Introduction
im4u.world launched its Global Survey on April 22, 2021 (Earth Day). The survey asks what people globally believe are humanity's most urgent issues. It follows up by asking how those issues affect our lives and communities, the opportunities and constraints to finding resolution, and our willingness to participate in the solution.
The im4u.world Global Survey Report 2022 is the first annual report of the results. The report is presented here as a series of Learn-Engage-Empower blog chapters. The series will follow the 15 questions of the survey over two months (July and August).
The report represents the results of one year of data collection and analysis. We hope you find the results thought-provoking and inspiring. The results will be the basis of engaging in productive discussion to find solutions to some of our most pressing problems facing humanity. We hope this inspires you and your communities of interest to take action and make a meaningful difference in our world.
The Learn-Engage-Empower series, What the World Told Us, to date:
Part 1 - July 7, 2022 - A Vision and Challenges
Question 1: Imagine you are now living 25 years into the future. What is your vision of the world, then? What do you hope it would be like?
Part 2 - July 14, 2022 - Your Hometown
Question 2: What problems do you have in your community today that must be solved before they could be part of your vision of the future?
Question 3: How do those problems in your community affect your life today?
Part 3 - July 21, 2022 - Local Problems
Question 4: What happened that created those problems in your community?
Question 5: What will happen to your community if it cannot, or will not, solve those problems?
Did you know? The Global Survey is ongoing, and it is never too late to complete one. Please visit the im4u.world Global Survey today at https://www.im4u.world/globalsurvey. Every voice matters.
15 simple questions. That is all it takes for you to begin making a positive difference in the world!
In this blog post, we dive deeper into your local community. In Part 2, you described problems in your hometown that required some resolution before achieving your global vision. We now ask what created those problems where you live and what will happen if they are not solved.
Question 4: What happened that created those problems in your community?
13 = Economic
Five categories account for 75% of the reasons people identified for the problems in their communities. (Government & Society, Economic, Equality, and Health)
The range of topics mentioned in a category can be broad. In Government & Society, there is a subgroup related to government and governance, another about law, law enforcement, and violence, and another related to attitudes and perceptions.
Issues in the Economic category ranked high as a cause of the problems in a community. Generally, economic indicators globally have been positive and growing for much of the last decade. However, that has changed recently for many, and that is readily understood. The long run of economic growth for many locales has created other stressors reflected in the survey results. These include rapid population growth and urban sprawl, widening income inequality, and the local effects of high levels of consumerism (e.g., garbage, recycling). More challenging to measure are attitudes and perceptions, such as local disregard and entitlement. Growth in the technology sector is opening job fronts and introducing instability into workers' lives. More advanced technology, such as artificial intelligence, is replacing the role of humans in some jobs.
Equality issues have exploded in people's consciousness in many countries, which people reflected in local conditions. Racism, gender equality, ageism, homophobia, transgender, non-binary, immigration, reproductive rights, and all the attendant issues for each has spawned increases in violence, repeated with few meaningful solutions. Many people identified these as systemic issues, that is, problems that pervade entire systems in society, such as government, economic, healthcare, and education systems.
Health issues rise to the forefront, most notably with the COVID-19 pandemic and sharp increases in drug addiction (described as an epidemic) with a global black market that markets and responds to local demand. Mental health figures prominently in the survey responses. Individuals face increasing stress from daily life in their hometowns, which takes its toll on the residents. Respondents cited traffic congestion and long commute times. However, the pandemic had most people working from home, and there was a reduction in these conditions. Many people mentioned fears of economic, housing and food insecurity, and violence. The prevalence of drug addiction in many cities was a cause for anxiety for still others. Another health concern is the medical system. Many noted problems with the high cost of medical care and access to good medical care.
Individual responses brought out some interesting elements:
People blamed governments, corporations, and social media in good measure, but many respondents pointed to the individual too. Ego, greed, uncaring, unwillingness, self-centeredness, stubbornness, laziness, distrust, inertia, apathy, bigotry, and irresponsibility are some words used to describe individual traits that led to problems in their local communities.
The individual traits above exacerbate problems identified in all categories. An example is Climate Change and Planet & Environment. Greed and irresponsibility drive high consumption levels (e.g., airplane travel, consumer goods), which harms the environment.
Leadership is a topic brought up in many contexts.
Survey respondents said that old, outdated leadership approaches are hurting us, typically referenced concerning more senior people in positions of power.
Terms are used such as, out of date, out of touch, uncaring, corrupt, unwilling, and self-serving.
Question 5: What will happen to your community if it cannot, or will not, solve those problems?
13 = Economic
Generally, survey respondents predicted catastrophic results in almost all categories if communities can't solve their problems. One respondent puts it bluntly, "end of life on the planet as we know it." This attitude is telling, perhaps offering clues to underlying attitudes, such as fear, desperation, and unhappiness. People often present climate change as a doomsday scenario and a possible end to humanity. Is that psychic conclusion being carried into other aspects of peoples' lives?
People predicted that Government & Society and Planet & Environment categories would experience far-reaching impacts.
Every response points to a much lower quality of life in communities that fail to solve their problems. Notably, no one saw opportunities in the disruptions to their lives.
Let's look at categories people did not identify as frequently as the top five (Government & Society, Planet & Environment, Health, Spiritual, Economic).
Most notable was Education, which ranked last. No one identified Education and its various topics as being of concern if a community couldn't or wouldn't solve its problems.
Housing ranked low on the list too, which is surprising because housing, especially affordable housing and housing supply, were identified as critical problems with other survey questions.
Issues related to the Food category had the same anomaly as the Housing category.
It doesn't mean there aren't any education, housing, and food issues to resolve in our hometowns. It simply means those issues were outweighed by issues related to other categories instead. By measuring the frequency and percentage of all topics, we can see the relative ranking of importance the survey respondents gave different ones.
The Spiritual category rose into the top five categories. The internal, personal traits of the individual mentioned are primarily positive, such as kindness, acceptance, respect, and vision. These qualities are uniquely juxtaposed with the doomsday scenario posited by many in the responses.
The categories are not mutually exclusive, and it's difficult for the reader to understand where people have connected issues from one category to another. Here are a few examples:
Some people connected degradation in Peace (a topical category) reflected as civil war, anarchy, and societal collapse to topics in the categories of Government & Society and Equality. Though Equality ranked low on the list of categories in this question, equality-related issues are found in other categories, such as Government & Society.
Similarly, issues in the Climate Change category often connect to impacts in the Planet & Environment category (which is a high-ranking category for this question).
People referenced fears about losing something they have, such as power, social position, prestige, and privilege. Those that did not have it welcomed that change. There appears to be an underlying tension between the two.
Important Caveat
The Global Survey is not a statistical survey, meaning that the method by which it was designed and administered yielded statistically significant results. The results are not a statistical representation of the world's population. Anyone was welcome to answer the survey. More importantly, the survey results will define the topics and framework starting the next phase of im4u.world's development, Engagement.
Subscribe to im4u.world for updates and an invitation to join global conversations. There is no cost and no obligation. Visit: https://www.im4u.world/join-subscribe-contact
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The following three questions in the survey focus on the quality of life, personal awareness, and opportunities. Join us next week as we continue our blog series on The Global Survey Results.
Question 6: How much better would the quality of life in your community be if it could solve those problems?
Question 7: Where did you learn about those problems in your community?
Question 8: What are the opportunities available today to solve them?
im4u.world is an ambitious project designed to build positive and constructive conversations worldwide, share learning experiences and make real change locally.
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