In the 1960s, when the world was riddled with all kinds of international conflict, an American architect and systems theorist named Buckminster Fuller used a clever metaphor as a tool to draw up a new way of looking at the world. He described the Earth as a spaceship whose passengers were all its human inhabitants. The world view “Spaceship Earth” encourages human beings to perform their unique tasks dutifully to keep the spaceship functioning. Fuller’s challenge was for us to “make the world work, for 100% of humanity, in the shortest possible time, through spontaneous cooperation, without ecological offense or the disadvantage of anyone.”

There’s no other demographic more capable to rise to this challenge than the youth. As inheritors of the future, the youth have the honor and responsibility to carve out the future. Yes, the generations before today’s youth may have faltered in making the world a better place to live in: global crises like political conflict, climate change, economic inequalities and more are becoming tougher than ever. But the youth of today are more active, energetic, and idealistic than ever as well -- this is the generation that is growing up in the age of information and are using it to learn hard and speak up more loudly than ever.

At We R One World, we channel this energy of resistance and social consciousness among the youth by conducting a unique youth development program: a world simulator game based on Buckminster Fuller’s World Game, an educational simulation that enables participants to tackle global-scale challenges head on.