We know the global commons such as land and fish are being over used.  We know some of the world's people are polluting the commons, for instance, dumping CO2 emissions into the air. We "know this collectively" as shown by near universal acceptance of the 2016 Paris Accords. We are in collective, world-wide agreement regarding human goods. The U.N. Universal Declaration of Human Rights has been signed by nearly every country.

Even knowing this, our human-created systems are being defeated by "wicked" problems.

"Wicked problems are ill-defined, ambiguous, complicated, interconnected situations packed with potential conflict."* Thinking about "wicked" problems in a normal, "tame" problem frame leads to frustrations and forebodings. Different thinking, skills, and approaches are required before creating improvement.

Join Whidbey Climate ACTION on Jan. 9 and explore how changing our thinking about these harder problems can move us to mental and emotional clarity and inspire action.

*Bentley & Toth

Edwin Anderson, PhD, MBA, brings a lifetime of study and reflection to his exploration of how thinking works and doesn’t work, and how we respond to climate change, the most important problem facing the world today and into the future. 

Ed studied cognitive psychology at the University of Washington with an emphasis on “Human Learning, Memory, and Decision-making.” His training as a cognitive scientist with a focus on mathematical psychology, on quantitative analysis in business school, and his work as a computer programmer and teacher 

have given him extraordinary tools to interpret climate change information. 

Lately Ed has been applying his understanding of cognitive psychology to (Theoretical) Life Coaching, thinking about climate change (scary stuff) and writing a book about ethics. He says it will be a “good” book.