Earth Day at the Community Level

For earth day, I tend go on a diatribe about a particular issue or a thorough analysis of things.

Doing a comprehensive analysis on important environmental issues has become extremely challenging with globalization. Personally I don’t have the time — luckily there are capable journalists dedicated to this (mostly: climate change). But there are a lot of promising projects at the forefront. Some which are already complete, others which are just ideas which may never happen. There are, of course, also plenty of bad ideas percolating (like most geo-engineering projects).

I have to say, a lot of what drives my thinking (and action) are projects or initiatives based in local communities. That’s where real change is happening. At the state and local levels. National legislation is important (like the plastic microbead ban we helped pass last year); but for the individual to make a real impact, it all starts locally.

I write about this in another piece here. Here’s a snippet, where I discuss some essential reading on the topic.

A couple of very thoughtful books have come out over the past couple of years on the topic of grassroots organizing. Anyone concerned with our future and compelled to get involved in a meaningful way should read them.

The first is Micah Whites stellar The End of Protest: A New Playbook for Revolution. Micah is a founder of Occupy Wall Street and an outspoken voice on what works and what doesn’t in the world of organizing. His book urges progressives to take back local positions of influence (city councils, local boards, non-profits, state assemblies).

Second is Be The Change, How to Get What you Want in Your Community. This is an excellent book that tells the story of many local activists who have fought against fracking in their communities. It details the manipulations of corporate entities against individuals in these cities and how, exactly, local municipalities can create a bill of rights that effectively takes regulatory (and enforcement) powers back into local hands.

Micah White is currently on a book tour for anyone who want to meet him and get some personal insight into his point of view.

With these thoughts, I urge you to consider these as personal, daily objectives:

• Find an ecological project at the local level that you can contribute to.
• Reduce or eliminate your meat consumption.
• If you own a home, go solar (or wind).
• Don’t buy things you don’t absolutely need.
• Avoid all plastics as much as possible.
• Avoid disposable culture as much as possible.

It’s really that simple.