This past Cafe, given by the one and only Garrick Blalock, prompted a very interesting discussion about just how difficult it is to get a population to change its behavior. Although the talk was focused on the adoption of clean-burning cook stoves in third-world countries, one can easily see how the idea could apply to almost every aspect of our lives. More specifically, we discussed something called the collective action problem. In this social trend, each individual believes his or her own part of the solution is insignificant and so leaves the action to be done by the rest of the group. Now, if everyone has the same idea, we can quickly see how this could become a problem, and nothing would actually get done. The worst part of it, to me, was the sheer scale of the issue. We can educate people all we want and still only achieve marginal results. And even though it’s good to know how effective your efforts have been, it does make the endeavor feel rather hopeless…I’m not entirely sure how we can solve this issue. Perhaps by educating not only about the issue itself, but about the threats associated with collective action? Maybe then individuals would feel more responsible of their actions? I’m not sure…but I’ll leave you with the iconic Gandhi quote, “Be the change you wish to see in the world.”