Why Creativity Will Save The World

In a world that often feels mired in doom and crisis, this keynote talk I put together explains why creativity, optimism, and vision are the secret ingredients we need to build the world of our dreams. Here’s the script.

(Listen to the talk on Itunes here)

Every one of us is born as a citizen of Planet Earth.

You probably grew up in a warm room, with toys to play with, and some trees nearby — but it doesn’t take long until that arrow strikes your child’s mind, and you learn the real world out there is fractured— you’re surrounded by stories of disaster, dystopia, and doom:

• Rising sea levels about to engulf whole states, crazy mega storms, a rhinoceros just went extinct.
• You learn there’s more plastic now in the ocean than zooplanktons. Rainforests are being mowed down like lawns. Another murder— and there are more guns, more shootings.
• You see that video of a sea turtle with a plastic straw stuck in its face. Insane amounts of waste and trash everywhere.
• and yet another horrible politician with a frightening soul and a tiny brain is trying to explain why he’s actively doing everything in his power to stop these problems getting fixed.

It’s all around us, all the time, every day.

As you look out at this cacophony of the human race, what do you do? How do you respond? Do you get angry, heart-broken? Do you pull into a bubble, like a sea anemone withdrawing inside, and shut it out?

Or maybe you think, “I can’t live in this world without doing something about it.”

That’s how *I* feel, and I think you feel the same way too. Actually, I know you feel the same. You want to change the world, maybe even save the world.

But how do we actually save the world, anyway? Do we change the democracy, end consumerism? Or do you “break” “the system,” smash the patriarchy, or do we all meditate our way to a global epiphany of kindness? Maybe you just want to ride your bicycle and grow your own tomatoes.