Meanwhile... the hits just keep on coming for the rest of us.

[FirstLight]

You know, it really galls me that there is so much disconnect in our world right now...

The news says the issues are the Budget, filibusters, North Korea, Thatcher, etc...

Meanwhile, there are *SO* many of us who are just trying to make ends meet, and have so much to give.
I know talented people with wonderful ideas about building community, and know how to implement it...but they are just like me - trying to survive. It's a sad thing when those who could help and contribute to society the most are kept in a state of almost paralysis because of the mechanism of old paradigm

How do we shift this? How do we find the ways to build community, take back our food supply, energy, etc?
It would be great if we could start small, but that option is limited and can't make the big shift happen as quickly as it needs to. How do we walk between the old way and create something better at the same time?

I know bitching about it here is just so much hot air... but the reality of this economy and environment etc is just wearing me down, as well as so many others I know who are trying to help the world, but being beaten to a pulp in the meantime...

[Egalitarian Thug]

1. There is no attention paid to our real issues because they are almost entirely caused

by creating and maintaining the parasite class and the only solutions would hurt that class, badly. So, they have to keep us watching the trivial and irrelevant.
& R

[Wellstone ruled]

2. Every bit of main stream media is on board for the so called third-way crap.

Appears that Wall Street and Washington D.C. are all in on convincing the low information folks that they have the solution to all our ills. Well,me thinks not,it has amazed me on how the 1%ers are still so far out of touch,they just don't get it. You can't solve STUPID!!!!!!

[TreasonousBastard]

3. Just do it...

accept that you are not going to change the world and just do what you can to change your small part of it. Try to leave everything you touch just a little bit better than when you found it.

You say you know talented people who seem blocked from action. Nobody is completely blocked from all action and just not being able to solve the world's problems doesn't mean you can't solve one or two local ones. Small ones.

Out here I'm involved with groups dealing with farmland preservation, light pollution, 4-wheelers driving over piping plover nests on the beach, helicopter noise and all sorts of other things that may seem small, trivial, or silly but we get together and plan and educate and lobby and we actually get things done. These won't stop Pentagon spending, global warming, or bank malfeasance, but we keep our fingers in that sort of stuff, too, in the hope that they might become more of an issue we can work with.

[OneGrassRoot]

5. I think what FirstLight is saying is this:

It's not that many of us don't know what to do (be it small or large, local or global), but the sheer business of daily survival is consuming all of our energy and resources.

Literally.

I created Wishadoo years ago, and there are projects waiting in the wings that could create jobs and income for others and be an example of the many things we discuss here. Edit to add that Wishadoo -- all of my projects -- are about community, so it takes people coming together to make it happen. I can't do it on my own. And I have failed to gather enough people to make an impact and sustain the efforts. I haven't given up yet though.

Yet, as I have struggled to get more work (ageism is very real) after my income was cut back (self-employed, clients shuttered their doors), and simultaneously worked to build Wishadoo and get ANY of the satellite projects off the ground...all to no avail...I now am literally struggling with food and shelter. No exaggeration. The bare basics.

I've had one vacation in 20 years, and that was two hours away in 1998. I mention that only to convey that I have worked hard my entire life, as have most others, yet truly the business of survival consumes everything now.

We can't afford to exist on this Earth let alone nurture and develop ideas, or support others' wonderful ideas.

We are simply trying to survive.

As the rich get richer, the middle class disappears, and the poor get poorer, leaving less room and energy for actions to improve our lot.

Don't get me wrong. I believe FL and I both realize that ANY positive actions are helpful, no matter how small. It's just frustrating that more and more of us are merely surviving, rather than thriving, when we so very much want to do more with our daily lives to improve this human experience.

The way things are going, many of us (especially those over 40 who have no safety net or resources) simply feel we have no value any longer.

[FirstLight]

11. +1000!!

I know, this is why I posted this thread...it upsets and disturbs me that even the little things we do to help touch our own world aren't enough...

I do believe in touching MY world in the best way I can, and not trying to change the HUGENESS of the world's problems. However this 'game' is rigged so that people who want to do MORE than survive or build something better for Community are beaten before we even try...

I don't know what the answer is, OGR I guess hope and faith have to count for something, even if it doesn't put food on the table.

[Arugula Latte]

4. I don't know, but buying locally as much as possible is a start.

That's not always possible, though, if you have a limited income, so it's tricky ...

[OldDem2012]

6. Best advice I can offer? Quite reading and watching the US MSM, because....

....they're a major part of the problem, and have been for quite some time.

[deutsey]

7. We live in the Squandered Age

in which the potential of so many is being squandered to benefit so few.

[a kennedy]

8. and there's good ol' faux noise.....regarding the Progressive Kentucky group and turtle man

lotsa coverage on the democrats that secretly recorded that turtle man's business about Ashley Judd......megan kelly is ALL over it. http://www.foxnews.com/on-air/america-live/index.html#http://video.foxnews.com/v/2293902150001/new-claims-in-secret-mcconnell-taping-case/?playlist_id=87651 Caught it passing through channels.

[magical thyme]

9. FL, you said last year you had started a small gardening project

That is where you start. You, growing some of your own food to lower your cost of living, eat healthier and boycott Monsanto all in one fell swoop. Then you, helping your friends to do the same, 1st by providing the example, and 2nd, if you have access to land and they don't, then enlarging to a community garden.

(I would do the community garden thing myself, but here in the organic gardening capital of the US, everybody who wants it has one form or another of the organic gardening option.) My gardening is an ongoing experiment. I start just with the easy veggies and also many kinds of beans. This year I have decided since dried and canned beans are relatively cheap, as are many of the easier veggies, I am focusing on the healthful but more expensive veggies as I expand my list of what I grow. And while I continue to focus on heirlooms and learning to save seed, I still buy most of my seed from an employee-owned, local supplier (Johnny's Seeds) and am expanding into specialty potatoes also through a family farm supplier.

Another potential project is "interior storm windows" for those who lack storm windows. They are cheap, relatively easy to make if you can set up with others who may already have the tools and space to do it in bulk, and they have a single season payback time if you live in a cold climate. I have cut my oil use in half, and interior storm windows were a major part of that. I can give anyone more info if they pm me.

[FirstLight]

12. Yes, small steps...

My garden is haphazard, living in high elevation, half the seeds don't get anywhere. I tried to start a community gardening project a couple years ago, but as usual...life and survival kept me from getting it off the ground...

so many good ideas, so little time and resources...

[Liberal_in_LA]

10. kick

[FirstLight]

13. another kick

for the broken-hearted...

[NCarolinawoman]

14. I'm kind of shell-shocked.

Environmental matters have been over-whelming me for some time now...along with all the rest........Bad stuff keeps coming and coming...