by: TTGM President, Skip Shuda
You are not alone.
It’s important that you know this. There are people who care about you—and care about our community.
Global or national politics can be a challenging place to invest your time and energy. Frustration over lack of action, or anger over action that seems to move our world in the wrong direction, or grieving when it seems that the world is moving to a more hateful place can be draining. It can lead us to throw up our arms in despair.
I’ve been relying on the Serenity Prayer lately to help me get through tough times. (My version replaces “God” with “Spirit.”)
The simple poem has been attributed to a theologian named Reinhold Niebuhr from the early 1930s, penned at a time when fascism was emerging in Europe as well as in pockets of the United States.
So where can you make change that feels good to your heart and helps your community?
Transition Town Greater Media was founded in 2009. TTGM seeks to embrace a “head, heart, and hands” approach to a way of being that is more compassionate, gentler on our planet, and more accepting of others than our dominant cultural worldview which prioritizes growth, ownership of material items, and money.
If that shift appeals to you, check out our website to learn more about what we do. I hope you will consider joining one or more of our working groups. NOTE: You don’t need to live in Media to participate.
Here are a few activities that might speak to your need to be part of something that feels like it can make a difference.
Community Resilience Working Group. As I write this, our region is experiencing the worst drought on record. Climate events, political upheavals and man-made catastrophes are increasingly part of our lives. This group meets monthly to study community and personal resilience and develop actions that will help our community become more resilient. We’ve been reading the Community Resilience Reader and planning a set of educational film screenings at local libraries. We also plan to conduct a 2025 community resilience survey to better understand how well prepared our community is for disasters and sudden changes in the environment.
Media FreeStore. Entering 11 years of service to our community, the all-volunteer FreeStore collects donations of household items (keeping them out of the landfill) and makes them available to the public for free. Volunteers in the FreeStore find a sense of community and belonging with each other as well as with the shoppers and donors in the store. There is nothing like the joy of seeing a child look at their parent and say, “it’s all free?!?!” as they explore toys, puzzles or games. Similarly, the gratitude and relief experienced by a young family finding that they can furnish their kitchen without expense is so rewarding.
Tree Lovers Collective and Tree Tenders. People who love trees will find kindred spirits in these two groups. The Tree Tenders plant trees, pure and simple. If you want to get your hands dirty and start growing more green infrastructure in our community, this is your group. The Tree Lovers Collective is using data, mapping tools, and studying ordinances as ways to protect and grow our community tree canopy.
Cool Blocks. This group is about connecting your immediate neighborhood together. An organizer (maybe you?) begins by knocking on doors and meeting your neighbors to invite them to a monthly study group. Topics cover emergency preparedness, reducing our carbon footprint and water usage, and creating safe neighborhoods. This program is one of the very best at weaving stronger neighborhood connections. The connections and support that emerged in our neighborhoods that participated in this program continues on well past the 10-month study group meetings.
Inner Transformation. Taking care of our own inner spirit is one of the most important things we can do for ourselves and our community. Having a support group is a powerful way to support yourself as you try to improve your corner of the world. Recently, this group led a powerful workshop for TTGM leaders on Joanna Macy’s Work that Reconnects and Vanessa Andreotti’s Hospicing Modernity. These are just a handful of the TTGM working groups—but there are over a dozen other groups that are every bit as welcoming and rewarding. Find the one that works best for you!
I love your line, “a way of being that is more compassionate, gentler on our planet, and more accepting of others.” That not only says it all, it describes you as a person.
Citizens translate “the economy” as “my personal purchasing power.” They are feeling pain in the pocketbook, a paucity of personal purchasing power. They found it easier to believe claims that a candidate could ease that pain than to believe claims that that candidate is a fascist, a criminal, or might overturn democracy. The claims by the losing side that voters are racist, fascist, or evil are counterproductive.
I hope to write a blog post to explain our purchasing power predicament, and where we might go from here. The quick answer is that Rob Hopkins’ idea of energy descent is absolutely on the right track. See you all at Green Sunday!
Robin – here is a relevant quote from brilliant thinker Daniel Schmachtenberger:
“From the outset, social media companies selected a path that allowed them to privatize the gains of this model and socialize the losses. The negative externalities are inflicted on the public, bearing as they must a growing array of mental health problems, increasing rates of addiction, a collapse in attention spans, a profound loss of privacy, as well as the undermining of real-life social interaction and development.“
If you aren’t familiar with Daniel’s work, I highly recommend checking him out.