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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