A new society is being created as we speak.

I took some time out of my day to get together all of the links I could find on how people are creating an alternative economy and sustainable way of life. Many of their methods blow my mind. I am cutting and pasting from my blog-

A "bunch of folks" are developing an underground economy, quite distinct from the mainstream. They have this funny idea that they can somehow make for themselves a better life while shunning the walmarts of the world. Somehow surviving quite happily without sucking on the coorperate teat our culture is nursed on...fancy that.

Some are holding bartering fairs-
http://www.barterfair.org/

others are developing their own currency-

http://www.lightlink.com/hours/ithacahours/

many have become "freegans" and refuse to pay for any of their food-

http://freegan.info/

The old tradition of barn raising has been revived and on-line networks have been created where people are invited to help build and learn in the process-

http://www.spiralworks.org/mainpages/Projects/helpinghands.html

Many of these beautiful and affordable houses are being built out of sustainable materials- (The houses in this first site are gorgeous)

http://www.geocities.com/RainForest/Canopy/7148/cobpics.html

http://www.greenhomebuilding.com/natural_building.htm

Intentional communities are still kicking it. I have heard people dismiss them as "failed experiments" of the 60's and 70's, but they have become so much more than that-

http://www.ic.org/

There is an on-line network devoted to traveling around and living on organic farms in exchange for work-

http://www.wwoof.org/

Here you can find free books on cob buiding and "Humanure"

http://www.weblife.org/library.html

Solar Power is becoming cheaper and easier to hook up-

http://www.realgoods.com/

Biodiesel is readily available at your local intentional community to fill up your vehicle. (it is at the one near me anyway)

http://www.biodiesel.org/resources/faqs/

Alternative Arts Groups are a good hub for social change-

http://www.flywheelarts.org/

Interesting sub-cultures are emerging like the "Ferals" of Australia-
http://www.confest.org/thesis/fiveindex.html

And we can't forget "The Perennial Subculture"

http://www.hippy.com/php/article-243.html

I have a ton of alternative news sources as well, but perhaps I should leave that for another topic Does anyone else have links or stories to share about revolutionary new ways of living sustainably?

 

Awesome. Thanks for the links.

My goal is to live in either a cob home, or an earthship...

 

Thank you for this thread. Much of the info in yer post is useful to the cause of Cascadia and New England seceding from the USA. Through our respective struggles with the USA we can work together towards ending corporate hegenomy in the North American continent and everywhere else. If both of our regions can maintain relations and assistance towards one another we can work rather effectively to bring about the destruction of empire.

Trin

 

a countercultural movement is something that would shake the e$tablishment to its core. It happened in the 60's. The movements of that time were so enormous that 30, 40 years later, tributes and websites like the one you're looking at right now exist.

 

Husband and I are trying to figure out what to do for the next four years...thanks for the sites.

 

Seceding from the USA? whats that about?

 

I think we should succeed, in part, from the american economy. Keep buying from your local stores and patronizing necessesary large sevices like public transit, but don't buy from large chain stores like "Walmart" unless you absolutely have to. They take away more jobs than they create, don't believe the hype.


Here are more links-

I forgot "City Repair" a group devoted to prettifying our streets and restoring a sense of community.

http://www.cityrepair.org/

Then there is "Food Not Bombs"

http://www.foodnotbombs.net/

Most cities and college towns have a small "Food Not Bombs" group. They usually meet once a week, so see if there is one in your town

 

It's true. It's been made painfully obvious that we can't change our culture or the world for the better by voting. The Republicans hold most of the cards and many of the Democrats aren't much better anyway. We have to create a new culture ourselves and not depend on the government. Screw the government! The government is practically bankrupt anyway. Have you seen how the dollar has plummeted in the days since Bush's reelection? (historical note the $ went up when Reagan got in, which shows the stupidity of Bush's fiscal policies in comparison to those of his idol).

As long as we just sit around griping and go to Wal Mart just to save a few bucks then they (the government, the richest 1%: the same thing) own us. Once we jump off the radar, even just partly, and start doing our own thing, they lose power and we gain autonomy. They can't make us buy new cars or go to Wal Mart, but we have to choose and create viable alternatives ourselves. This is the place, now is the time.

No need to smash the state, just circumvent it.

 

It's clear to us in the Cascadia secessionist movement that the United States is the root of all evil present in the modern world. We want nothing whatsoever to do with it. Thus, rather than trying to appeal for reform of a government which steals elections, we're just getting our shit together and doing everything we can, culturally, economically, and politically, to arrive at much better ways of meeting our own needs locally.

We're helping each other out to get as far away as possible from the mindset which impels most Americans to strive for mediocrity and complacency. Oh and, while we're not interested in war with the US, we realize that we'll get bombed and shot at from planes and troops, so we're readying ourselves for the defense of our autonomy, our lands, and our natural resources. So the Cascadians are saying to the US, "Get the fuck out of here and leave us alone, we don't like you anymore!"

Trin

 

I have some links too But we'll let people digest yours for now. I hope someday to live in sustainable living Hopefully in the next few years head that way

 

Thats kinda neat there doing all this stuff, and I like to hear some people defying the coperate whore I really do, but in the end the overall effect would seem to me throwing stones at the great wall. The only way this country is going to change is through revolution in my opinion. An enlightened ghandi-like individual would have to rise to influence the minds of many twards the source of there gradually decending oppresion, which I beleive would be harder to set in line now than any other time in history, TV's, Computers, and paranoia keep people grounded and isolated. Convenience and mistrust has turned the public against its own power and made us ripe for exploitation through subtle forms of oppression. I wish I could beleive there was hope left for a new age of public enlightenment, yet I simply cannot see it on the horizon. I now beleive escape is the only option, yet I still hope for a day when a revolution should come to rise.

On another note most people in our society today are to busy to here enough clear spoken truth, to the point they would change there schema of your word from radical hippy jibberish. The only way your gonna bring some of these corperate whores down is with some well placed molotov cocktails.
__________________________________________________________________

This country, with its institutions, belongs to the people who inhabit it. Whenever they shall grow weary of the existing Government, they can exercise their constitutional right of amending it, or their revolutionary right to dismember or overthrow it.
- Abraham Lincoln

As nightfall does not come at once, neither does oppression.
In both instances, there's a twilight where everything remains seemingly unchanged, and it is in such twilight that we must be aware of change in the air, however slight, lest we become unwitting victims of the darkness.
- Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas

 

That quote is so great from abraham lincoln, it is ironic because he says that we have the right to overthrow our government, yet if we did so in the present day, we would all be tried for treason and be put to death.

Peace and Love,
Dan

 

this is a revolution we need.

People are relying on industries for living. When that all comes crashing down or the economy gose crap or many otehr things that can happen...don't you want to be able to sustain yourself without being thrusted into poverty or whatever. Grow your own food get energy from the sun run your car on veg oil own your own organic farm compost....this is revolution in my opinion away from the norm and onto something more sustainable and pure and good for the environment in the long run :::""It's been made painfully obvious that we can't change our culture or the world for the better by voting. The Republicans hold most of the cards and many of the Democrats aren't much better anyway. We have to create a new culture ourselves and not depend on the government"":::

 

http://www.solviva.com/index.htm

 

I agree to that this is much of what I plan to do, and I will live a fullfilled enough life having done it. Yet I simply state the enivitability that most people have longsince forfeited there right to skeptisizm twards society in one way or another. Wether it be identifying in the ways of this country with unquestioning patriotism, and trust in the authoritative order to always be in there best image, or whether it be trusting FOX, CNN, and/or CNBC to be telling them truthfully everything thats going on. People of either of these mind's I feel have attained the majority and will keep this corrupting system alive through there blind devotion to it, and stigmatizing anything opposing it as blind radicalism.

Applespark I do certainly consider you correct in the fact that these actions are the best any free-minded person can do twards creating a better way of life.
________________________________________________________________
I have never belonged wholeheartedly to country or State, to my circle of friends or even to my own family...
Such isolation is sometimes bitter, but I do not regret being cut off from the understanding and sympathy of other men.
I lose something by it,to be sure, but I am compensated for it in being rendered independent of the customs,
opinions and prejudices of others, and am not tempted to rest my peace of mind upon such shifting foundations.
--Albert Einstein

 

erowid: (Hugs) It's okay, there is hope. Revolution takes time, but we have to change the way we live to effectively combate the direction the world is going. To keep yourself hopefull, concentrate on setting "the threat of a good example" (Chompsky's description of imperialists worse fears) on a small scale, while working with groups that are focusing on the larger picture http://www.democraticunderground.com/

Applespark: Please share, only tell me when you post them if you mind if I share them with others.

 

Even better is www.democracynow.org

I always trust the .orgs more than I trust the .coms lol

 

democracy now is wonderful but there are actual places where they have lists of sustainable living quarters for sale and for rent. you can read and listen to democracy now!But you can't find land there

 

Applespark? Do you have links? Do share

I love Democracy Now. I love to make myself a cup of tea, turn on the computer, and sit down and watch it with my mom. We are getting rid of cable because we only watch it for news and besides Oberman, there isn't much else that originates in the dimension of reality I was born into.

Okay, I said I wasn't going to post alternative news sources here, but I don't feel like starting another thread and I want to bond with you guys so here goes-

I also like to go here-

http://www.c-span.org/ and search for people like Robert Kennedy and Seymore Hersh.

and here-

http://www.truthout.org/index.htm

If I am interested in hearing hard facts from trusted news sources and great commentary.

For frequently updated insider news I usually go to DU message boards and get pointed toward other news sources.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/

Does anyone else have favorite news sites?

 

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Ecologically friendly land development
specializing in green building and energy efficient homes
http://www.earthrenewalshelter.com/index.htm


http://www.ecobusinesslinks.com/green_real_estate.htmEnvironmental Directory
The First Green Directory 100% Wind Energy Powered ( this is a really cool site and has many great links!)