A New Society From the Bottom Up
So broadly speaking, even amongst radicals, most people are open to thinking about new directions, but they don’t have a fully coherently defined vision of where they’re going and how to go forward.
social change
Alternative Tomorrow’s World: People-Powered Flour Mill
If you stick your head out of the door and sniff the zeitgeist, it definitely seems there is a resurgence of creative design for social change.
It’s not the economy, it’s the stupid paradigm
Americans’ level of concern for the environment waxes and wanes, depending on how the economy is faring, as illustrated in the 2011 Gallup chart below. The chart shows responses to the question whether the economy or the environment should be given preference asked from 1985 through 2011. Note the trending decline in concern for the environment starting in 2001 with a precipitous drop in 2008 when the economy hit the skids. It’s a truism that our environmental behaviors and our understanding of causes of environmental degradation always lag behind the level of our environmental concern. Why?
A movement to protect the earth rises in Canada
Since last November, a grassroots, indigenous-led movement has swept Canada and drew the world’s attention to new initiatives from the Canadian government that threaten the environment and indigenous communities. Of particular concern is Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s changes to Bill C-45 which would strip protections under the Navigable Waters Protection Act of 1882. On January 10, the movement outlined its vision, which “revolves around Indigenous Ways of Knowing rooted in Indigenous Sovereignty to protect water, air, land and all creation for future generations. The Conservative government bills beginning with Bill C-45 threaten Treaties and this Indigenous Vision of Sovereignty.”
The role of ideology in inspiring change
Crossroads is an exciting and surprisingly uplifting new documentary about the role of ideology in finding solutions to the urgent global crises humankind faces in the 21st century. In bringing an evolutionary perspective to these urgent economic and ecological crises, the film offers a uniquely optimistic view of political and social change.
Reclaiming Our Imaginations from ‘There Is No Alternative’
If we create and recreate the world everyday, then how has it become so supposedly absurd to believe we might actually create a world that is honestly making the possibilities of egalitarianism, justice and democracy?
Conflict and Change in the Era of Economic Decline: Part 1 – The 21st century landscape of conflict
In this essay, which will appear in five installments, I hope to explore some of the social implications of simplification and decentralization. Will wars and revolutions break out with ever-greater frequency?…Or will local food networks and Occupy groups positively transform society from the ground up?
Review: Imagining systemic change
It is easy to lapse into cynicism when the world is so royally messed up and fortified against serious reform.