I had a rare father. He was a man who loved ideas and discussing ideas. He read so many serious books, I felt the library was remiss in not giving him a champion reader award. When he passed away from my life, he left me without a serious conversation partner and I miss that.  A lot. Of course I have other good friends, and once in awhile we get onto topics beyond daily life, but I notice in both my own life and theirs, no one challenges us to discuss possible answers to the pressing problems of our times. Those problems are for nameless experts to consider somewhere. And indeed, many do with good results sometimes. But I think the world would be a far better place if the creative thinking and good energy of the  rest of us was given more invitations. We are smart. Working as communities, throughout human history people have found ways to confront incredible threats and challenges. So let's put our heads together here. Not many will have the means to carry ideas into reality, but perhaps some who do will take ideas from this site and run with them. That is my greatest hope in creating this blog. So choose a question below and think about it. If ideas come to you, you can get them to me as a comment to or in an email to cesca.hampton@gmail.com.  If you are sincerely sharing a relevant idea, and you write clearly enough to express it to others, i will add it to the blog for others to react to. I am also happy to add links to people with good solutions that you find online. Let's start  a conversation!

Questions to ponder. Respond to whatever interests you most:

1. How can we turn around the growing disaster of global climate change?
2. How can we bring together people increasingly experiencing a disconnect with each other in America (or another country)?
3. How can we address homelessness?
4. How can we address  the growing wealth disparity in the US (or another country)?
5. What would a perfect medical care delivery system look like?
6. What would an effective education system look like in the 21st century?
7. What is an immigration policy that works for both immigrants and the countries they want to immigrate to?
8. How can a government work to increase the "gross national happiness"?
9. How we improve the ways we treat animals in our society?
10. How can we improve the outcomes of imprisoning people - and avoid having to imprison so many in the first place?
11. How can we preserve the natural environment while accommodating the needs of this now giant human population?
12. How can we preserve access to clean water?
13. How can we solve the problem of plastics and other pollution in the oceans?
14. How can we encourage morality and empathy in society without adding dogmatism or encroaching on personal freedoms?
15. How can we insure that persons running for office are truly prepared to do the work?

As I receive feedback and consider more issues, I will add to this list in the future. Looking forward to your thoughts!