A small group of Meeting members met yesterday to fell a couple of large dead trees, cut them up, and move the dead wood to our burn pile. What some had called eyesores became the setting for something more meaningful: cooperation in action, as we quite literally moved tons of wood together. This remarkable collaborative effort was a powerful reflection of how working together can achieve big things.

There are many threats imperiling our future: war, climate change, nuclear weapons, and the unchecked rise of artificial intelligence. What they share is simple: none can be solved alone; every one of them demands cooperation.

We like to celebrate “healthy competition,” but much of what passes for competition today is not healthy for individuals nor sustainable for society. Just a few years ago, leaders in AI spoke of working together to build guardrails strong enough to prevent harm. That spirit has been shoved aside. In its place: speed, dominance, and a reckless drive forward. Safety be damned.

While we have had conflicts for as long as memory serves, we did not have the wars of aggression that have arisen: Russia invading Ukraine, Israel working to destroy Gaza (for which it has earned international condemnation and even accusations of war crimes against humanity), the United States invasion of Venezuela, and then working with Israel to destroy Iran. Now Israel has begun to apply the “Gaza model” to Lebanon. This is nationalist fever on steroids destroying hope for cooperation.

Now conflict threatens to widen further, fueled by nationalism and a willingness to escalate rather than restrain. Cooperation is treated as weakness and aggression as strength.

The danger of nuclear catastrophe has not disappeared. It has simply faded from our daily awareness, even as the risk grows.

And climate change, the slowest-moving crisis of all, remains the clearest example: there is no path forward without collective action. No nation can solve it alone, and none will escape its consequences.

The world has drifted away from cooperation, pulled by fear, lust for power, and short-term thinking. But this is precisely the moment when cooperation is not optional. It is the only way through.