5 Things an Ordinary Person can do to Change the World

Hi Kay and Mary, just heard of your book on Permies. Love the title.

I was asked by the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) in Ireland to deliver a talk on the title Five Things an Ordinary Person can do to Change the World.

They know that I can ramble on ad nauseam if not kept to just 5 things :-)

Here's my list, I'd love to hear whether you think I've missed anything:

1 - Feed the right wolf: make sure that each purchase and action leans us in the direction of a better world, rather than fuelling the Monsantos of the world.
2 - Advocacy: keep government and corporations on their toes by applying pressure and making sure that bad practice gets into the public eye until it changes.
3 - Practice simplicity: by keeping our needs and wants modest, we can all live comfortable lives within the carrying capacity of our planet.
4 - Hold hands: We're social beings, so we work best when we work together and give and receive support and assistance in this work.
5 - Hold the vision: Whether through prayer, visualisation, meditation or talking up a storm together, our capacity to tell positive stories and to hold a positive vision for the future can pave the way for concrete action.

I look forward to other ideas that may emerge here.

All the best

Féidhlim

Hi Féidhlim,

I love your 5 points. At the heart of each of them is integrity -– ensuring actions and values are aligned.  This is something we talk about in the book. Another aspect that would underlie each of these but isn’t explicit in your points is compassion. Compassion for others, trying to understand their stories and why they might be acting at cross-purposes to the shift to a more just and ecological society.

I think 4) hold hands, and 5) hold the vision are symbiotic - it is so much easier to hold the vision when we are working with others also focused on aligning values with action.

Hi Fay, thanks for those thoughts. Funny thing, but last weekend was IYM (Ireland Yearly Meeting - the annual Quaker conference in Ireland) and one of the testimonies is Integrity. There are 5 or 6 in common usage (sometimes summarised as SPICES - Simplicity, Peace, Integrity, Community, Equality and Stewardship). Interesting that you should come back with one of them so soon after our meeting. I agree completely with compassion as well. The cornerstone of Buddhist teachings, along with wisdom.

Enjoy Permies.com. I was last month's author and thoroughly enjoyed the conversations that it started.

:-)

Féidhlim