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2 min read 'The Only Constant We Have is Change', My Yogi Tea Said Last Monday Morning Values, needs and consequently problems change. Can a valuable solution then be static? “The only constant we have is change,” my Yogi Tea said last Monday morning. In a way, it’s reformulating Heraclitus’ “all things flow” (hoti panta chorei). So, it’s ancient knowledge that we live in a world of constant change. One aspect of that change is the evolution of our norms and values. What a society believes is right or wrong changes over time.  I sometimes wonder what people of the future will declare morally wrong that we accept as normal today. The same way we look back and condemn slavery, will future generations judge how we treat animals in our food production processes today?  Not only values but also problems change. The issues we face are not static; they evolve as societies, technologies and environments evolve. Solutions that once seemed reasonable (like tons of metal boxes moving on...

3 min read A Surfer's Mindset for Tackling the Worlds Toughest Problems One doesn’t surf the wave - one moves with it. Don't go into conversations too rigid, stay flexible and open minded. It’s late summer. The sun sits low on the horizon. I’m out on my board, fifty meters from shore. Waves roll in rhythmically, building slowly. I sense the next one is mine to take. I paddle, glance over my shoulder and get up. The board catches; I glide along the face of the wave. Suddenly the lip breaks in front of me. I have to adjust, carve around, find my balance again, and turn to the other side.  A beautiful tunnel opens up ahead. I take it. For a moment, it’s just me and the water. Then I remember a day from ten years ago, when I was just learning to surf. Back then, I fought against the water, struggling to stay upright, trying to force my way through. But that day, in full exhaustion, a thought surfaced: Instead of trying to control the wave, I should trust it - let it guide me. Som...

3 min read It’s Time to Retire ‘This Isn’t Rocket Science’ - Try ‘This Isn’t a Wicked Sustainability Problem’ Instead Why wicked problems challenge our society and how transdisciplinary approaches could help. Today, when talking about sustainability challenges like climate change or biodiversity loss, we increasingly hear the term “wicked problem.” In this context, wicked has (unfortunately) nothing to do with The Wizard of Oz or Defying Gravity. What makes a problem wicked isn’t witchcraft or magic - it’s the tangled web of social, environmental, and scientific complexities that make such problems impossible to “solve” in a traditional sense. A fundamental challenge with wicked problems is that they are hard to define, have no clear solution, and may never be fully solved. Potential solutions aren’t true or false but rather better or worse. And every solution comes with consequences, as one wicked problem is usually a symptom of another (1). For example, pushing the energy tran...