News

March 17, 2010 - Philip Bangerter reports that the director of the Australian Centre for Sustainable Business and Development at the University of Southern Queensland is supporting the initiation of "A proposed project to parallel a US initiative in common property rights for environmental stewardship." If this or the proposal mentioned below leads to an actual project, it will mark the first ever application of the concepts at Thwink.org.

March 15, 2010 - Michael Collins has proposed a project in Virginia, US, that incorporates the concept of common property rights.

March 14, 2010 - A small book on common property rights has begun, in order to mature and better communicate this concept.

February 2010 - Jack Harich visited Michael Collins in Virginia for two weeks to work on an application of The Proper Coupling Package. Michael has a project going that will benefit from incorporation of the concept of common property rights. Michael read the Change Resistance as the Crux paper and contacted Jack, which led to collaboration.

January 18, 2010 - The Change Resistance as the Crux paper has been published.

June 10, 2009 - After one resubmission, Change Resistance as the Crux of the Environmental Sustainability Problem has been accepted for publication in the System Dynamics Review.

January 30, 2009 - Good news! Over the last five years Thwink.org has submitted 5 popular environmental magazine article queries, 2 book proposals, and 2 peer review journal articles. All were rejected. Now, our fortune may have changed. Our third peer review journal submission has not been rejected! Instead, we received a note saying "A revised version of your manuscript that takes into account the comments of the referee(s) will be reconsidered for publication."

November 26, 2008 - A paper on change resistance has been submitted to a peer reviewed journal. This is our third attempt. The first two were rejected. This time Steve Wehrenberg has been kind enough to review early drafts, so we have a much better chance of acceptance.

June 23, 2008 - The Truth Ratings Website project was launched.

May 30, 2008 - A submission of the Dueling Loops paper to a journal was rejected. The feedback was extremely helpful and we are now rewriting it. Here's the draft in progress. Perhaps you would like to help?

February 20, 2008 - It's official. Jack will be traveling to Canada in March to meet/work with Philip Bangerter and Hatch, on a project that may eventually lead to a serious effort to apply the Thwink paradigm to the sustainability problem.

January 25, 2008 - The Collaboration Project was started.

December 21, 2007 - The Dueling Loops received their first review, on this blog.

December 6, 2007 - Philip has started a crucial thread on the forum concerning the need for an organization "for the bigger problem this forum talks about."

October 23, 2007 - A book proposal for Process Is Everything was submitted to Island Press. Update Nov 5 - It was rejected, with no explanation. If you know of a publisher or literary agent who might be interested, please let us know.

October 15, 2007 - The Daily Analysis blog style column was added to all Thwink.org pages. This adds fresh, productive information to those who keep returning to the site for a deeper look at this new way of thwinking. It also draws newcomers into the site via smaller, easier to digest readbites. A big thanks to Robert Gowans for suggesting this improvement. Update: It was removed after a one week experiment, as explained here.

September 28, 2007 - Robert Gowans of Tyresö, Sweden will be taking over website management and internet marketing of the Thwink message. Rob has a number of promising strategies he will be using, which you can read about in this forum thread. Update: Due to a sudden health problem in his family, this is all on hold.

September 20, 2007 - Jack Harich of Thwink and Philip Bangerter of Hatch in Brisbane, Australia had a phone meeting on "realignment." Philip explained that after getting through a period at Hatch where he was unable to devote any time to promoting the Thwink paradigm, he is now in a favorable position to do so. He will be proceeding to do three things: (1) Sell his new boss on the Thwink approach, which should be straightforward, (2) Meet with 5 to 10 of Australia's leaders in the field of sustainability to sell them, and (3) Start serious work on getting funding for a project along the lines of The Diagnostic Project. This is very good news. Jack explained how film one is perfect for (1) and (2). Philip is eagerly awaiting the film.

September 14, 2007 - Film one of the full length video series was released. This is expected to make the Thwink message ten times as easy to understand as papers, books, and web pages. Early testing shows this to be true.

August 2, 2007 - Chelsea Green said no on publishing the Dueling Loops book. They also had no comment on why. This seems to indicate that even the most qualified publisher of political/environmental books in the world was unable to grasp the new paradigm of the book. Probably no publisher will, until we can find someone who can personally explain to them. All this is to be expected. It's part of the systemic change resistance side of the problem and the phenomenon of being unable to comprehend any paradigm but the one you are living in.

May 31, 2007 - Chelsea Green, our preferred publisher for the Dueling Loops book, has replied favorably to a conversation we've been having. They have requested a copy of the book for review. Preparing the "final" manuscript is where all our attention is going now. Several readers have been extremely helpful in making it a better book.

May 8, 2007 - A pre-publication copy of The Dueling Loops of the Political Powerplace has appeared on Amazon. If you've read it, post an honest review. This will help those who have not previously heard about the book.

April 23, 2007 - Philip Bangater visited Jack in Atlanta again. While in town he had lunch with Ray Anderson, the foremost proponent of sustainability in the business world. Ray agreed to visit Australia to make a speech at the opening of one of Hatch's new offices, and gave Philip a few sustainability contacts.

February 6, 2007 - Philip Bangater and Michael Hollcraft came to Atlanta for a few days, in the first serious meeting for how we can move these concepts forward. Things are happening. Keep up with them on this thread and others on the forum.

December 17, 2006 - The manuscript to Analytical Activism is now complete. Copies have been mailed off for critical reviews. You can request a copy or download and print one yourself. See the project status on the book.

November 27, 2006 - The most popular paper on the site, The Dueling Loops of the Political Powerplace, is about to become a book. If you would like to provide feedback before it goes off to the publisher, download it, read it, and let us know how we can make it a better book.

June 26, 2006 - Thwink.org has been selected as an Editor's Pick at the list of links for the Science and Research section on Sustainability at EcoEarth.Info. Out of 30 links listed in this section, 7 were Editor's Picks. Besides Thwink.org, these are the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, the Worldwatch Institute, the Earth Institute, the Forum on Science and Technology for Sustainability, the Global Change Master Directory, and the Union of Concerned Scientists. Nice company to be in!

April 17, 2006 - Solution Factories, the final chapter in Analytical Activism, is now complete. The ideas that have emerged from development of this chapter have caused Thwink.org to cast itself as the world's first solution factory. Read this chapter to see for yourself how germane that outlandish title may be.

April 12, 2006 - The Glossary of Key Concepts has been added to Thwink.org. This is a major document running about 30 pages, with 50 terms and short essays on each term. Finally, in one place you can read what is actually The Problem Solvers Guide to Difficult Complex Social System Problems.

Also on this date the forum link was added because, good news, the forum is now open! Please see About the Forum.

March 31, 2006 - The Club of Rome's internal newsletter has published the analysis mentioned below. The title is Can These Best Practices Make the Club Effective Once Again?

March 14, 2006 - An analysis of a sustainability NGO has been performed, using the concepts at Thwink.org. The organization was the Club of Rome. This organization appears to be very open to self-improvement, so the analysis and its broad conclusions stand a good chance of having some tangible beneficial impact.

February 11, 2006 - Critique of the Harvard Project - This illustrates how the best laid plans of mice and men often go astray, if we do not follow an analytical process when attempting to solve difficult problems.

2006-1-29 - Jack was accepted into The US Association of the Club of Rome. This is expected to open the door to working with some very high caliber people on the sustainability problem, at the national and international level.

2006-1-20 - Part two of the manuscript to Analytical Activism is now complete. In addition, the book has been reorganized. There is now a part three, to provide more of the practical material necessary for a successful transformation of the environmental movement from Classic to Analytical Activism. The next task is to complete part three.

2005-12-7 - The Dueling Loops of the Political Powerplace - This very readable page paper describes the most important discovery in my work so far: the existence of a fundamental social structure that lies at the very heart of why resistance to adopting a solution to the global environmental sustainability problem is so strong.

January 10, 2005 - A second book is born - Due to feedback and very strong interest in the three part article series mentioned below, it looks best to take these articles, turn them into chapters, add a few more, and call it Analytical Activism.

August 18, 2005 - A Sierra Club Group Spreads These Ideas - On August 18 the Greater Gwinnett County group of Georgia mailed copies of How the Environmental Movement Can Find Its Way Again ^PDF to 60 some chapters, 30 some field offices, all 15 board members, and all 7 members of the executive group. Here is the cover letter ^PDF for the mailing. This is the first tangible change project to apply these ideas to an environmental organization.

July 14, 2005 - Three Part Article Series - A three part article series summarizing A Model in Crisis is now available. Here is a summary of the articles. And here are the articles, in the form of a paper titled How the Environmental Movement Can Find Its Way Again ^PDF . The articles later became the first three chapters of the Analytical Activism book.

June 1, 2005 - How to Overcome Resistance to Solution Adoption - This key chapter has been completed. It presents a sample solution to the social side of the problem, which is the crux of solving the entire problem. The solution is presented as a collection of solution elements, a simulation model showing the effect of these elements, and a high level implementation plan. The chapter contains two small and quite pleasant surprises. It is in part 2 of Analytical Activism.

May 30, 2005 - Executive Summary - At the suggestion of a manuscript reader, a one page executive summary of A Model in Crisis has been added. This is available as a single page PDF file for a quick read.

April 6, 2005 - The Fallacy of Sustainable Development - This chapter has been completed. It must be read with an open mind, because it argues that the world's leading solution to the global environmental sustainability problem is fallacious.

February 10, 2005 - Book Outline Redesigned - Rather than publish updates as frequently, I've been using those extra minutes to work. The book outline has been redesigned to be in four parts, which are the same as the four steps in the System Improvement Process. Many new chapters have been written, including one with a rather interesting computer simulation model.

Octoiber 12, 2004 - Inching Towards Truth Ratings - If we had truth ratings today they could, and probably would, determine the outcome of the November 2, 2004 election in the United States.

September 18, 2004 - Freedom From Falsehood ^PDF - Here's a timely essay for those concerned about the large amount of hype and fallacies in politics. This incorporates some of the ideas from A Model in Crisis.