EVERY GREAT STORY HAS A BEGINNING. Ours starts with a subtle knowing—a sense that something better is possible. Chances are you already feel it—that quiet stirring, that pull toward something more. A sense that we are not meant to simply accept the world we were given, but to leave behind a world better than the one we were born into. A world that’s trying, even now, to break through the cracks of the old. I didn’t set out to write a book about building a better world. Like many people, I first had to unlearn a few things. In college, I got swept into a relationship built on lies from the very beginning. I ignored red flags, dismissed my intuition, and tried to hold things together long after they should’ve come apart. When it finally ended, I found myself questioning everything—not just the relationship, but my own beliefs, my ability to discern truth, even the stories I’d been told about how the world works. That painful experience cracked something open in me. It made me more skeptical—but also more curious. I began searching for a worldview that was both hopeful and honest—one that could hold complexity without collapsing into cynicism. That search eventually led me to the ideas of Buckminster Fuller. His vision of a world that works for everyone resonated deeply with me, but his writing was famously hard to understand. So, I spent years—decades, really—translating those big ideas into something I could truly live by. I don’t see myself as a visionary like Fuller; I’m more of a translator: someone trying to bridge the gap between visionary thinking and everyday life. This book is part of that ongoing effort. It’s a guide for cultural creatives—people like us—who want to help shape a more just, life-sustaining world, but who don’t want to follow someone else’s blueprint. Like Fuller, I’m not asking you to believe me. I’m inviting you to think for yourself—and to create from there. I hope the ideas in this book inspire you, but more importantly I hope these pages provide you with the practical tools you need to act. Let them speak to the part of you that dreams and the part that builds. Stay with me and together we’ll explore practical, step-by-step ways to contribute to a more just, vibrant, and life-sustaining future. We need your unique combination of experience, knowledge and skills because there’s a lot to do. It all begins with a simple truth: we are not powerless, fated to simply endure the world as it is. We can choose to help create a better world—the world that we want to live in. This book is for anyone who wonders:
What can I really do to help build a better world?
How can I be sure I’m helping more than I’m hurting?
How can I know that I’m not wasting my time? These questions have been on my mind for years, and this book contains the most useful answers I’ve found so far. In the chapters ahead, you’ll discover how to:
→ Find work that needs doing
→ Choose your next creative steps wisely
→ Strengthen your ability to contribute meaningfully over time And you’ll see how you are part of something larger than yourself—a great, unfolding movement I call the Great Collaboration. We are living through a time of profound transition. Humanity stands at a crossroads between breakdown and breakthrough—between the unraveling of systems rooted in domination, and the emergence of new ways of living—The Great Turning—based in partnership, justice, and care. Our future depends on the story we choose to write with our actions. The term The Great Turning was first introduced in the 1980s by Craig Schindler and Gary Lapid to describe a global shift away from violence and toward peace. Joanna Macy later expanded and popularized the concept, describing it as a necessary transformation from a life-destroying society to a life-sustaining one. David Korten further shaped this vision, portraying the Great Turning as a civilizational passage from a 5,000-year Era of Empire—characterized by hierarchy, domination, and exploitation—into an Era of Earth Community built on mutual care, equality, and ecological stewardship. The Great Turning is not a single event. It is a process—already underway—made up of countless local and global efforts to mend what has been broken and build what is needed. Most of this work happens quietly, below the radar of mass media: in community gardens, open-source networks, co-ops, transition towns, and regenerative farms. It is visible wherever people choose connection over control, healing over harm, and wholeness over fragmentation. I call that widespread, living effort The Great Collaboration—the conscious human participation in the Great Turning. If the Great Turning names the transformation, the Great Collaboration names the way we show up to help bring it about. It is how we act with intention, how we weave our efforts together, how we choose to play our part in the world that is being born. It's happening all around you. You can see it in legal battles for clean air and safe housing, in youth-led climate strikes, and in the quiet persistence of community organizers and caregivers. It’s in the engineers designing sustainable products, the educators reimagining how we learn, and the farmers restoring damaged land. These efforts may look unrelated on the surface, but they are all threads in a much larger pattern—millions of people, each doing their part to help move the world toward wholeness. Connecting these familiar events with The Great Collaboration reminds us that we are not alone. When we can recognize them as part of one shared transition, we begin to see our place in it more clearly. We begin to realize that helping build a better world doesn’t require heroic leaps—it starts with choosing to join in. When you stand for justice, design new systems, regenerate ecosystems, foster community, or deepen your own capacity to love—you are part of the Great Collaboration. You’re probably already doing some of this work. Maybe you’re voting with care, supporting ethical businesses, organizing your neighbors, tending a garden, mentoring a child, creating art, or doing something awesome that I’ve never heard of. Every bit of it matters. All of it is part of building a world that can save us all. This book builds on the good work you’re already doing. It will help you find your next steps, deepen your contributions, and expand your capacity to help build a world that works for all of us. For a long time, I looked for a good word to describe “someone who works to make the world a better place.” Words like activist, philan-thropist, and changemaker exist, but none of them felt quite right. Then I discovered a book that shifted everything: The Cultural Creatives by Paul Ray and Sherry Ruth Anderson. Cultural creatives are a distinct subculture in the U.S. and globally—millions of people who share values of sustainability, social justice, personal growth, and holistic thinking. These are people committed to creating a better future, even if they often feel like they’re alone in the way they think and see the world. That sense of isolation may explain why many cultural creatives aren’t yet active changemakers. Many feel a deep desire to help but don’t know where to start. They wonder if they can make a real difference, or struggle to see how their talents could be of use. This book is for those cultural crea-tives who want to know how to take action and become crea-tors. It’s that shift in perspective, that transformational step that gives rise to the term I use throughout the book: cultural creator. A cultural creator is someone who chooses to create a better world—whether through small acts or bold endeavors. Someone who knows that meaningful change grows from millions of individual efforts woven together and chooses to do their part. If this book caught your eye, you are likely already a cultural creator—you just might not have had a name for it yet. Having a name for our tribe matters. When you can name something, you can strengthen it. You can step into it more fully. It’s like Luke Skywalker at the beginning of Star Wars: a frustrated farm kid who senses he’s meant for more but doesn’t know how to begin. By the end, he’s found his calling, his allies, and the beginnings of a greater power within himself. The same is true for you. You don’t have to be an expert. You don’t have to do it alone. You already carry a rich set of experiences, talents, and dreams—more than enough to start. This book will show you how to weave what you have into something larger than yourself. Our strength isn’t in being perfect. It’s in our diversity, our willingness to keep learning, and our shared commitment to a future where everyone can thrive. Welcome to the tribe. Jim Applegate, 2025 This book is meant to be a companion on your journey, not a lecture from a mountaintop. You can read it straight through, or dip in when you need inspiration, guidance, or a creative nudge. Each chapter introduces an essential idea, along with practical ways to begin applying it to your own life and work. Throughout the book, you’ll find exercises designed to help you put these ideas into action. Some exercises are simple reflections; others invite you to create, collaborate, or experiment. You don’t need to complete every exercise to make progress. Think of them as invitations. Pick the ones that speak to you and return to others when the time feels right. To support you further, I’ve created a companion space online at DontSaveTheWorld.com. There, you’ll find a list of recommended books and other resources sorted by chapter so you can go deeper into the ideas that resonate with you. You’ll also find downloadable templates, community prompts, and opportunities to share your work with others. As the world continues to evolve, so will the materials offered there. Above all, this book is here to help you start—and to keep starting, again and again. Evolution is not a straight line. It’s a creative spiral that grows stronger every time we take a thoughtful step forward. Use what serves you. Adapt what needs adapting. Build your own way into the Great Collaboration.INTRODUCTION
The Great Collaboration
A Name for Who We Are
How to Use This Book