Ever wonder why a larger percentage of us aren't about figuring out our collective problems and solving them, thereby ensuring the continuity of civilization and ecological integrity? Well, here's my list of top five reasons and their explanations. Take these as a springboard for further discussion and argument.

1. Elitism. The small number of people who effectively control this planet aren't really in the mood to share. This alone makes us less inclined to want to vote, or participate, or cooperate to manifest positive change. Elites figure that they know best, and that they deserve their private islands and private air forces. Their power largely consists in our obeisance to greed: we recognize them as superior because they have something that our primal nature screams that we want: more money. Toss out that recognition, along with material cult propaganda programs like "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous", "Sex and the City", "Desperate Housewives", "90210", etc., and most forms of celebrity worship, and elitism will be defanged. The real heroes aren't usually the rich and opportunistic; rather, they're the ones who work hard to alleviate human suffering and ecological waste. Few real heroes stand among the ranks of those who toss ball good or own a yacht for each season.

2. Lack of Collectivism and Coherence. The Wild West mythos of America is partly to blame for this. Yes, in frontier days, it made sense to be a bow-legged, laconic lone wolf. But the frontier is long gone, and the age of cooperation has arrived. Those who cooperate get ahead. Those who do not are poorly insulated from negative change; they can suddenly lose ground, or grind their wheels and start to slide on that ever-steepening, slippery slope of relentless and uncaring capitalism. We are all part of the same superorganism, the one called humanity, so the sooner we act like it, and dispose of the manufactured differences that keep us divided—bigotry, phobias, racism—and start to think of each other as individuals with real identification, engagement and interest rather than lonely competition and indifference, the sooner we'll get ahead. Notice that some people are starting to remember how to cooperate as communities, just like everyone used to.

3. Lack of Gender Balance. Women have largely broken free of traditional gender roles, obligations and expectations and have stopped basing their worldviews upon what men want. Instead, they concern themselves with self knowledge and what they want, as idiosyncratic, empowered individuals. But men have yet to strike out in a similar spirit of independent self-discovery, and instead cling to failed ideals of masculinity that remain dependent upon what women want, or used to want: the dominant tough guy, the knight in shining armor (otherwise known as the martyr), and the skirt-chasing playboy. It's time that men branched out into new visions of masculinity and self-determination that shrug with bemused indifference at such slander as "freak", "loser" and "fag". We should try on new archetypes like the shaman, the sage, the healer, the Green Man and the Renaissance Man. Japanese men are already figuring this out! More than ever, harmonizing our collective behaviors to cooperate more and compete and conflict less is necessary for civilization—and more than ever, it's necessary to find and know oneself without much regard for the box of traditional roles conceived by Medieval elites and perpetuated by people with unimaginative preconceptions.  Complicity with such arbitrary limitations is at best a tired box presenting uncomfortable confines, and at worst a trap capable of stagnating human spiritual evolution and fomenting huge old mistakes, such as mass criminal behavior and war. Women threw off the shackles fifty years ago. What are we waiting for? Men and boys will remain lost, idle and alienated until we can ignite a new and viable vision of the sacred masculine to match all the buzz about the sacred feminine.

4. Global Megacorps. These exploitation machines impose forms of slavery in the guise of happily marketed products and a few executives who reap inexplicable salaries rivaling the GDPs of some countries. They seek out the lowest-paid workers on the planet and transfer huge amounts of wealth from the poor to the rich, destroying the middle class and eliminating the possibility of upward mobility. Meanwhile they buy up the representatives that filter and control our "democracy" in order to accelerate this hugely problematic wealth transfer scam. The antidote is a raise in consciousness. Buy local and Green. Ally with the little guys and the few very ethical big guys. Try alternatives. Research and identify the worst companies that represent the opposite of your own ideals, and boycott them personally—then blog about them. Ask and publicly challenge them to reform. Be an informed consumer, and reward only those companies that represent your ideals and ethics with your business.

5. Nonsensical Bad Habits.  Old habits die hard, but bad habits often refuse to die. Here's a few examples of anomalous foci of collective attention that damage human potential: smoking. Investing billions in sports stadiums while millions go homeless and medical research is underfunded. Suburban sprawl. Lack of interest in gardening and growing some of one's own food (fresh produce is so much better than that preservative-laden plastic bag of frozen plant tissue that died a month ago). Lack of meaningful relationships with each other and Nature. We'll fly halfway around the world to stay in a concrete high-rise among strangers and pay top dollar to breathe smog and ozone, but when's the last time that we went on a walkabout, a vision quest, or just camped out under the stars with some friends?