Monday, October 12, 2015

Improving The World With Books By 2030



The United Nations recently announced that world leaders have come together to pledge resources to tackle 17 major issues that impact the world.  They are lofty goals and significant problems, but the hope is that in 15 years, by 2030, the world will have sufficiently addressed these trouble spots.

Perhaps the first place to start is with books and information.  www.One.org identifies the 17 issues and solutions we need to all care about.  Authors and publishers should come together to continue to write on these issues.  We must do a better job of writing, distributing, and marketing such books.  Most importantly, we need books that will truly identify solutions and not merely highlight problems.  These books will need to not only demand a solution, but to show others how to achieve it.  Books will need to educate people and to inspire concrete action.

Let’s look at the areas our world leaders have identified and see where authors and publishers can fit in:

1.      No poverty
2.      Zero hunger
3.      Good health and well being
4.      Quality education
5.      Gender equality
6.      Clean water and sanitation
7.      Affordable and clean energy
8.      Decent work and economic growth
9.      Industry innovation and infrastructure
10.  Reduced inequalities
11.  Sustainable cities and communities
12.  Responsible consumption
13.  Climate action
14.  Life below water
15.  Life on land
16.  Peace and justice
17.  Partnerships for the goals

The world alternates between cooperating and competing and maybe that’s the first issue that needs to be addressed. We spend too much money, time, and energy on competing, and not cooperating.  We see this militarily and economically.  By not having a cohesive plan that all nations buy into, we’re left with a scattered or conflicting approach.

Our books are no better.  We have books on every issue, written from all sides and perspectives.  Publishing contributes to the confusion and lack of agreement.  Too many ideas and approaches are circulating and yet no one steps up to lead the way.  It’s hard to resolve a problem when half the people are convinced there is no problem or when people are diametrically opposed on how to resolve it.

What will it really take, aside from money, volunteers, strong political will, and the availability of viable solutions to resolve our problems?  Agreement.

People need to agree that there’s a problem, agree that it needs to be fixed, agree there are ways to fix it, agree that the problem is worth fixing, and agree on how to fix it.

Without people buying into all of the above we get nowhere.

So perhaps the No. 1 need in the world, one which books can and should address, is for people to agree that action is needed, to agree on what needs to be done, and to agree on everyone’s role to achieve resolution.  We need books that will:

·         Identify problems
·         Offer uniform solutions
·         Show people actionable steps
·         Motivate and inspire people to act
·         Hold our leaders accountable

One world.  Let’s make it better.  I see no greater way than to improve it through books.

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Brian Feinblum’s views, opinions, and ideas expressed in this blog are his alone and not that of his employer. You can follow him on Twitter @theprexpert and email him at brianfeinblum@gmail.com. He feels more important when discussed in the third-person. This is copyrighted by BookMarketingBuzzBlog © 2015

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