Google has recently announced a new project called Solving for X. This is a project aimed at solving the world’s biggest problems. Their plan is to bring the “best” minds in the world together to work on radical solutions. “Moon shot” thinking is what they call it.

They want to use technology and innovation to come up with big solutions that seem impossible. They are looking for far-out ideas on education, climate change, world hunger, energy and why there are only eight buns in a package when hot dogs are sold in packs of 10.

My first reaction was “Oh great, here are a bunch of geeks and academics trying to figure out how the real world works.”

But I will have to admit that Google was started by two socially awkward geeks from Stanford who dreamed up a new algorithm in a garage off campus, and then went on to change the world. So perhaps they are on to something.

Energy, food production, hunger, nutrition, water resource management and transportation are all on the list of things the Xers are planning on working on. According to news reports, the work is being done at a super secret labs scattered around the world. Progress reports are posted as videos on You Tube. Besides sounding like the plot for a James Bond movie, a few of these video messages have been posted. While interesting, they are not exactly entertaining nor likely to go viral – like the sheep-herding rabbit.

One dealt with an idea to provide enough clean water for the whole world. It postulates a theory on how to efficiently convert all types of water into clean fresh water that could be used to grow crops, feed people, and make ethanol.

Water availability is a serious issue in many developing countries and in key agricultural production areas of the United States. The video presentation is also a great sleep aid. Five minutes into this video, and you will be sound asleep.

While it remains to be seen if Solving for X really comes up with any ideas that work, they have already made one major contribution toward problem solving. They are putting the focus on the solution not the problem.

Too often we focus on the problem, feeding billions of people around the world or the family down the street. We think of the energy in terms of policy and technology barriers. We look at the environment as a global issue requiring an international response. By focusing on the problem, we miss the solution.

While the brains at Google have identified that the solution should be the focus, they have based their program on the false assumption that the solution is technical in nature and that the solution does not currently exist. Neither is true.

The solution to the majority of the world’s biggest problems is simple and obvious, but oh so hard to implement. The solution is caring.

If each of us simply made solving some of these issues a high personal priority, big things would happen.

What if you bought an extra bag of food at the store next week and dropped it off at a food pantry on your way home? What if you donated the proceeds from one acre of land to a hunger relief project or donated even 1 percent of your annual income to a program like Heifer that helps people around the world grow their own food? What if you started using only e-85 or biodiesel fuel in all your vehicles?

Individually, your actions would have only a small impact – but if hundreds of thousands of us started taking those actions, the change would be revolutionary.

But that is the X, getting everyone to make solving problems a personal priority.

Say it can’t be done? A few weeks ago millions of people and thousands of businesses spent hundreds of millions of dollars and thousands of man hours putting on the biggest party in the nation. What if even 10 percent of the financial resources and personal commitment that went into putting on the Super Bowl went into solving a problem?

Now that is real “moon shot” thinking.

The brain trust at Google needs to get out of their secret labs and figure out how to get individuals to get as serious about solving the world’s problems as they are about entertaining themselves (that includes video games, facebooking, and You Tube watching).

The solution for X does not lay in an equation or theory, but rather in each of our hearts.

The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of Farm World. Readers with questions or comments for Gary Truitt may write to him in care of this publication.