state where drilling takes place, not just the energy executives. More transparency, as enforced by laws that would require companies to report exactly how much money (and for what goods or services) is changing hands, could bring an end to corruption. If ExxonMobil had to report on its dealings with Equatorial Guinea or Russia this extensively, bribes and money laundering would become impossible. Finally, strict government regulation of drilling activity could prevent accidents and environmental disasters.
Some of these changes were made in Oklahoma from 2016-2018, and the positive effects were immediately obvious. Raising taxes meant that the demands of striking teachers for better pay and conditions could be met, and the local government could pay off some of its debts, all without significantly hurting the profitability of the energy industry. Local oil and gas companies have continued to thrive without endangering the lives, property, and environmental resources of Oklahomans.
2. Legalize Psychedelics to “Depattern” Society
How to Change Your Mind by Michael Pollan explains that psychedelics have important social and cultural implications for human society—in the past, present, and future. Psychedelics may have contributed to our cognitive and spiritual evolution and have the potential to make the world a better place.
During Pollan’s research, he found that many experts involved in studying psychedelics have eventually shifted their emphasis from the treatment of individuals to the potential for the treatment of society as a whole. He explains that this is because the benefits of psychedelics may contribute to greater empathy, a deeper sense of connection with others, and a reconnection to nature. On this last point, many argue this could be a key to solving the growing environmental crisis.
Ethnobotanist Giorgio Samorini says that psychedelic experiences disrupt our deeply ingrained patterns of thought and allow us to develop new creative ways of thinking. He calls this “depatterning” and says when societies are in rapid states of change or high-challenge situations, this ability to think in novel ways is crucial for adaptation and survival. So he concludes that psychedelics can be a tool for survival that humans turn to during specific time periods, such as when they’re facing challenges that need out-of-the-box thinking.
Psychedelics Could Help Create a More Just and Equitable World
The anthology Psychedelic Justice: Toward a Diverse and Equitable Psychedelic Culture addresses ways that psychedelics might contribute to a more just and equitable world. Essays in the book suggest that social justice advocates today may be unintentionally creating more division by focusing on so many different issues of inequality as though they were separate phenomena. The complexities involved with many intersecting dimensions of inequality in the 21st century may require a novel approach, and the book argues that psychedelics could offer that.
It hearkens back to the counterculture movement of the 1960s, pointing out that prominent figures in that movement recognized the value of psychedelics as being in the potential to change minds. This reinforces the premise that Pollan has embedded in the title of the book: How to Change Your Mind.
So, the collection of essays in this book suggests that rather than simply trying to fight every systemic issue at the level of policy, we should be confronting the root of the issue: the way people think. And psychedelics could help to change the attitudes that created the systems of inequality in the first place. This could address issues like sexism, patriarchy, homophobia, and binary thinking that harm individuals.
The book argues, overall, that we should be working to integrate psychedelics into society as a whole, and it offers some guidance on how to do that while respecting indigenous communities and mitigating the potential risks and dangers.
3. See Humans as Fundamentally Good
Humankind by Rutger Bregman states that having a more positive outlook on humanity can create positive change in our society. Bregman argues that whichever view of humanity we choose—Hobbes or Rousseau, evil or good—creates a feedback loop. In other words, we get what we expect from people. Research suggests that expectations have a significant impact on behavior. For example, if a parent consistently tells their child that the child is unathletic, then the child will start to believe it. She might avoid playing sports with other children. If she does play, she’ll see every failure as proof that she’s unathletic, instead of as an opportunity to improve. She, therefore, enters a negative feedback loop.
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