So first, I would like to talk about the root cause of my root cause train of thoughts. Not all the way back to birth, of course - that would be silly!

I don't think I've ever been off this train, at least not recently in my life. Probably stems have having been a business analyst for far too many years, I think it is embedded into my thought patterns at this point. :P

I am optimistically (perhaps tragically) passionate about identifying the true root cause of things, because it solves the underlying problems that we complain about, or struggle to deal with, both as individuals, customers, businesses, governments, or whatever it is we're trying to solve for.

I think that this train of thought is derailed (heh, pun) - by the fact that a lot of
the time, the problems don't want to be solved. There's always a vested interest that profits from the status quo. There's always someone else's comfort that must be moved to the side so that someone else may find comfort.

I could rant about equity of opportunity, because equity of outcome is, as you suggest, in someone's own hands.

I hate to bring it back to employment, but so many jobs want people to use the "STAR" model - Situation, Task, Action, Result - and "SMART" goals - "Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Timebound" - and these things really do work if you apply them to your own life, however, there is difficulty in people being able to access the things that help them achieve those goals.

Ultimately, everyone's goals, should basically be to fulfil their hierarchy of needs, and to simply walk away from consumerism. Buy what you need to fulfil your goals, and then fill the "void" left by not consuming by enriching your life through all the things you mentioned - exercise, reading, writing, learning, music, art.

I try to spend money on as few days as possible. There's no daily coffee, no daily piece of cake, not even a weekly grocery shop. I try to limit my grocery shops to monthly (we have a large freezer!) - and ensure they are list based. The amount of exposure I can then have to consumerism is much, much smaller. Moving to a small town without a massive shopping complex helped, too. :P

I think the other point is that some seeds (be they people, or ideas) - will simply not flourish in any type of soil, no matter how favorable the conditions are. Not all life is viable, and that's a tough thing for people and governments to come to terms with.

And, lastly, I still maintain, that if we work together to remove the things that frustrate people each day, that are genuine roadblocks to their happiness, or to them meeting their basic needs, that we can live on a better planet.

A lot of people will lose their comforts in order to do this, but there's one thing we have an excess of on Earth at the moment is excess (and by that I mean flamboyant things for flamboyant people).