Authors: Mickey Huff
Happy News:
Compelling stories, news, and activities.
http://www.happynews.com
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OdeWire:
Tired of hearing bad news daily? Calling all intelligent optimists! Get your daily dose of what’s going right in our complex world by turning to OdeWire, a new 24/7 outlet for optimistic/solution-oriented news harvested from multiple news sources.
http://odewire.com/
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These news stories are about the power of sharing and community. Community is about people coming together out of common need to build a circle of trust and association—a social fabric that provides meaning, justice, shared resources, and social support.
Perhaps apathy is not some kind of internal symptom, but a complex web of cultural obstacles that reinforces disengagement. If we can identify those obstacles and work together to remove them, things could get quite exciting!
Source:
Dave Meslin, “The Antidote to Apathy,” video, TED, filmed October 2010, 7:05, posted April 2011,
http://www.ted.com/talks/dave_meslin_the_antidote_to_apathy.html
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Communities around the country are coming together to support each other in hard times. Known as “Common Security Clubs,” “Resilience Circles,” or by other names, these are places for neighbors to face a tough economy together by learning the root causes of the economic crisis, forming bartering and sharing cooperatives, creating locally rooted support networks, etc.
Sources:
Sarah Byrnes, “Can Small Group Organizing Save the Country?”
Yes! Magazine
, November 5, 2010,
http://www.yesmagazine.org/blogs/common-security-clubs/can-small-group-organizing-save-the-country
; Sarah Byrnes, “Writing Our Own Economic Future,”
Yes! Magazine
, April 20, 2011,
http://www.yesmagazine.org/blogs/common-security-clubs/dont-get-fooled-again-writing-our-own-economic-future
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People are working to reclaim streets as public spaces by partnering with residents and local businesses to create a renewed sense of community. Claim a small space and make it beautiful and inviting with art, plants, and seating areas, or clean and create common space. Putting the public space back where it’s supposed to be has a profound effect on the social culture.
Sources:
Erika Kosina, “Reclaim Your Streets,”
Yes! Magazine
, September 22, 2010,
http://www.yesmagazine.org/planet/reclaim-your-streets-how-to-create-safe-and-social-pedestrian-plazas
; Brooke Jarvis, “Building the World We Want,”
Yes! Magazine
, May 12, 2010,
http://www.yesmagazine.org/happiness/building-the-world-we-want-interview-with-mark-lakeman
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Take a leap into the expansive world of sharing and explore creative ways to make sharing a meaningful part of your life with this great list of ways to share (tool-sharing, bartering, yard-sharing, “freecycling,” co-working, etc.), which shows that a complete lifestyle based on sharing is possible and can be very rewarding. There is always food and time to share.
Source:
Kelly McCartney, “Top 20 How-To-Share Posts,”
Shareable
, January 9, 2011,
http://www.shareable.net/blog/shareables-top-20-how-to-share-posts
;
http://shareable.net/how-to-share
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Conversation shifts our thinking and deepens social connections. It is essential for sharing resources and for mutual understanding that leads to co-creating and caring for our world. It enables communities to connect, find common ground, and pursue common action.
Source:
Melinda Blau, “Art of Conversation Is Key to Sharing,”
Shareable
, April 18, 2011,
http://www.shareable.net/blog/why-the-art-of-conversation-is-key-to-sharing
; The National Coalition for Dialogue & Deliberation (NCDD):
http://ncdd.org
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The disaster in Japan has caused people in the city of Sendai to come together and become a strongly knit, supportive community. The recent events have brought a lot of people who were once strangers together, many showing compassionate acts to help one another through times of distress. Instead of stepping on one another for survival people are lending helping hands, reaffirming the positive side of human nature and community bonds.
Source:
Anne Thomas, “A Letter From Sendai,”
Ode
, March 14, 2011,
http://www.odemagazine.com/blogs/readers_blog/24755/a_letter_from_sendai
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In a worldwide survey, people in poorer countries reported greater happiness than people in many of the world’s wealthier nations. Research suggests this is due to the strong link between national and personal satisfaction among poor people, and among those with strong cultural and regional ties.
Source:
Mike Morrison et al., “Subjective Well-Being and National Satisfaction,”
Psychological Science
22, no. 2 (2011): 166–71.
Co-ops create equitable and stable economies, build strong communities that promote education, and merge economic growth with social goals. Co-ops exist to serve people’s needs, not to maximize profits for shareholders.
Source:
Steven Van Yoder, “Fixing the Free Market,” Ode, October 2010,
http://www.odemagazine.com/doc/73/fixing-the-free-market/all
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Great ways to connect your community: set up a “gift circle” for neighbors to meet each others’ needs by sharing what they have; throw a community swap meet where people come together with food, music, and all kinds of creative exchanges; or start a neighborhood work group that pools local talent for meaningful collaboration on community projects.
Sources:
Charles Eisenstein, “A Circle of Gifts,”
Shareable
, November 1, 2010,
http://www.shareable.net/blog/charles-eisenstein-gift-economy-gift-circles
; Shira Golding, “How to Throw a Community Swap Meet,”
Shareable
, January 24, 2010,
http://shareable.net/blog/how-to-throw-your-own-community-swap-meet
; Emily Doskow, “How to Start a Neighborhood Work Group,”
Shareable
, March 1, 2010,
http://shareable.net/blog/how-to-start-a-neighborhood-work-group
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The gift economy is alive and global among an improbable network of “Couchsurfers.” Since its launch in 2003,
Couchsurfing.org
has become an international phenomenon. It has attracted 1,930,000 registered Couchsurfers from around the world and facilitated 2,086,778 successful surfand host experiences. Couches are offered in 230 countries and 73,339 cities.
Source:
David Bollier, “When Couches Become Communities,”
Yes! Magazine
, July 29, 2010,
http://www.yesmagazine.org/new-economy/when-couches-become-communities
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Research shows that the amygdala—a small, almond-shaped region located deep inside our brain—is linked to the size of our social networks.
Source:
Sian Beilock, Greater Good Science Center, March 3, 2011,
http://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/more_friends_bigger_brain/
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It is increasingly clear that our entire economic system needs major reform. A “New Economy” movement is emerging that seeks a shift away from the current money system and the financial bottom line toward a community-based, partnership economy. The new economy redefines wealth to emphasize sharing and access over ownership. It recognizes and promotes three types of wealth production: the gift economy (family, close friends, and intimates), community-exchange systems (time banks, co-ops, gift circles, community currencies, etc.), and federal money. In this third area, the focus is on the use of /files/01/47/82/f014782/public/partnership banks that serve the community and return any profits to the residents. The news stories below explore these innovative options.
The emergence of the term “new economy” in public discourse in recent decades may be a sign that support for status quo capitalism is wavering. A growing movement of people accepts the idea that the entire economic system must be radically restructured for critical social and environmental goals to be met. They call for institutions with more egalitarian priorities than the narrow corporate focus on profits and growth. As the economy continues to falter, this movement is working to define a viable path toward long-term systemic change.
Source:
Gar Alperovitz, “The New-Economy Movement,”
Nation
, May 25, 2011,
http://www.thenation.com/article/160949/new-economy-movement
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Economist David Korten proposes that we create real wealth through increased political participation; by basing value on living systems rather than on the money system; by shifting power from global financial markets to local, community-controlled economies; and by expanding the areas of our lives that are based on gift economies, barter, mutual aid, and caring for the greater good.
Source:
Doug Pibel, “Get Free from Wall Street: An Interview with David Korten,”
Yes! Magazine
, October 1, 2010,
http://www.yesmagazine.org/issues/a-resilient-community/get-free-from-wall-street
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Fourteen states have introduced bills to form state-owned banks or are studying their feasibility. All of these bills were inspired by the Bank of North Dakota (BND), the nation’s only state-owned bank. While other states are teetering on the edge of bankruptcy, North Dakota continues to report surpluses. On April 20, BND reported profits of $62 million for 2010, setting a record for the seventh straight year. These profits belong to the citizens and are produced without taxation. BND partners with local banks to provide credit for local businesses and homeowners. It also helps with state and local government funding. Now other states are on track to follow North Dakota’s example, moving their state reserves from Wall Street banks to a bank owned by their residents.
Sources:
John David, “Reviving Main Street: A Call for Public Banks,”
Shareable, May
16, 2011,
http://www.shareable.net/blog/reviving-main-street-a-call-for-public-banks
; Ellen Brown, “Washington State Joins the Movement for Public Banking,”
Yes! Magazine
, January 24, 2011,
http://www.yesmagazine.org/new-economy/washington-state-joins-movement-for-public-banking
; Public Banking Institute:
http://publicbankinginstitute.org
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Modern forms of time exchange, called Time Banks and Local Employment Trading Systems (LETS), have been around since the 1980s.
They are based on the hour as a unit of account, and everyone’s hour could either be exchanged for another hour of service or for the equivalent in goods. Now, with more than one in ten Americans unemployed (likely twice that, given recording problems), time exchanges are making a comeback in communities across the United States. The network TimeBanks USA alone includes more than 120 Time Banks. Every community determines its own rules, but the idea is to allow people to purchase the services that they need without toiling endlessly to meet high prices in the market economy. It is a way to help the underprivileged and for the underserved to help each other through an organized system of reciprocity. In the process, people get to know and trust their neighbors, establishing caring relationships that can help reweave the fabric of our communities and replace our culture’s over-reliance on individual financial security.
Sources:
Mira Luna, “How to Share Time,”
Yes! Magazine
, July 8, 2010,
http://www.yesmagazine.org/new-economy/how-to-share-time
; Mira Luna, “How to Share Time Through Timebanking,”
Shareable
, January 27, 2010,
http://www.shareable.net/blog/how-to-share-time-through-timebanking
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There are countless examples of how our world is becoming more shareable: carsharing, bikesharing, ridesharing, yardsharing, co-working, co-housing, tool libraries, open space, world café, public transit, urban agriculture, civic engagement, bike lanes, social enterprises, nonprofit groups, microfinance, the internet, social media, cooperatives, employee-owned firms, community land trusts, resident-owned communities, and much more.
Sources:
Neal Gorenflo, “10 Ways Our World is Becoming More Shareable,”
Shareable
, March 8, 2010,
http://shareable.net/blog/10-ways-our-world-is-becoming-more-shareable
; Neal Gorenflo, “Top 10 Tips for Starting a Campus Food Coop,”
Shareable
, March 20, 2011,
http://www.shareable.net/blog/top-10-tips-for-starting-a-campus-food-coop
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There are now more than 5,274 active farmers markets in the US; nearly half of them started within the last decade. Food co-ops and neighborhood
greengrocers are likewise on the rise. Local business alliances have now formed in over 130 cities and collectively count some thirty thousand businesses as members. These alliances are making a compelling case that choosing independent businesses and locally produced goods is critical for rebuilding prosperity, averting environmental catastrophe, and ensuring that we are not smothered by corporate uniformity.