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After Hurricane Harvey, Abandoned Community Takes Charge
After Hurricane Harvey, Abandoned Community Takes Charge
After a flurry of media attention, the devastation in Houston, Texas from Hurricane Harvey faded from public view. But after unprecedented floods and widespread destruction, the story is far from over.
23 min
Why Kaepernick Took a Knee (US Army Veteran, Nate Boyers)
Why Kaepernick Took a Knee (US Army Veteran, Nate Boyers)
This is their inspiring story of what can happen when people with different perspectives decide to sit down, have a conversation, and hear each other out.
2 min
Tips for Building Coalitions
Tips for Building Coalitions
How do we build alliances across our varied agendas so as to have the greatest impact? And how do we involve what I call TWANYAS (Those Who Are Not Yet Activists) -- those who care, but have-not yet come forward?
Joyce S. Herman
Disability: It's Not the End of the World
Disability: It's Not the End of the World
A group of people with physical and visual disabilities in the Est Region in Burkina Faso (West Africa) come together in a participatory video process to produce a film where they make their voices heard on their lived experiences, what development is for them and how they...
38 min
Humans of New York: The Series
Humans of New York: The Series
From the photo blog phenomenon comes Humans of New York: The Series. Creator Brandon Stanton worked with cinematographer Michael Crommett over four years to create the series. Taken from 1200 interviews, watch people from all walks of life tell stories of life, love, and...
37 min
The Sex Workers Who Are Stopping HIV
The Sex Workers Who Are Stopping HIV
Sex workers in Mozambique are providing health support to those at the margins of society. They face political and financial challenges, but against the odds they are helping thousands. Jules Montague reports.
Jules Montague
Stokes Croft: The Saga of One British Neighbourhood Reveals the Perverse Injustices of Gentrification
Stokes Croft: The Saga of One British Neighbourhood Reveals the Perverse Injustices of Gentrification
Nowhere is the sharp injustice of gentrification so grossly demonstrated as in Stokes Croft. With its world renowned street art and buzzing local scene, this area is the main fount of culture and creativity, which has propelled the city of Bristol to international fame. For...
Fabian Frenzel and Armin Beverungen
14 Reflections on the 2017 DSA Convention
14 Reflections on the 2017 DSA Convention
In order for the Democratic Socialists of America’s 2017 Convention to be successful, three major tasks needed to be accomplished this past weekend. 1. Members needed to develop meaningful relationships with comrades from around the country. 2. Members had to participate in...
Michael Stivers
Food Cooperatives and Garlic
Food Cooperatives and Garlic
Cooperatives are businesses owned by the people who use their services. Many communities look to their local food co-ops as a way to maintain greater control over their food. Garlic is isolated as just one of many foods that can communicate the importance of retail food...
5 min
Why Does Our Culture Focus So Much on Childbirth and So Little on The Time After?
Why Does Our Culture Focus So Much on Childbirth and So Little on The Time After?
Kathleen Kendall-Tackett examines how other cultures protect new mothers’ well-being.
Dr. Kathleen Kendall-Tackett
Family Camp: Documentary on Living Nonviolent Communication
Family Camp: Documentary on Living Nonviolent Communication (2016)
A slice of life depiction about a camp in Vashon Island, WA that teaches parents how to parent nonviolently. Directed by: Hanna (Andie) Utkin.
35 min
Why Are so Many Adults Today Haunted by Trauma?
Why Are so Many Adults Today Haunted by Trauma?
Our political and social systems don't support fundamental human needs, says Gabor Mate—which affects our ability to deal with traumatic events.
Jenara Nerenberg
Radical Municipalism: The Future We Deserve
Radical Municipalism: The Future We Deserve
Only a global confederation of rebel cities can lead us out of the death-spiral of neoliberalism towards a new rational society that delivers on the promise of humankind.
Debbie Bookchin
Overcoming the Fear of Intimacy: Helpful Advice for the Wounded Heart
Overcoming the Fear of Intimacy: Helpful Advice for the Wounded Heart
“You have to keep breaking your heart until it opens.” ~Rumi
Sofo Archon
We All Suffer in This Love-Desert Society That We've Created - Is There an Alternative?
We All Suffer in This Love-Desert Society That We've Created - Is There an Alternative?
Presently, most of the people in our culture believe that competition, possessiveness, and jealousy are all acceptable responses when we love someone. But is this really true, independent of culture or custom?
Tim Hjersted
How a Global Network of Fearless Cities Is Making Racist Colonial Nation States Obsolete
How a Global Network of Fearless Cities Is Making Racist Colonial Nation States Obsolete
Introducing a Global Network of Municipalist Cities
Richard D. Bartlett
Juneteenth: Praise the Lorde, Audre Lorde
Juneteenth: Praise the Lorde, Audre Lorde
Happy father’s day to the fathers, and to our fathers’ fathers, and their fathers’ fathers, and all the way back to Grandfather Sky. Past there to before there were fathers, because all was just ONE.
Tai Amri Spann-Ryan
Following The Horsemen
Following The Horsemen
There are few roads in Lesotho. There are even fewer mountain bikers. Here the horse is supreme and the myriad horse trails that have been carved through its steep and rugged mountains are its lifeblood. Horsemen ply these trails, just as they have for generations, riding...
19 min
Hawaii's Homeless Community Taking Matters Into Their Own Hands
Hawaii's Homeless Community Taking Matters Into Their Own Hands
With barely enough shelter to house even 11% of the homeless people on its main island, Hawaii lawmakers struggle for solutions amid rising costs of living and low wages. But one group of homeless Hawaiians has taken matters into their own hands, forming a highly organized...
5 min
La Zad - The Largest Autonomous Zone in Europe
La Zad - The Largest Autonomous Zone in Europe
Decades ago, there was a local campaign of resistance against the construction of a second airport near the city of Nantes, in western France. This resistance culminated in the establishment of a self-organized autonomous zone, known as the ZAD. Over 40,000 people take part...
28 min
The Message: We Need Juneteenth Today
The Message: We Need Juneteenth Today
On Sunday, June 18th, 2017, Tai Amri Spann-Ryan gave a powerful and moving sermon at the Lawrence, KS Unitarian Fellowship in celebration of Juneteenth and the on-going struggle for liberation. The talk audibly left the crowd speechless for several seconds afterward. It is...
23 min
Rebuilding New Orleans Lower 9th Ward One Store at a Time
Rebuilding New Orleans Lower 9th Ward One Store at a Time
In the wake of Katrina, New Orleans’ Lower Ninth Ward was one of the few neighborhoods where relief came slowly. Less than 25% of its pre-Katrina population has returned and many houses have been abandoned or mowed down. As a result, the USDA officially listed the...
6 min
Mongolian Nomads Erecting a Traditional Yurt is a Master Class in Cooperation
Mongolian Nomads Erecting a Traditional Yurt is a Master Class in Cooperation
Roughly 30 per cent of Mongolians live nomadically or semi-nomadically, and the region’s history of nomadism has left an indelible mark on the country’s culture. Easily portable traditional huts known as gers (more commonly referred to by their Russian name, yurts) are still...
2 min
Liberation Theory: a Working Framework
Liberation Theory: a Working Framework
Liberation is both the undoing of the effects and the elimination of the causes of social oppression. The achievement of human liberation on a global scale will require far-reaching changes at the institutional level and at the level of group and individual interactions...
Ricky Sherover-Marcuse
Scaling Up: Ideas about Participatory Democracy
Scaling Up: Ideas about Participatory Democracy
A common objection against participatory democracy is that, yes, it is a beautiful idea, but it can only work at the local level, like the neighborhood, the small town or the village. Our modern world is too complex, too global and interconnected – and we are simply too many...
Sveinung Legard
After Coal, a Small Kentucky Town Builds a Healthier, More Creative Economy
After Coal, a Small Kentucky Town Builds a Healthier, More Creative Economy
A complex network of local organizations helps neighbors support one another as they rebound from a dying industry.
Peter Slavin
Berlin Residents Pool Their Money to Buy City’s Electricity Grid
Berlin Residents Pool Their Money to Buy City’s Electricity Grid
Returning power — and profit — to the people.
Natalie Holmes
Rational Self-Preservation Through Global Unity
Rational Self-Preservation Through Global Unity
Imagine a world where instead of eternally fighting each other in defense of our various cliques, cults, colors, creeds or groups, we began first defending all humans and the planet against our common threats: corruption, war, poverty, nationalism, and other divisive business...
Michael Emero
Manchester Arena Attack: Amid the Horror, the Strength of an Incredible City Took Hold
Manchester Arena Attack: Amid the Horror, the Strength of an Incredible City Took Hold
The attack was the day that we had been warned about by security services. The day we hoped wouldn’t happen. But it happened here. In Manchester, at the Manchester Arena where young girls, known as “
Caroline Cheetham
4 Key Elements to Organizing for the Long Haul
4 Key Elements to Organizing for the Long Haul
Plus 11 other key ideas to living well as an activist
Drew Serres
How Good Boundaries Can Free You
How Good Boundaries Can Free You
Your story is shaped by what you are saying ‘yes’ and ‘no’ to. Every single person on the planet knows the challenge of boundary setting. But being clear about what you will, and will not, allow into your life can help you to live a happier and simpler existence.
15 min
Community Repair: Pop-Up Alternatives to a Throwaway Society
Community Repair: Pop-Up Alternatives to a Throwaway Society
A not-so-quiet repair revolution is taking place in communities across Britain. Consumers, fed up with having to throw away broken phones, toasters and other appliances, are instead meeting to learn how to repair them and to extend the lifetime of their products. These repair...
​Christine Cole, Alex Gnanapragasam
Relationships Based on Images Can Never Bring Lasting Peace, Yet Our Whole Society Is Built on Images
Relationships Based on Images Can Never Bring Lasting Peace, Yet Our Whole Society Is Built on Images
Relationship between human beings is based on the image-forming, defensive mechanism. In all our relationships each one of us builds an image about the other and these two images have relationship, not the human beings themselves. The wife has an image about the husband ...
J. Krishnamurti
Are We All Related?
Are We All Related?
In part 3 of our special series on human ancestry, we investigate how closely related we all really are. Basic math tells us that all humans share ancestors. But you’ll be amazed at how recently those shared ancestors lived. Thanks to genetic data in the 21st century, we’re...
6 min
No One Is Coming to Save You, Comrade.
No One Is Coming to Save You, Comrade.
No one is coming to save you, Comrade.
Dr. Bones
Wendell Berry: 17 Rules for a Sustainable Local Community
Wendell Berry: 17 Rules for a Sustainable Local Community
How can a sustainable local community (which is to say a sustainable local economy) function? I am going to suggest a set of rules that I think such a community would have to follow. I hasten to say that I do not understand these rules as predictions; I am not interested in...
Wendell Berry
Defend the Sacred: How Could the Peace Movement Prevail?
Defend the Sacred: How Could the Peace Movement Prevail?
The fight for Standing Rock is over, at least for now. With the help of Donald Trump and the banks, the oil industry has imposed its agenda. The construction of the pipeline has been completed. Our prayers are with that handful of people who are still there, still standing...
Dieter Duhm
The House of the Nobodies — Where Everyone Is Welcome
The House of the Nobodies — Where Everyone Is Welcome
La Casa de los Ningunos is an experimental community in the Bolivian capital city of La Paz, 12,000 feet up in the Andes Mountains. In a recent piece on the Casa, Sian Cowman explained the inspiration for the name, which also elegantly describes the Casa’s mission, “…Los...
Planet Local
We Need Our Platforms to Be Real Democracies
We Need Our Platforms to Be Real Democracies
For most of the last decade, I’ve been a reporter, covering stories on how technology is reshaping public life, from debates about God to protests in the streets. One thing I’ve noticed is that Internet culture has an odd way of using a really important word: democracy. When...
Nathan Schneider
Bringing People Together in “The Age of Loneliness”
Bringing People Together in “The Age of Loneliness”
It has been said that we’re living through “The Age of Loneliness.” Loneliness is “epidemic” among young adults, and even more common among the elderly, with some reporting that the num
Planet Local
The Eco Co-Op Providing Access to Land for Sustainable Food Production and Living
The Eco Co-Op Providing Access to Land for Sustainable Food Production and Living
The Ecological Land Co-operative (ELC) was set up to address the lack of affordable sites for ecological land-based livelihoods in England. There is an enormous disconnect between the combined cost of land and rural housing, and the income that is usually derived from...
5 min
Ho’oponopono for Earth Day
Ho’oponopono for Earth Day
The Power of Humility, Forgiveness, Gratitude and Love
Jacob Devaney
5 Reasons to Build a Network of Small Groups, Rather Than a Mass Movement of Individuals
5 Reasons to Build a Network of Small Groups, Rather Than a Mass Movement of Individuals
We’re currently touring through the US, meeting with activists: from urban neighbourhood organisers, to black bloc anarchists, back-to-the-land communalists, and progressive mega-campaigners.
Richard D. Bartlett
21 Ways to “Give Good No”
21 Ways to “Give Good No”
Saying “no” can be really hard. But Christine Carter has a three-step plan to get there.
Christine Carter
Meet The Woman Rescuing Fruit and Feeding Her Community
Meet The Woman Rescuing Fruit and Feeding Her Community
Meet Nita Kurmins GilsoMeet Nita Kurmins Gilson, the woman bringing fresh fruit to thousands of San Diegans in need. In 2009, Nita learned that 1 in 6 people in her county were going to bed hungry. She also saw an abundance of fresh produce going to waste all over the city...
2 min
The Edible Bus Stop: Community Gardens From Neglected Sites
The Edible Bus Stop: Community Gardens From Neglected Sites
The Edible Bus Stop transforms neglected sites across London's bus network into valuable community growing spaces. Originating as a guerilla garden project adjacent to a bus stop in South London, we transform once-forgotten spaces into thriving neighbourhood hubs that are...
2 min
Will the Poor Always Be With Us?
Will the Poor Always Be With Us?
Poverty as we know it is not and has never been the fate of humanity.
Jim Tull
Tamera - Taste of a New Culture
Tamera - Taste of a New Culture
Tamera is an extraordinary intentional community in Portugal. A model for regional autonomy in energy and food, it is focused on creating a truly peaceful society, working harmoniously with nature. This short film looks at the many projects that have transformed the arid...
52 min
Have We Been Denying Our Human Nature for Four Hundred Years?
Have We Been Denying Our Human Nature for Four Hundred Years?
Eurocentric modernism has unhinged us from our human nature, argues Rajani Kanth in his new book
Lynn Parramore
The Sharing Economy: It Takes More Than a Smartphone
The Sharing Economy: It Takes More Than a Smartphone
I ran into my friend Rick the other day in a small town near our homes in northern Vermont. He was just coming out of the bookstore, holding a pink plastic bag that, I would soon learn, contained a dozen eggs from his flock of free range hens. After a bit of small talk, Rick...
Steven Gorelick
How to Be a Great Listener
How to Be a Great Listener
There’s so much talking going on in the world with everyone trying to get their opinions and stories heard, but not a whole lot of listening. Yet, when we listen, we learn and we connect.  We discover new information and fresh things about other people.  Listening is a vital...
5 min
Growing Huge Amounts of Food on 1/2 an Acre - Urban Abundance
Growing Huge Amounts of Food on 1/2 an Acre - Urban Abundance
In the small town of Oxford, Kane and Fiona Hogan have transformed their urban 1/2-acre property into abundant veggie gardens. Their business Urban Gardener aims to build resilience and food security in their local community.
5 min
The Importance of Empathy
The Importance of Empathy
With an increasingly polarized and divided world, we need empathy more than ever before. Too often we are talking at each other, unable to listen and jumping to entirely wrong conclusions. Communication is fast becoming a stressful endeavor, which instead of connecting us, is...
3 min
Meet the Earthship
Meet the Earthship
Outside of Taos, New Mexico, you'll find a community of people living in off-grid homes made of garbage. The homes are called Earthships and were invented by Michael Reynolds. We went to Taos to check them out.
7 min
Reason, Creativity and Freedom: The Communalist Model
Reason, Creativity and Freedom: The Communalist Model
Humanity stands at a crossroads. Now, more than ever, history calls for a grassroots democracy at a global scale. If we look carefully, all the tools are at hand.
Eleanor Finley
This Is How to Stop Demagogues and Extremists: Rebuild Community
This Is How to Stop Demagogues and Extremists: Rebuild Community
All together now.
George Monbiot
These Kids Teach Us Important Lessons in Kindness
These Kids Teach Us Important Lessons in Kindness
Kids give an important reminder to be kind to others, regardless of our differences, and inspire hope for the future. "In the wake of the US election, filmmaker Jessie Auritt wanted to do something to try and combat the negativity, xenophobia, racism and sexism that...
3 min
Tashi And The Monk
Tashi And The Monk (2014)
On a remote mountaintop of the Himalayas sits Jhamtse Gatsal (Tibetan for “The Garden of Love and Compassion”), a special school and home for 85 abandoned and neglected children. Founded by former Buddhist monk Lobsang Phunstok, who trained under the Dalai Lama, this unique...
40 min
Bare-Handed: Fighting the Islamic State - a New Film Currently Seeking Crowdfunded Support
Bare-Handed: Fighting the Islamic State - a New Film Currently Seeking Crowdfunded Support
BARE-HANDED – FIGHTING THE ISLAMIC STATE, is a documentary about young returning fighters, an experiment to save them, and save us.
Luca Bellino
Thoughts on the Eve of the Trump Regime
Thoughts on the Eve of the Trump Regime
A blend of dread, disgust, rage, and despair for the future, all in a state of shocked disbelief—if you feel something like this facing the Trump regime’s ascent to power tomorrow, you are not alone. It’s the fitting response to an appalling reality. And, just like me and...
Mark Corske