Above is the cover for Analytical Activism. You can download the PDF file or you can order a printed copy from Lulu Press. See the menu on the left for the Introduction to Analytical Activism video and more.

This is a large book, at 362 pages and 8 1/2" by 11" with a two column layout . The text is designed to be very readable, without any specialist knowledge, so that we can reach a wide audience.

The book is loaded with detail, including several hundred illustrations. About a third of these are simulation model diagrams and behavior graphs, similar to those in Limits to Growth. The difference is Limits to Growth modeled the technical side of the problem, while Analytical Activism models the social side, because that is the crux of the problem. A key model diagram, The Dueling Loops of the Political Powerplace, is shown on the front cover.

Below is the back cover text:

After over thirty years of problem solving failure, it is time to say goodbye to an intuitive approach and hello to an analytical one.

In 1972 the global environmental sustainability problem was conclusively identified by the international bestseller Limits to Growth. It was clearly a problem that required immediate action now to avoid catastrophe later.

Yet today, over thirty years later, the problem remains unsolved. Why, despite countless attempts by millions of environmentalists, have we been unable to overcome the mountain of change resistance to solving the problem?

In systems thinking terms, the system is deadlocked. It is fiercely resisting change. No matter how hard environmentalists around the world try to solve the sustainability problem, the system pushes back just as hard, and even harder, because the problem is getting worse. On the surface the deadlock is caused by environmentalists thinking long term while the opposition is thinking short term. But what is the deeper underlying cause of the deadlock? What is the root cause?

Answering that question demands an analytical approach. There is no other way. This is the path Thwink.org has taken for the past five years. It is one we call Analytical Activism, which is defined as the use of the Analytical Method to achieve activist objectives. The Analytical Method is a simple nine step process based on the only known method for producing reliable new cause and effect knowledge: the Scientific Method. Application of the Analytical Method has led to the following interesting conclusions:

1. The immediate reason the environmental movement has failed to solve the sustainability problem is it is using an intuitive process, called Classic Activism. This works fine on easy problems like local pollution, but fails spectacularly on difficult problems like climate change.

2. The fundamental reason for system deadlock is the change resistance caused by an invisible social structure called The Dueling Loops of the Political Powerplace (shown on the front cover). Fortunately a simulation model of this structure explains how, if activists stopped pushing on intuitively attractive low leverage points and started pushing on high leverage points instead, the problem could be solved. This is rather good news.

Analytical Activism takes the reader through the analysis that leads to these conclusions and many more. The end result is a whole new way of thwinking....