Do you have one of these, of course not this thing is five years old

now everyone's got on of these

Can you imagine how much genius and focus it took to turn a music player into

a hand-held computer phone, GPS remote control for everything in life in just five years.

Seriously

The thousands of people who made this thing had to solve thousands of problems

that literally could not have been solved five years ago.

That's what people can do when the motivated to find solutions to problems.

But the problems we've been busy solving are not the problems that most need solving.

So much focus has gone into faster, cheaper, newer.

That we've actually lost ground on things like safer, healthier and more fair.

It's easy for getting better and better at playing the wrong game.

And, in many ways this system is a lot like a game, but with very high stakes.

Just like a game our economy was designed by people

to get everyone to play by certain rules

and like a game it comes with instructions telling us what the goal is.

Think about the last time you played a new game

Remember ?

The first thing you did was find out what it means to win

and that guides every decision you make along the way.

So naturally the solutions most people are working on pursue this game simple goal

and that goal is more.

More money being spent, more roads being built, more malls being opened, more stuff.

That's what economists call growth.

So we take all the money spent on stuff that makes life better

and all the money spent on stuff that makes life worse

and we add it together into one big number called GDP.

We were told that a bigger GDP means we're winning

So it's the number that thousands of the rules and laws are designed to increase.

But there's a big difference between more kids in school or more kids in jail.

More windmills or coal-fired power plants.

More super-efficient public trains or more gas wasted in traffic jams. deh!!

But in this game of more they are counted same.

Now we can't change a game this dumb one rule or one player at time.

The problem is the goal itself. We need solutions that change that.

What if we built this game around goal of better.

Better education, better health, better stuff.

A better chance to survive on this planet.

That's what we all want. right?

So should that be what winning means.

Changing the goal of the entire economy is a huge task.

Of course we can't do it all at once.

But when we focus on game-changing solutions

we gradually make it possible for a new game to be played.

To do that we have to be able to tell the difference between a game-changing solution

or just a new way to play that old game of more.

For example,let's look at two solutions to one of the many problems we face today.

The scourge of plastic packaging that everyone knows is a disaster for the planet.

Especially the oceans.

And, here are two groups of people with very different ideas of solutions to the plastics' problem.

These guys decide that enough is enough

and they start by launching a citizen campaign to ban the plastic bag in their community.

these guys have a different solution.

They start a business that gives people's gift cards to buy stuff if they recycle their plastic waste.

Both of these are happening right now,

but only one if them changes the game.

The gift card solution does keep some plastic out of landfills and incinerators.

But it creates more plastic by encouraging people to buy more stuff.

Even worse,it teaches that more consumption is the right reword for being a good citizen.

Making it even harder to think outside that old game box.

The 'ban the bag' solution is harder to achieve,

but it's a game-changer.

Why? Well by volunteering their time these citizens are declaring that

there's something more important to them than just earning and spending more.

To win this campaign these citizens are gonna have to team up with

forward-thinking businesses offering alternatives to throw away plastic packaging.

They're gonna have to build power to fight back against the American Chemistry Council.

Which is lobbies for the company’s that make all that plastic junk.

And they're gonna have to get out and talk to their neighbors and friends

inspiring yet more people to begin to question the old game.

This is exactly what's happening in towns and cities all across the world

and they're winning.

But can banning a few million plastic bags transform the goal of the game.

By itself no,but in combination with millions of others working on

game-changing solutionsthat they care about, YES.

Together these solutions are beginning to turn the tide.

As people build power to change the game

their citizen muscles grow.

They work to ensure the local solutions they create get copied in scaled up.

And when they see the solutions getting blocked by corporations with way too much influence

they team up with other solutionerias to fight for real democracy

by the people, for the people.

Gift cards will never do that but thousands a citizen campaigns can.

Whenever I'm asked to join in a solution I want to know if it's transformational

will it change the goal.

To figure it out I use the word GOAL

I want to know that it G-gives people more power

taking power back from corporations to build democracy.

O - opens people's eyes to the truth that once basic needs are met

happiness and well-being don't come from buying more stuff

but from communities, our health and a sense of purpose

A - accounts for all the cost it creates

including the toll it takes some people and the planet

In other words it internalize it's cost instead of externalizing them

as most businesses do today.

L - lessens the enormous wealth gap between those who can't even meet the basic needs

and those who consumed way more than their fair share.

When I see solution that does all that or can be redesigned to

I'm in. And they're popping up everywhere.

Like the Evergreen cooperatives in Cleveland.

Where worker owners are running green businesses.

A laundry, a solar company and a super productive urban farm

that are healthy and safe.

They provide secure jobs to people that the old game has left behind.

We all know we need to get businesses out of our democracy.

But cooperative go even further bring democracy into the businesses.

Sustainable,democratic, equitable.That's a game-changer.

Or in Capennori a town in Italy where local citizens working with businesses and governments

are not just seeking to manage waste better

but they're questioning the very inevitability of waste.

They're promoting solutions to waste not with expensive techno fixes

but by working together as a community to reclaim compost for the soil,

to find reusable substitutes for disposable products

and then to put discarded material to good use.

They've already reduce some wast by eighty-two percent

while creating jobs and building social fabric.

And how about the new trend of collaborative consumption

formerly known as 'sharing'.

Sharing may sound like the theme of Barney song

but think about it, it's a huge challenge to the old game.

It gets as off the treadmill of 'More-More-More',

conserves resources, gives people access to stuff they otherwise couldn't afford and builds communities.

what's it look like?

Bike share programs in major cities,

online platforms to let as share everything from our cars to our homes to camping gear.

In my town the public library system lends out tools.

There's just no reason that every house needs its own power drill,

crème brûlée torch, scanner, wheelbarrow,a bike pump when we can share.

As transformational solutions like these gains traction

we will reach a tipping point. If we keep focused on the new goal of better.

Without a new goal all the work we're doing to build a better future will be

A not enough and B really hard.

Too much genius and focus will continue to go to solving problems like iPhone battery life

while the problems that threaten human life spin out of control.

Five years ago when we made the story of stuff

we started building a community of people who sensed that something was really wrong with this old game.

We agreed there was a problem.

Now it's time to build the solutions.

Solutions that won't just change a few of the rules but will change the entire game.

Wanna help? Come on let's do it.