9 . Borders, departments, or issue areas all represent what systems analysts call system boundaries. System boundaries divide the big, messy, interconnected world into smaller subsystems. This is useful, even necessary. Our minds and our collective governance systems would be stuck if we had to always consider all the connections of everything to everything else. But dividing systems into subsystems can sometimes break a natural cooperativity. For instance, a decarbonizing country will spend money in its energy and transportation sectors and save money in its health system.

Decarbonization could be a win for the whole, but it might be experienced as a bother for particular subsystems.

Donella Meadows, the early systems modeler, wrote that system boundaries are “lines in the mind, not in the world.” And that is actually good news. If departments, and disciplines are just ideas, then there is nothing immovable about them. We can make these borders less obvious and conduct partnerships across them. We can even redraw them to include more of what matters in a single project or investment. That’s the premise of multisolving — using one investment of time or effort to achieve several goals at once.

For instance, Warm Up New Zealand (WUNZ) upgraded the energy efficiency of residential buildings and provided jobs in the building sector after a financial downturn. The project resulted in better health for residents, as well. That translated into health systems savings. Taken together, a 2011 study estimated that across all these benefits, the project saved $3.90 for every $1 invested.

Multisolving seems possible everywhere and like an obvious choice. Yet, it is very much the exception, not the rule. Why is multisolving still so rare when it has the power to boost progress on some of the most urgent issues we face?

Unfamiliarity stands in the way, as does an often-unexamined assumption that making issues smaller makes them easier to address. We often hear the viewpoint, “I already work on poverty (or climate, etc.) and that’s hard enough. Why should I add biodiversity or pollution to the mix?” Fundraising for crossing borders can be a struggle too. Funders want the “visible results” shown, but they don’t always see crossing borders as an essential part of achieving those results.

It is easy to devalue and underemphasize connection-building. After all, it can be delicate and not always visible. But to realize goals in today’s world, from equitable policies and low-carbon facilities to values like cooperation and fairness, we do need deep shifts, and we need them soon. And facilitating the flow of ideas back and forth across borders is one way to speed change.

10 .

If you have ever seen a snowflake design on jewelry or a bag, chances are it was based on one of Wilson Bentley’s more than 5,000 photomicrographs of snow crystals (晶体).

At first, though, Bentley did not have any way to share his enjoyment of the delicate hexagons (六边形) other than to draw them. He spent hours outside or inside his unheated storeroom with a microscope. He would pick up a snow crystal and transfer it to a microscope slide. There, he flattened it with a bird feather. Then, holding his breath, he observed the crystal and hurried to draw what he saw before it turned forever into thin air.

A few years later, Bentley began his pursuit to photograph a snow crystal. He attached a microscope to a camera. Time after time, his negatives appeared blank. The following winter, he finally figured out that too much light was reaching the camera. His solution was to place a metal plate with a tiny hole in the center beneath the stage of the microscope. It cut down the stray (杂散的) light and allowed only the light waves carrying the image to reach the camera.

On January 15, 1885, at the age of 19, Bentley finally photographed a snowflake! He spent many hours over the next 45 years in his tiny darkroom developing negatives.

Bentley lived his entire life on his childhood farm. He farmed for a living. To his friends and family, he was kind, gentle, and funny “Willie”. But to scientists, he was the untrained researcher who became a snow crystal pioneer. He wrote for science journals. He not only photographed snow crystals but also became an authority on dew (露水) and frost. He kept a detailed daily log of local weather conditions throughout his life. He developed a method to measure the size of raindrops too.

Bentley never made more than a few thousand dollars from his work. It had been a labor of love, and he was satisfied to be able to share the beauty of his snow crystals with the world. And today, he is remembered as Snowflake Bentley.