Collective Action: Fixing Global Challenges Together

Yesterday, I saw somebody on LinkedIn writing a remark on how we deal with huge collective challenges. The answer is.. that we probably don’t. It has been lingering in my head since then. That, in addition to having finished a course on Coursera on democracy and climate change a while back, made me curious and made me want to write about it here.

If we think that ‘somebody else’ will fix it, the truth is that they they probably won’t either- or at least, they can’t deal with it alone. Huge challenges are for the collective, something we only can solve together as ‘humanity’ Or as humanity’s more tangible and sassy little sister: community, in whatever shape or form she comes in.

I have heard so many keynote speakers and CEOs talking about climate change and how we are in ‘dire need of action now’ and nothing that actually showcases how they are acting different. No substance, no 360 degrees around it.

The world is in need for everyone of us to step into our power use our imagination and start acting like we are the ones that are going to fix all our collective challenges as citizens and societies – because nobody will fix it for us.

So maybe – it’s fixable together?

Despite these huge collective challenges, I still have hope . Around the world, citizens are organizing, cities are leading, and youth movements are demanding accountability. Participatory democracy as well as other democratic innovations—through citizens’ assemblies, climate councils, and grassroots organizing—is showing us new ways forward. Together with businesses who are taking a stand, standing up for their values and beliefs and actually pushing the ball in the right direction.

We have to wake up democracy, become accountable as citizens and use as well as develop our citizens rights – and develop a culture of shared responsibility and collective imagination on every level from personal, over local to regional, national and global.

Where hope lives: inspiring visionary thinkers and doers

These are some of the people I have gotten a lot of inspiration from:

• Rob Hopkins, founder of the Transition Town movement, believes that imagination is a climate tool. His community projects—like building a life-sized whale from plastic bags—spark local engagement and policy change. He invites us to “time travel” to a sustainable 2030 and build backwards from that vision. He also has a new book coming out called ‘how to fall in love with the future’.
• Jon Alexander, through the New Citizenship Project, urges a shift from seeing ourselves as consumers to citizens. His work with institutions shows how this mindset shift can unlock democratic energy and collective agency—exactly what’s needed for climate action.
• Phoebe Tickell brings a systems-thinking lens to democracy. Her project, Moral Imaginations, uses participatory storytelling and future visioning to help people connect emotionally with long-term outcomes. She advocates for deep democracy—where citizens are not just consulted, but co-creators of the future.
• Danielle LaPorte reminds us that inner change fuels outer change. Her work emphasizes compassion, clarity, and emotional intelligence as essential tools for sustainable activism. In a world of burnout and outrage, her message is a call to lead with love.