Things you can do

While the re-creation of our economic process - around the secure, sustainable provision of local needs - is an eventual necessity, there are many actions that individuals can take to begin turning things around. A variety of such ideas, derived from Life, Money & Illusion, follows.

At the Personal Level

Enjoy Yourself

  • The first, and most effective thing that anyone can do is to enjoy what life offers. Finding satisfaction within ourselves creates a foundation for a sustainable world. Turn off the TV; make friends; sing; dance; play music, sports and games; write letters, books, poetry, music; create; cook; sew; knit; paint; draw; sculpt; learn; love; laugh; talk with your kids, your neighbours, your friends; reach out to those less fortunate; pray; make love and appreciate nature. When one enjoys one's self, one is less likely to be influenced by the half trillion dollar annual advertising budget, which aims to convince us that we are inadequate and cannot be happy unless we buy the resource consuming products being sold.

Educate Yourself

  • Read about the challenge and the goal: (i.e. Life, Money & Illusion, The Growth Illusion, Small is Beautiful, Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth, For the Common Good, The Long Emergency, Manufacturing Consent.)
  • View movies that speak to the issue (An Inconvenient Truth, The End of Suburbia, Who Killed the Electric Car & The High Cost of Low Cost, www.storyofstuff.com, The Century of the Self, "Crash Course" (in contemporary economics) www.chrismartenson.com/crashcourse etc.)
  • Attend classes on sustainability in any of its many forms.
  • Fast track your personal growth work so that you are ready to handle the emotional challenges that would come with a monetary crisis, health pandemic, climate chaos or extensions of the rich/poor divide.
  • Search out meaning and purpose in your life; empower yourself by nurturing your innate greatness; integrate mind, body and spirit - learn to trust your intuition, listen to your body and keep fit.
  • Distinguish between needs and wants and consider carefully which desires fulfilled today will undermine the well-being of (our) children and grandchildren.
  • Learn how to build sustainably; conserve; plant trees; grow organically; compost. Full cycle nutrient management is a key element of a sustainable future. Building up the soil in our home areas is essential to being able to feed ourselves, our families and our communities in a post fossil-fuel world.

Additional Actions

  • Reduce your material consumption; Reuse and Recycle - waste less.
  • Drive less and more slowly; if you must drive, purchase a smaller, more fuel-efficient car when your current car needs replacement; walk and cycle more; take public transit; live closer to your loved ones.
  • Get out of debt.
  • At election time, vote with your heart; vote for Proportional Representation; vote for a party that puts sustainability ahead of exponential growth. Currently there is only one choice - The Green Party. If you favour another Party, encourage them to recognize the necessity for choosing sustainability over continuous economic expansion.
  • Get involved; run for political office or support someone's campaign.
  • Prepare for an emergency by having food, water, candles, and other supplies on hand to last your family for at least one month.
    (Lots of info available on the net in this regard, ie. www.journeytoforever.org/sitemap.html)