ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book presents the 16 leaders, including a summary of their story and their initiatives. It explores why sustainability change is so slow. The book addresses the "elephant in the room": the values and beliefs that anchor our Western Weltanschauung, or worldview, which are at the foundation of our collective identity, and which may be impeding individuals from making a faster switch into sustainable practices. It also addresses the values of Economic growth, Achievement, Control, Wealth, Comfort, Independence, Competition, Knowledge, and Speed. The book takes us beyond the tipping point, and presents us with an opportunity to evolve as humans developing a new way of thinking and being on this planet. It addresses the alternatives that we have to convert the unsustainable values into opportunities that will permit humanity to thrive and to break through the obstructions that prevent us from stasis.
