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Y2K/Breakthrough start-up strategies

There is not a lot of time to prepare for this breakthrough opportunity. I suspect the best start-up leverage will most likely be obtained by

1. Working with and through existing organizations and networks*
2. Providing those organizations and networks with inspiration, coordination, dialogue and networking services, available on request
3. Communicating the breakthrough perspective and options -- both to individuals and to whole populations and audiences** through articles, broadcasts and internet communications.

Ideally a dynamic could be promoted, whereby the organizations in (1) would self-organize into a coherent movement with the assistance of the services in (2), while relevant segments of the public in (3) would be aligned and made more responsive to the efforts of the organizations in (1) to mobilize them -- and would, in turn, help mobilize those organizations.

I believe this same basic pattern could be used to organize any of the actions described elsewhere on this site.


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* Sample organizations and networks (further work should be done on this list):

• Religious institutions and spiritual communities (e.g., churches, temples, sanghas; The National Council of Churches, Buddhist Peace Fellowship)
• Community-renewal organizations (e.g., Center for the Common Good, Civic Practices Network, The National Civic League)
• Dialogue sponsors (e.g., League of Women Voters, Study Circle Resource Center)
• Conference organizers (e.g., the Open Space Technology and Future Search networks)
• Psychospiritual service networks (e.g., Arny Mindell's Process Work network, Reevaluation Co-Counselling's global network, Interhelp)
• Alternative media (e.g., Whole Earth, Utne, Yoga Journal, NPR, Pacifica)
• Progressive foundations (e.g., Pew Charitable Trusts, Kellogg, Kettering, Fetzer)
• Sustainability organizations (e.g., Sierra Club, the Permaculture network, The Natural Step, Co-op America)
• Transformational/New Age organizations (Institute of Noetic Sciences, Association for Transpersonal Psychology)
• Socially conscious professional organizations (Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility, Physicians for Social Responsibility)

For notes on the relationship between Y2K and progressive agendas, click here.

** Marketing expert Paul Ray has done a survey which identified a sizeable portion of the American public (over 20%) whom he calls Cultural Creatives -- those with social and ecological values and a concern for psychological and spiritual development. They have been found, when faced with a crisis like Y2K, to think in terms of what is good for the whole (country, community, organization) and how to generate a cooperative response. This contrasts with many other Americans who, in a crisis, think primarily in terms of their own survival and welfare. This suggests that the Cultural Creatives may be a good population to tap for leaders in community efforts and other Y2K/breakthrough work.


See also the paper The Case for Non-violent Responses to Y2K Disruptions; Why Community-Based Responses Make More Sense than Survivalism; Will We Use Y2K and Local Currency to Find Our Way Back to Each Other?; and the Y2K Cultural Creatives Outreach Project