You Matter More Than You Think: Quantum Social Change for a Thriving World

You Matter More Than You Think introduces a radically different way of thinking about climate change and social change. Inspired by ideas from quantum physics and quantum social science, quantum social change describes a conscious, nonlinear, and non-local approach to the transformations needed right now to address multiple global crises. It is grounded in our inherent oneness, recognizing that we are entangled through language, meaning, and shared contexts. This perspective on “mattering” shows us that our deepest values and intentions are powerful sources of individual change, collective change, and systems change and can generate a future where all life can thrive.The book includes a Foreword by Dr. Christina Bethell and full-color original artwork by internationally-acclaimed artist Tone Bjordam.KAREN O'BRIEN is a Professor of Human Geography at the University of Oslo and co-founder of cCHANGE. She was named by Web of Science as one of the world’s most influential researchers of the past decade in 2019 and 2020, and in 2021 she was a co-recipient of the BBVA Foundation's Frontiers of Knowledge award for climate change."You Matter More Than You Think is more than just a book. It is an awakening, a how-to manual showing a new path to social and ecological regeneration."PAUL HAWKEN, author of Regeneration, Ending the Climate Crisis in One Generation. “This book offers us a new way of looking at – and then moving towards – the transformational social change we know we need for the future we keep saying we want.”HEIDE HACKMANN, CEO, International Science Council"Karen O'Brien invites us to rethink what it means to be a living, thinking agent in our hyper-complex and troubled world. It's a hopeful book about our capacity to enact progressive change in the face of global challenges.”NOEL CASTREE, University of Manchester, England“Karen has artfully captured both the science and the soul, the seen and the unseen, the pragmatics and the poetics midwifing a new way of receiving and giving, which requires practice and more practice. The book is a great resource for scholars-practitioners, leaders, coaches, parents, educators, and anyone who holds questions and who is genuinely and humbly wanting to contribute to shift humanity’s story and make a positive difference.”INA GJIKONDI, Director of Education and Coaching, The George Washington University“This remarkable book’s message that we can all make a meaningful difference is needed more than ever after years of missed opportunities for climate and biodiversity policy. It is an important contribution to the efforts of dedicated people around the world doing all they can to achieve real social and cultural change for the long-term good of the earth and all its denizens.”STEVEN HARTMAN, Executive Director, BRIDGES Sustainability Science Coalition in the UNESCO Management of Social Transformations Programme‘’Karen O’Brien explains in a readable and yet theoretically persuasive way why quantum onto-epistemologies offer possibilities for thinking differently about how the universe is made, how we inhabit the world, and how we can change it. The book beautifully bridges the divide between theory and praxis … it constitutes an innovative way to make quantum count for changing the world.’'LAURA ZANOTTI Virginia Tech University and Author of Ontological Entanglements, Agency and Ethics in International Relations Read more