The ingenuity gap / climate change / peak oil
Just attended the London TechAlliance AGM, which featured Dr. Thomas Homer-Dixon as the speaker. He presented a rather sobering view of the severity of the problems of climate change, carbon emissions, and peak oil. His message for solving these is in part that he is hopeful that the crisis will spur ingenutiy and entrepreneurship to find solutions. We can't expect government or large institutions alone to solve this. He also suggested that ingenuity and creativity is enhnaced by more communication and collaboration, but that there may be a point where too much of it becomes counterproductive.
I have not read any of his books, but if his talk is any indication, they would be a worthwhile read for anyone wanting to make a difference on these issues.