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The Only Possible Solution: How to Shape the Future for Our Next Generations
What if climate change, biodiversity loss, food and water insecurity, inequality, declining health, political polarization, and the erosion of trust are not separate crises at all?
What if they are all symptoms of the same underlying system failure?
In The Only Possible Solution, journalist and author Fons Burger argues that humanity's greatest challenges cannot be solved in isolation. Drawing on insights from scientists, economists, activists, entrepreneurs, and systems thinkers, he reveals the hidden connections between the issues that shape our lives and our future.
Rather than offering another collection of quick fixes, Burger explores how a fundamental redesign of the systems that govern society could create a world that is healthier, fairer, more resilient, and more sustainable.
Part investigation, part roadmap, and part invitation to think differently, this book challenges readers to look beyond symptoms and discover the deeper patterns that connect everything.
For readers interested in systems thinking, sustainability, climate solutions, social innovation, future studies, and the long-term future of humanity.
Foreword by Jan Rotmans, Professor of Sustainability Transitions.
What if they are all symptoms of the same underlying system failure?
In The Only Possible Solution, journalist and author Fons Burger argues that humanity's greatest challenges cannot be solved in isolation. Drawing on insights from scientists, economists, activists, entrepreneurs, and systems thinkers, he reveals the hidden connections between the issues that shape our lives and our future.
Rather than offering another collection of quick fixes, Burger explores how a fundamental redesign of the systems that govern society could create a world that is healthier, fairer, more resilient, and more sustainable.
Part investigation, part roadmap, and part invitation to think differently, this book challenges readers to look beyond symptoms and discover the deeper patterns that connect everything.
For readers interested in systems thinking, sustainability, climate solutions, social innovation, future studies, and the long-term future of humanity.
Foreword by Jan Rotmans, Professor of Sustainability Transitions.
238 pages, Kindle Edition
First published June 23, 2026
About the author
Fons Burger
14 books889 followers I've been writing stories for most of my life, always somewhere between journalism, fiction, music, and activism. I began as an investigative reporter in the early seventies, digging into political scandals, military abuses, and the hidden influence of powerful families. Later I travelled through Central and South America, reporting from guerrilla movements and conflict zones that shaped the world far from where I grew up.
After years in journalism and documentary filmmaking, I shifted my focus and helped build parts of Rotterdam’s cultural scene. I founded Rotown and Nighttown, two venues that grew into places where new music, art, and ideas found an audience. Throughout my career I’ve moved between writing, publishing, music, and long-term projects around sustainability and fair trade. For me, storytelling and social engagement have always belonged together.
I’ve published novels, thrillers, columns, and books on social change, while building companies and foundations devoted to development cooperation, ethical entrepreneurship, and cultural innovation. Many of my earlier books are now being reissued in English.
I’ve had my share of successes and failures — often in equal measure — but my mission never really changed: to explore how we live, how we might do better, and how culture and imagination can help us get there, without turning into a preacher or someone who insists on having all the answers, and always as a storyteller at heart.
Recently I decided it was time to imagine the world as it should be — and to capture it in a novel. The book 2125 – The Hibernator grew out of a simple question that wouldn’t let go of me: what would the world look like if we finally decided to do things right? The novel follows a man waking from a century-long artificial coma into a world that has learned, slowly and painfully, to live in balance. I’m now working on a nonfiction companion that explores how we might build such a future in reality — a world that can endure for generations, in harmony with people and planet.
Join me on https://www.2125.world/ and shape the future
After years in journalism and documentary filmmaking, I shifted my focus and helped build parts of Rotterdam’s cultural scene. I founded Rotown and Nighttown, two venues that grew into places where new music, art, and ideas found an audience. Throughout my career I’ve moved between writing, publishing, music, and long-term projects around sustainability and fair trade. For me, storytelling and social engagement have always belonged together.
I’ve published novels, thrillers, columns, and books on social change, while building companies and foundations devoted to development cooperation, ethical entrepreneurship, and cultural innovation. Many of my earlier books are now being reissued in English.
I’ve had my share of successes and failures — often in equal measure — but my mission never really changed: to explore how we live, how we might do better, and how culture and imagination can help us get there, without turning into a preacher or someone who insists on having all the answers, and always as a storyteller at heart.
Recently I decided it was time to imagine the world as it should be — and to capture it in a novel. The book 2125 – The Hibernator grew out of a simple question that wouldn’t let go of me: what would the world look like if we finally decided to do things right? The novel follows a man waking from a century-long artificial coma into a world that has learned, slowly and painfully, to live in balance. I’m now working on a nonfiction companion that explores how we might build such a future in reality — a world that can endure for generations, in harmony with people and planet.
Join me on https://www.2125.world/ and shape the future
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
June 23, 2026
“This book does not present loose problems with loose solutions. It is a search for connection, for the underlying pattern, for the threads that link the urgent questions of our time to the only possible future we can still create together. The deeper we looked, the clearer the pattern became: no crisis can be solved without touching the others.”
From food, to water, to housing, to healthcare, to consumerism and education, government and economics, renowned Dutch journalist Fons Burger unites ideas for a world that works for all its inhabitants with thinkers who have those ideas ready today. He draws tight lines from the current realities of today to potential future outcomes if changes are made - and if they are not.
Burger emphasizes the need for longterm solutions with social thinking, “living with awareness of others, caring, sharing, and treating nature with respect, as part of ourselves” as an alternative to traditional left/right ideology. I found this core idea to resonate throughout each of the chapters as he, and the visionary thinkers he references, explain their thoughts on the deep interconnected nature of human existence and our interdependency with the planet we all share.
Overall I found the work deeply moving, with the particular potential to instill empathy and compassion in the United States for people migrating to due to draught and food insecurity caused by multinational capitalism and colonialism. The ideas described are monumental in impact while frequently local in scale, making the work feel immediate and possible. It’s good to read a book like this and be encouraged with one’s capacity for change.
Greatest thanks to the author and PR By the Book for the early copy for review.
From food, to water, to housing, to healthcare, to consumerism and education, government and economics, renowned Dutch journalist Fons Burger unites ideas for a world that works for all its inhabitants with thinkers who have those ideas ready today. He draws tight lines from the current realities of today to potential future outcomes if changes are made - and if they are not.
Burger emphasizes the need for longterm solutions with social thinking, “living with awareness of others, caring, sharing, and treating nature with respect, as part of ourselves” as an alternative to traditional left/right ideology. I found this core idea to resonate throughout each of the chapters as he, and the visionary thinkers he references, explain their thoughts on the deep interconnected nature of human existence and our interdependency with the planet we all share.
Overall I found the work deeply moving, with the particular potential to instill empathy and compassion in the United States for people migrating to due to draught and food insecurity caused by multinational capitalism and colonialism. The ideas described are monumental in impact while frequently local in scale, making the work feel immediate and possible. It’s good to read a book like this and be encouraged with one’s capacity for change.
Greatest thanks to the author and PR By the Book for the early copy for review.
July 21, 2026
Thank you for the Giveaway.
This book just put a lot of things in perspective. It also allowed my eyes to be opened about a lot of things that I both refused to see and also just never stopped to consider.
This book just put a lot of things in perspective. It also allowed my eyes to be opened about a lot of things that I both refused to see and also just never stopped to consider.
July 29, 2026
Loved the book. Every millennial should read this.
July 16, 2026
I would recommend it to readers who are tired of outrage, but not tired of thinking, and who still believe that seriousness and hope can belong in the same sentence.
I came to this book expecting a familiar catalogue of modern anxieties, the kind of earnest survey in which climate, inequality, health, technology and politics are each given their allotted chapter before the reader is sent away feeling better informed but no less powerless. I was pleased to find that Fons Burger is attempting something more demanding, and, in many respects, more useful.
The strength of The Only Possible Solution lies in its insistence that our present difficulties cannot be understood in isolation. Burger writes with the conviction of someone who has spent a long time looking at the spaces between subjects, and the book is at its best when it shows how one failure of imagination leads to another: a damaged food system affects health, distrust weakens democracy, short-term economics damages the planet, and so on. This may sound obvious when put so plainly, but the author manages to make the connections feel not merely argued, but seen.
I particularly admired the tone. A book of this kind can easily become either scolding or naively consoling. Burger avoids both traps for the most part. He is plainly worried, but he is not indulgent in despair. He is hopeful, but not careless with hope. That distinction mattered to me. As a teacher, I spent many years trying to persuade pupils that clear thinking is not the enemy of feeling, and this book makes a similar case on a larger stage. It asks the reader to think beyond the immediate, which is a harder request than it first appears. I finished the book with real respect for its purpose and its discipline. It is not offering a magical answer, despite the boldness of the title. Rather, it is asking us to recover the habit of connected thought, and to take responsibility for the future as something made by human choices.
I came to this book expecting a familiar catalogue of modern anxieties, the kind of earnest survey in which climate, inequality, health, technology and politics are each given their allotted chapter before the reader is sent away feeling better informed but no less powerless. I was pleased to find that Fons Burger is attempting something more demanding, and, in many respects, more useful.
The strength of The Only Possible Solution lies in its insistence that our present difficulties cannot be understood in isolation. Burger writes with the conviction of someone who has spent a long time looking at the spaces between subjects, and the book is at its best when it shows how one failure of imagination leads to another: a damaged food system affects health, distrust weakens democracy, short-term economics damages the planet, and so on. This may sound obvious when put so plainly, but the author manages to make the connections feel not merely argued, but seen.
I particularly admired the tone. A book of this kind can easily become either scolding or naively consoling. Burger avoids both traps for the most part. He is plainly worried, but he is not indulgent in despair. He is hopeful, but not careless with hope. That distinction mattered to me. As a teacher, I spent many years trying to persuade pupils that clear thinking is not the enemy of feeling, and this book makes a similar case on a larger stage. It asks the reader to think beyond the immediate, which is a harder request than it first appears. I finished the book with real respect for its purpose and its discipline. It is not offering a magical answer, despite the boldness of the title. Rather, it is asking us to recover the habit of connected thought, and to take responsibility for the future as something made by human choices.
October 14, 2026
The detail I kept returning to comes before the argument even begins. Burger dedicates the book to his grandson Ayden, born at 1:21:25 in the morning, and hopes he will reach the year 2125 in good health. It is a small, precise fact, but it quietly explains the scale of everything that follows.
Rather than treating climate, food, water, housing, health, education, economics, and social trust as separate subjects, Burger arranges them around ordinary human needs. That choice makes an enormous discussion feel surprisingly lived in. A childhood memory of the sea, the decision to divide his Rotterdam home into three apartments, his dependence on lists, and his observations of changing seasons in Mallorca keep bringing abstract systems back to daily life.
The book is especially good at connection. Ideas from scientists, economists, activists, and other thinkers are not presented as isolated answers, but as parts of a larger pattern. Burger also allows doubt into the conversation, including questions from his own alter ego, which helps the optimism feel examined rather than simply declared.
At times, the scope works against the book. Some subjects are so large that a few conclusions arrive faster than the evidence around them, and I occasionally wanted more room for disagreement or uncertainty. Still, the tone remains curious and constructive.
By the end, that dedication feels different. The exact birth time is no longer just a family detail. It becomes a quiet measure of the future the whole book is asking us to consider.
Rather than treating climate, food, water, housing, health, education, economics, and social trust as separate subjects, Burger arranges them around ordinary human needs. That choice makes an enormous discussion feel surprisingly lived in. A childhood memory of the sea, the decision to divide his Rotterdam home into three apartments, his dependence on lists, and his observations of changing seasons in Mallorca keep bringing abstract systems back to daily life.
The book is especially good at connection. Ideas from scientists, economists, activists, and other thinkers are not presented as isolated answers, but as parts of a larger pattern. Burger also allows doubt into the conversation, including questions from his own alter ego, which helps the optimism feel examined rather than simply declared.
At times, the scope works against the book. Some subjects are so large that a few conclusions arrive faster than the evidence around them, and I occasionally wanted more room for disagreement or uncertainty. Still, the tone remains curious and constructive.
By the end, that dedication feels different. The exact birth time is no longer just a family detail. It becomes a quiet measure of the future the whole book is asking us to consider.
June 23, 2026
Living in balance: building, questioning, and creating change.
Dutch journalist, publisher, author, musician, and entrepreneur Fons Burger offers a beacon of light for our times and for the future. As he states, his mission is ‘to explore how we live, how we might do better, and how culture and imagination can help us get there.’ His books and other publications examine long-term solutions for climate change, inequality, biodiversity loss and systemic failure. Quite cleverly he defines the title of this new book – THE ONLY POSSIBLE SOLUTION – ‘not a single technical or social fix but a way of thinking, long-term thinking. And with it, the understanding that no problem can be solved in isolation…A holistic vision of the far future – that is the only possible solution.’
In a gifted manner of writing Burger explores our most essential needs, offering chapters on food, fresh water, shelter, care of the body, care for the mind, structure, and meaning. His presentation is thoughtful and warmly instructive, and in the final chapter on Meaning he states, ‘Contact and co-belonging speak to the fabric that holds society together. As we drift further apart, the absence of real connection reveals its true value. We begin to see how much we need each other, not only to live but to live well.’ Food for thought and wise challenges for living well and protecting our future. Excellent!
Dutch journalist, publisher, author, musician, and entrepreneur Fons Burger offers a beacon of light for our times and for the future. As he states, his mission is ‘to explore how we live, how we might do better, and how culture and imagination can help us get there.’ His books and other publications examine long-term solutions for climate change, inequality, biodiversity loss and systemic failure. Quite cleverly he defines the title of this new book – THE ONLY POSSIBLE SOLUTION – ‘not a single technical or social fix but a way of thinking, long-term thinking. And with it, the understanding that no problem can be solved in isolation…A holistic vision of the far future – that is the only possible solution.’
In a gifted manner of writing Burger explores our most essential needs, offering chapters on food, fresh water, shelter, care of the body, care for the mind, structure, and meaning. His presentation is thoughtful and warmly instructive, and in the final chapter on Meaning he states, ‘Contact and co-belonging speak to the fabric that holds society together. As we drift further apart, the absence of real connection reveals its true value. We begin to see how much we need each other, not only to live but to live well.’ Food for thought and wise challenges for living well and protecting our future. Excellent!
October 15, 2026
I found something tender beneath this book’s rather emphatic title. Fons Burger dedicates it to his grandson, hoping he will reach 2125 in good health. That wish gives the discussion a human centre, and it stayed with me as the subjects grew larger.
The passages about his garden were especially welcome. Worms and beetles return to once barren soil, while growing his own food leads him towards baking bread and preserving apricots. There is something reassuring about an author who can discuss the future of civilisation and still appreciate a good batch of jam.
Burger’s central argument asks us to think across generations and to connect questions we often keep separate, including food, housing, health and community. These are broad subjects, but his accounts of family life give them a familiar scale. His admissions about wasted food and imperfect habits also make him a companionable guide.
Some of the imagined scenes of life in 2125 felt tidier than the difficult journey towards them, and I occasionally wanted him to linger longer with an idea. Yet the attention he gives to belonging and ordinary care makes this a thoughtful, encouraging read. I would recommend it to readers who enjoy reflective nonfiction with a personal voice, especially those drawn to the quieter question beneath all these large concerns, what sort of daily life will the people who come after us have?
The passages about his garden were especially welcome. Worms and beetles return to once barren soil, while growing his own food leads him towards baking bread and preserving apricots. There is something reassuring about an author who can discuss the future of civilisation and still appreciate a good batch of jam.
Burger’s central argument asks us to think across generations and to connect questions we often keep separate, including food, housing, health and community. These are broad subjects, but his accounts of family life give them a familiar scale. His admissions about wasted food and imperfect habits also make him a companionable guide.
Some of the imagined scenes of life in 2125 felt tidier than the difficult journey towards them, and I occasionally wanted him to linger longer with an idea. Yet the attention he gives to belonging and ordinary care makes this a thoughtful, encouraging read. I would recommend it to readers who enjoy reflective nonfiction with a personal voice, especially those drawn to the quieter question beneath all these large concerns, what sort of daily life will the people who come after us have?
July 13, 2026
I went into this expecting a lecture. I got something a lot more useful than that.
This is not my usual lane. I read crime, thrillers, dark stuff, books where somebody is usually lying, bleeding, or both. But Burger pulled me in because he does not waste the reader’s time pretending the mess we are in has one cute little fix. He looks at climate, politics, inequality, health, trust, all of it, and says these things are tangled because the systems underneath them are tangled. That sold me.
The writing gets out of its own way. Big ideas, but not buried under academic fog. The best parts are when the book stops naming problems and starts showing how different thinking could actually change food, education, technology, democracy, and the way we plan beyond the next five minutes.
Could it have been leaner? Sure. A few of the big picture sections circle the block twice before parking. But I would rather have that than another doom book dressed up as wisdom.
What stuck with me is the stubborn hope of it. Not soft hope. Work boots hope. The kind that says the future is not coming to save us, so we had better start building something that holds. Not my normal kind of book. Still glad I read it.
This is not my usual lane. I read crime, thrillers, dark stuff, books where somebody is usually lying, bleeding, or both. But Burger pulled me in because he does not waste the reader’s time pretending the mess we are in has one cute little fix. He looks at climate, politics, inequality, health, trust, all of it, and says these things are tangled because the systems underneath them are tangled. That sold me.
The writing gets out of its own way. Big ideas, but not buried under academic fog. The best parts are when the book stops naming problems and starts showing how different thinking could actually change food, education, technology, democracy, and the way we plan beyond the next five minutes.
Could it have been leaner? Sure. A few of the big picture sections circle the block twice before parking. But I would rather have that than another doom book dressed up as wisdom.
What stuck with me is the stubborn hope of it. Not soft hope. Work boots hope. The kind that says the future is not coming to save us, so we had better start building something that holds. Not my normal kind of book. Still glad I read it.
October 16, 2026
There is a particular warmth in the passages where Burger describes coaxing life back into depleted soil on his land in Spain. His direct, conversational sentences make regeneration tangible, and that closeness gives the larger argument its emotional footing.
I especially admired the movement between visions of 2125 and the blunt questions posed by his skeptical alter ego. Those interruptions create a rhythm of hope and resistance, allowing the reader room to hesitate. His admissions about consumption and privilege deepen that effect; the person asking for change is visibly struggling with his own habits.
Across discussions of food, housing, education, and care, the returning emphasis on connection gives this expansive book a satisfying coherence. The final attention to love and belonging feels earned by everything that precedes it. Burger makes thinking about distant generations feel like an extension of attending to the people beside us. I finished with a fuller sense of what a humane future might ask of us.
I especially admired the movement between visions of 2125 and the blunt questions posed by his skeptical alter ego. Those interruptions create a rhythm of hope and resistance, allowing the reader room to hesitate. His admissions about consumption and privilege deepen that effect; the person asking for change is visibly struggling with his own habits.
Across discussions of food, housing, education, and care, the returning emphasis on connection gives this expansive book a satisfying coherence. The final attention to love and belonging feels earned by everything that precedes it. Burger makes thinking about distant generations feel like an extension of attending to the people beside us. I finished with a fuller sense of what a humane future might ask of us.
June 29, 2026
The Only Possible Solution: How to Shape the Future for Our Next Generation, by Fons Burger, is an informative book from a sustainable development perspective. This truly is a delight to read, with new ideas and well-thought-through advice. The changes the author has made in his life prove there are sustainable options when one is willing to research the possibilities, though he realizes it isn’t feasible for everyone to follow everything he has accomplished.
I found Fons Burger refreshing as he immersed himself in a sustainable lifestyle. He is a visionary who embraces new ideas and individuals who look to make life better for mankind in all areas of their lives. There are many nuggets in The Only Possible Solution that I plan to incorporate into my life, but one I would love to add is a Tecla house, or even a Tesla house. Though I doubt these options will be available to me in my future, the idea of them fascinates me. This book was a joy to read.
I found Fons Burger refreshing as he immersed himself in a sustainable lifestyle. He is a visionary who embraces new ideas and individuals who look to make life better for mankind in all areas of their lives. There are many nuggets in The Only Possible Solution that I plan to incorporate into my life, but one I would love to add is a Tecla house, or even a Tesla house. Though I doubt these options will be available to me in my future, the idea of them fascinates me. This book was a joy to read.
Review of advance copy received from Author
Can climate change, inequality, and political division all be connected?
In The Only Possible Solution, Fons Burger argues that many of the world's biggest challenges are symptoms of the same underlying system. I enjoyed how the book looks beyond individual problems and encourages readers to think about the bigger picture.
Rather than offering simple fixes, Burger presents a thought-provoking exploration of how society could be redesigned to become more sustainable, resilient, and fair. If you enjoy books that challenge conventional thinking, The Only Possible Solution is an insightful read.
You might like to wander through a few artistic journals — they’re full of sparks and surprises.
In The Only Possible Solution, Fons Burger argues that many of the world's biggest challenges are symptoms of the same underlying system. I enjoyed how the book looks beyond individual problems and encourages readers to think about the bigger picture.
Rather than offering simple fixes, Burger presents a thought-provoking exploration of how society could be redesigned to become more sustainable, resilient, and fair. If you enjoy books that challenge conventional thinking, The Only Possible Solution is an insightful read.
You might like to wander through a few artistic journals — they’re full of sparks and surprises.
July 15, 2026
This book covers important topics in just a handful of chapters, executed uniquely and interestingly while tying in multiple issues and themes. There’s much to be said on how we need to change our ways to help our future, but Burger manages to tackle the topic in a short but useful fashion.
I particularly enjoyed the “alter ego” questions and counters that serve as a sort of “FAQ” or anticipated-question list. Though there aren’t many specific, cited areas, there are many references to experts and their work. I also really enjoyed the idea of looking at this through the lens of what’s possible in the future (in a hundred years), what would be sustainable, and what that would look like.
Great read, if you’re thinking about the future and what that could look like, this is for you!
I particularly enjoyed the “alter ego” questions and counters that serve as a sort of “FAQ” or anticipated-question list. Though there aren’t many specific, cited areas, there are many references to experts and their work. I also really enjoyed the idea of looking at this through the lens of what’s possible in the future (in a hundred years), what would be sustainable, and what that would look like.
Great read, if you’re thinking about the future and what that could look like, this is for you!
July 8, 2026
The Only Possible Solution by Fons Burger
I like this book because it teaches us what we need to change now so our grandkids will have a better earth. So aware of plastic in oceans and microplastics in containers and water bottles, I now use stainless steel water bottle. Losing our farmlands so you better know how to grow your own food. We have gardens and are able to store harvest and use the products during the cold winter months. So many references and ideas of how others in other countries are moving forward. References are listed at the end along with other bright minds ideas. Topics really are thought provoking and should encourage us all to do better. Great read.
I like this book because it teaches us what we need to change now so our grandkids will have a better earth. So aware of plastic in oceans and microplastics in containers and water bottles, I now use stainless steel water bottle. Losing our farmlands so you better know how to grow your own food. We have gardens and are able to store harvest and use the products during the cold winter months. So many references and ideas of how others in other countries are moving forward. References are listed at the end along with other bright minds ideas. Topics really are thought provoking and should encourage us all to do better. Great read.
July 7, 2026
The Only Possible Solution: How to Shape the Future for Our Next Generations, by Fons Burger, offers a thought-provoking look at the challenges facing our world and the choices that shape it. The author presents complex ideas in an accessible way, helping readers think beyond short-term solutions and consider the bigger picture. While tackling important global issues, the book is hopeful and constructive instead of discouraging. It's an engaging, insightful read that makes you think, prompts meaningful discussion, and may bring a new sense of responsibility for the future.
July 14, 2026
The Only Possible Solution presents a thoughtful and ambitious exploration of the interconnected challenges facing our world. Fons Burger brings together insights from diverse fields to argue for a more holistic and sustainable approach to shaping the future. Blending research, philosophy, and practical ideas, the book encourages readers to think beyond short-term solutions and embrace systems that benefit both people and the planet. It is an engaging and optimistic read for anyone interested in sustainability, social progress, and the future of humanity.
August 5, 2026
This is one of the most thought-provoking books I have read on climate change. Fons Burger explains complex issues in a clear and accessible way and offers a hopeful perspective instead of simply describing the problems. The book is well researched and draws on the work of many scientists. Whether or not you agree with every conclusion, it is impossible to read it without reflecting on the future we are creating for our children and grandchildren. Highly recommended.
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