Past Surmountable Newsletters

Our most daunting challenges won't be solved in a day / iStock

We have compiled over 1,000 actions that you can take today for a better tomorrow across 100 of our toughest issues from affordable housing to zero waste. We're currently compiling them into a book, so please stay tuned for updates.

In the meantime, be sure to sign up for free or sign in to read each topic in their entirety to find the solutions to these surmountable problems!

Sorted by Topic	Sorted by Problem
Affordable housing Air quality Animal protection Art education and creativity Artificial intelligence and job skills B corps, LTSE, and consumer safety Balanced budget Bee and pollinator defense Bike accessibility Bilingual education Biodiversity Campaign finance, ethics reform City parks and urban trees Civic debate Coastal flood prevention Composting Cost of university Criminal justice reform Cybersecurity and privacy Defense against Lyme and malaria Defense of the Constitution Disaster preparedness Diverse political candidates Ergonomics and employee safety Equal pay and equal rights Equality for sexual orientation End-of-life estate planning Fair electoral maps Fan-owned sports teams Farm animal welfare Fashion diversity Financial literacy Food labeling and testing Food policy Food security Four day work week Free admission to museums Freedom to play Gender respect Gun safety reform Holistic history Immigrant integration Impartial elections Inclusive teaching Intergovernmental organizations Journalistic corrections K-12 school performance Living without fear Local manufacturing jobs Marijuana legalization Mars colonization Martial arts and self-defense Mass transit Maternal health and pediatrics Media literacy Medication effectiveness Mental health Metric system adoption Middle income housing National defense National parks Nuclear weapons peace treaties Organ transplant reform Paid family and caregiver leave Pain relief without addiction Pandemic recovery Patient safety Personal accountability Pet adoption Planetary defense Police accountability Preschool and child care Public libraries Public sports facilities and fields Recess and physical education Reforestation Renewable energy Right to repair Right to vote Safe driving Safe families and relationships Self-determination and statehood Slavery abolition Sleep quality STEM representation Sustainable agriculture Sustainable apparel Sustainable seafood Trails and sidewalks Tribal health and rural economies Universal broadband Universal design Universal healthcare Vegetarian and sustainable diets Veteran adjustment to civilian life Water conservation Water quality Water reclamation Watershed protection Zero waste	Air pollution Algal bloom and red tide Animal cruelty Archaic measurement systems Antibiotic resistance Back pain and workplace injuries Book banning and censorship Broken promises Bullying and cyberbullying Colony collapse disorder (CCD) Corporate accountability Data leaks and hacking Day Zero water scarcity Declining life expectancy Declining museum attendance Digital divide Disinformation and conspiracies Domestic violence and child abuse Drought and water shortage Drunk and impaired driving Early education expenses Election denial Electronic waste (e-waste) Exploited landscapes Factory closures and trade deficit Factory farms Fashion uniformity Fast fashion and textile waste Food waste Fossil fuel dependence Gerrymandering Government corruption Gun violence Hate crimes and xenophobia Helicopter and over-parenting Historical ignorance Housing crisis Housing shortage Human trafficking Hunger Immigration backlog Inaccessibility Infant and maternal mortality Inflation and federal debt Inflexible work schedules Insect-borne diseases International peacekeeping Lack of emergency preparation Lack of empathy Lack of parents on school board Lack of transparency in food safety Lack of women in STEM Lethargy LGBTQ+ persecution Limited support for families Long COVID and prolonged grief Loss of divergent thinking Mass incarceration Medical debt Medical errors Mental illness and suicide Military waste Money mismanagement Noise and light pollution Nuclear war threat and arms race Obesity Opioid epidemic Organ donation burdens Overfishing Physical inactivity Plastic pollution Polarization, political extremism Police militarization Poor education Privatization of youth sports PTSD and veteran trauma Puppy mills and unethical shelters Risk of asteroid impacts Risk of Constitutional convention Rural decline, indigenous inequity Sea level rise Secondhand smoke Sexism and workplace inequality Sexual harassment and assault Singularity and unknown futures Soil erosion and famine Space exploration monopoly Stadium subsidies Student debt Survivor burdens of funerals Taxation without representation Traffic Underrepresentation Unsustainable diet Urban heat islands Victim blaming and scapegoating Voter intimidation Water contamination Wildlife extinction Wildfires or forest fires

Sorted by Topic

Sorted by Problem

Affordable housing
Air quality
Animal protection
Art education and creativity
Artificial intelligence and job skills
B corps, LTSE, and consumer safety
Balanced budget
Bee and pollinator defense
Bike accessibility
Bilingual education
Biodiversity
Campaign finance, ethics reform
City parks and urban trees
Civic debate
Coastal flood prevention
Composting
Cost of university
Criminal justice reform
Cybersecurity and privacy
Defense against Lyme and malaria
Defense of the Constitution
Disaster preparedness
Diverse political candidates
Ergonomics and employee safety
Equal pay and equal rights
Equality for sexual orientation
End-of-life estate planning
Fair electoral maps
Fan-owned sports teams
Farm animal welfare
Fashion diversity
Financial literacy
Food labeling and testing
Food policy
Food security
Four day work week
Free admission to museums
Freedom to play
Gender respect
Gun safety reform
Holistic history
Immigrant integration
Impartial elections
Inclusive teaching
Intergovernmental organizations
Journalistic corrections
K-12 school performance
Living without fear
Local manufacturing jobs
Marijuana legalization
Mars colonization
Martial arts and self-defense
Mass transit
Maternal health and pediatrics
Media literacy
Medication effectiveness
Mental health
Metric system adoption
Middle income housing
National defense
National parks
Nuclear weapons peace treaties
Organ transplant reform
Paid family and caregiver leave
Pain relief without addiction
Pandemic recovery
Patient safety
Personal accountability
Pet adoption
Planetary defense
Police accountability
Preschool and child care
Public libraries
Public sports facilities and fields
Recess and physical education
Reforestation
Renewable energy
Right to repair
Right to vote
Safe driving
Safe families and relationships
Self-determination and statehood
Slavery abolition
Sleep quality
STEM representation
Sustainable agriculture
Sustainable apparel
Sustainable seafood
Trails and sidewalks
Tribal health and rural economies
Universal broadband
Universal design
Universal healthcare
Vegetarian and sustainable diets
Veteran adjustment to civilian life
Water conservation
Water quality
Water reclamation
Watershed protection
Zero waste

Air pollution
Algal bloom and red tide
Animal cruelty
Archaic measurement systems
Antibiotic resistance
Back pain and workplace injuries
Book banning and censorship
Broken promises
Bullying and cyberbullying
Colony collapse disorder (CCD)
Corporate accountability
Data leaks and hacking
Day Zero water scarcity
Declining life expectancy
Declining museum attendance
Digital divide
Disinformation and conspiracies
Domestic violence and child abuse
Drought and water shortage
Drunk and impaired driving
Early education expenses
Election denial
Electronic waste (e-waste)
Exploited landscapes
Factory closures and trade deficit
Factory farms
Fashion uniformity
Fast fashion and textile waste
Food waste
Fossil fuel dependence
Gerrymandering
Government corruption
Gun violence
Hate crimes and xenophobia
Helicopter and over-parenting
Historical ignorance
Housing crisis
Housing shortage
Human trafficking
Hunger
Immigration backlog
Inaccessibility
Infant and maternal mortality
Inflation and federal debt
Inflexible work schedules
Insect-borne diseases
International peacekeeping
Lack of emergency preparation
Lack of empathy
Lack of parents on school board
Lack of transparency in food safety
Lack of women in STEM
Lethargy
LGBTQ+ persecution
Limited support for families
Long COVID and prolonged grief
Loss of divergent thinking
Mass incarceration
Medical debt
Medical errors
Mental illness and suicide
Military waste
Money mismanagement
Noise and light pollution
Nuclear war threat and arms race
Obesity
Opioid epidemic
Organ donation burdens
Overfishing
Physical inactivity
Plastic pollution
Polarization, political extremism
Police militarization
Poor education
Privatization of youth sports
PTSD and veteran trauma
Puppy mills and unethical shelters
Risk of asteroid impacts
Risk of Constitutional convention
Rural decline, indigenous inequity
Sea level rise
Secondhand smoke
Sexism and workplace inequality
Sexual harassment and assault
Singularity and unknown futures
Soil erosion and famine
Space exploration monopoly
Stadium subsidies
Student debt
Survivor burdens of funerals
Taxation without representation
Traffic
Underrepresentation
Unsustainable diet
Urban heat islands
Victim blaming and scapegoating
Voter intimidation
Water contamination
Wildlife extinction
Wildfires or forest fires

Challenges

There are also challenges we all have to overcome when trying to tackle any issue bigger than any single individual. Some we can control, while others embody our mutual struggle:

Sorted by Control	Sorted by Struggle
Awareness Common ground Optimism and pragmatism Responsibility and choice Today	Anxiety Division Pessimism, cynicism, and apathy Results Tomorrow

Sorted by Topic

Sorted by Problem

Challenges

Sorted by Control

Sorted by Struggle

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