Gentle Action: Bringing Creative Change to a Turbulent World

The recent book Gentle Action: Bringing Creative Change to a Turbulent World argues that smaller, community-generated interventions — or “gentle actions” — should be considered before dramatic, top-down programs. The author, F. David Peat, is a physicist and a prolific writer on science and the human condition. He is the founder of the Pari Center for New Learning, housed under the sloping rooftops of Pari, a medieval town in Italy.

Peat’s examples of gentle action range from Kiva.org-style online campaigns, which connect donors directly with beneficiaries, to spontaneous offline community efforts to raise trust and generate goodwill among neighbors. He argues that the aggregate of many of these gentle actions working in concert can have a greater impact than a handful of grandiose world-changing projects backed by influential stakeholders. In fact, the author implies that many small actions can help to undo the harmful consequences of massive and poorly-conceived community development projects.

Peat encourages us all to be more reflective, arguing that people and institutions should think deeply about the inherent limitations and uncertain consequences of any effort to improve a community. He makes the case for individuals and institutions to hold back quick judgment on what it takes to effect positive social change, contending that philanthropists and international organizations should harness the creativity and assets inherent in the communities they wish to serve.

For instance, the author cites a disastrous do-gooder project during the 1950s on the part of the British colonial regime. Officials stocked Lake Victoria in East Africa with the high-protein but difficult-to-fish Lake Perch species. The foreign presence of the species threw the delicate marine ecosystem into a tailspin, transforming the region into a polluted commercial fishery at the expense of traditional ways of life.

“Gentle Action is not some fancy, idealistic dream but a highly practical proposal,” Peat writes. I couldn’t agree more, but I’m not sure that the author’s call for humility alone will convince stuck-the-mud institutions that their perceived knack for choosing the right course of action on any given issue is part of the problem.

If you haven’t read it, Gentle Action: Bringing Creative Change to a Turbulent World is available on Amazon.