We face so many challenges in our world today! That is why we need to connect the dots between our homes, and the health of our communities.  Many of us don’t make the connection between our health, our homes, and the health of the world at large. Yet sometimes, without us even knowing it, the products in our homes make us sick. Or they impact our safety and comfort.  It all starts with us. Even though it might feel overwhelming, we need to understand that each one of us holds the world in our hands, and it is OUR challenge to take care of it.  I’m Marla, the Green Home Coach, and my co-host and partner in podcasting, Tony Pratte, aka The Green Guy, from The Sound Room, is with me! We are kicking off a new series today called Wicked Problems! Stay tuned for more! What is a wicked problem? Wicked problems are social or cultural problems that are difficult or almost impossible to solve. They are deeply complex problems that are broad in scope and large in scale. Most people have a hard time wrapping their heads around wicked problems.  The characteristics of wicked problems They are all unique They have multiple uncertain root causes There is a vast and open-ended source of possible solutions They involve numerous and varied stakeholders They can be improved but never really solved Solving wicked problems  All solutions for wicked problems involve large-scale changes in behavior, structure, and technology. Those solutions will probably create new problems and have unintended consequences. The deal There are many wicked problems in our world today. We are all about creating better health for people and society. But we understand that that could bring about even more wicked problems.  Super-wicked problems There is a sub-category of wicked problems called Super-Wicked Problems. They are characterized by time running out, having no decision-maker in charge, and those seeking to solve the problem also causing problems. Many of the complex problems we face today fit this description. And the tough part is that we all likely contribute to the wicked problems, and we all have the power to be part of the solution.  Trade-offs There are trade-offs for everything we do in our everyday lives. Personal health Although there is a lot of emphasis on personal health right now, people don’t understand all the factors that may impact their health. There are also many different stakeholders in personal health, and they all many have competing viewpoints. Trust  We are reaching a point where people are starting to tune out of all the information because they don’t know who to trust. A disconnected world I am all about the connectedness we feel inside us because even with all the technology available today, we still live in a disconnected world. A growing number of people are anesthetized today and tend to separate their feelings from whatever is happening in the world around them. Connectedness People need to understand that there is a connectedness between the various parts of where we function as humans and our health. Covid has helped with that understanding because it changed our appreciation for our personal space, relationships, and daily routines.  Maslow’s hierarchy of needs Since the start of the pandemic, survival mode (in terms of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs) has become more prevalent in most people’s lives, and health has come to the fore for most of us. The global economy Many of our daily habits (like drinking coffee or sending our plastic waste overseas for developing countries to deal with) involve the global economy. During Covid, many things became unobtainable. Since then, we have become more accepting of everything available to us.  Thinking differently about our homes Spending all our time at home during Covid made us think about our homes differently, and we started noticing things that we were too busy to see before.  Healthier habits Many of us adopted healthier habits during the lockdown period. We started walking regula