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Multisolving: Creating Systems Change in a Fractured World
For most of Elizabeth Sawin’s career, she was not a multisolver. Instead, she worked on a single, albeit immensely important climate change. Despite tremendous effort—long hours of teaching, attending conferences, publicizing analysis—at the end of the day, she felt like she was chasing her tail. Unless people began to recognize the multitude of unexpected benefits from ratcheting down emissions, climate change would remain a losing political issue.
That experience, along with the guidance of leaders in systems thinking and racial justice, convinced her that the world’s thorniest problems may be easier to tackle together than one by one. That’s using a single investment of time or money to solve many problems at the same time. (Reduced fossil fuel use = improvements in climate, health, equity, economics, and more.) While the idea of killing two birds with one stone (or “filling two needs with one deed”) is age-old, and the notion of co-benefits in policy-making has been around for years, Multisolving addresses the current mismatch between complex, deeply intertwined societal issues and our siloed approach to them.
This unique resource is for local school boards that need revenue for their students but don’t want to overtax low-income seniors. It is for nonprofits working to reduce food waste and combat the root causes of hunger while increasing racial justice. It is for seaside communities that can protect themselves from flooding while also improving biodiversity with a living coastline. It may also be for doing the work you know is imperative but that is sometimes overwhelming, a tiny a drop in a swirling ocean.
Multisolving can’t promise a list of “fifty simple things to make everything OK.” What it does offer are strategies to build solidarity between diverse groups, overcome powerful interests, and create lasting change that benefits us all.
That experience, along with the guidance of leaders in systems thinking and racial justice, convinced her that the world’s thorniest problems may be easier to tackle together than one by one. That’s using a single investment of time or money to solve many problems at the same time. (Reduced fossil fuel use = improvements in climate, health, equity, economics, and more.) While the idea of killing two birds with one stone (or “filling two needs with one deed”) is age-old, and the notion of co-benefits in policy-making has been around for years, Multisolving addresses the current mismatch between complex, deeply intertwined societal issues and our siloed approach to them.
This unique resource is for local school boards that need revenue for their students but don’t want to overtax low-income seniors. It is for nonprofits working to reduce food waste and combat the root causes of hunger while increasing racial justice. It is for seaside communities that can protect themselves from flooding while also improving biodiversity with a living coastline. It may also be for doing the work you know is imperative but that is sometimes overwhelming, a tiny a drop in a swirling ocean.
Multisolving can’t promise a list of “fifty simple things to make everything OK.” What it does offer are strategies to build solidarity between diverse groups, overcome powerful interests, and create lasting change that benefits us all.
256 pages, Paperback
Published November 26, 2024
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169 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
June 24, 2025
Just finished Multisolving by Elizabeth Sawin (Island Press, 2024) — an essential and timely guide for anyone working at the intersection of climate, equity, and systemic change.
Sawin introduces a powerful framework rooted in systems thinking, offering tools to address multiple problems at once rather than tackling them in isolation. From stocks and flows to feedback loops and leverage points, she makes complex concepts surprisingly accessible.
What sets this book apart is its clarity and optimism: rather than trying to control broken systems, Multisolving teaches us how to work with them — amplifying what’s working and strategically shifting what’s not.
Whether you’re a policymaker, activist, or just a curious thinker trying to make sense of a fractured world, this book gives you language, direction, and hope.
Highly recommended for anyone interested in real, lasting change across disciplines. 🌍💡
Sawin introduces a powerful framework rooted in systems thinking, offering tools to address multiple problems at once rather than tackling them in isolation. From stocks and flows to feedback loops and leverage points, she makes complex concepts surprisingly accessible.
What sets this book apart is its clarity and optimism: rather than trying to control broken systems, Multisolving teaches us how to work with them — amplifying what’s working and strategically shifting what’s not.
Whether you’re a policymaker, activist, or just a curious thinker trying to make sense of a fractured world, this book gives you language, direction, and hope.
Highly recommended for anyone interested in real, lasting change across disciplines. 🌍💡
August 23, 2025
Hated it, but that's because I'm dreadful and not because the book was bad.
February 24, 2025
Multisolving is a user-friendly guide to systems thinking and applying systems thinking to get traction on some of the massive problems humanity faces today. The book is filled with concrete examples, many of them from the author's own experience, and provides actionable advice for making the most of your own efforts to change the world. Read it, then pass it along to a friend or colleague. You – and the world – will be better for it.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews