Community organization brainstorming: decentralizing society
What the recent Reddit protest cemented in my mind is how ineffective protest tends to be the larger and more entrenched an established order is. There's no real incentive to change because ultimately everyone knows that the protestors have little recourse.
If you want to enact change, just trying to get people enraged and trying to get them to express that rage is not a great tactic. What you need as an alternative for people to go to instead, because that's the only real threat that matters to the establishment, the threat of being replaced.
So to that end, I'd like to start a conversation about what it is that people need, and how we can arrange structures to get those things without needing to rely on external actors who don't have your interests at heart.
For example, community mesh networks are a way of expanding internet into more of a public amenity so everyone can have access to it.
Virtual power plants can allow communities to produce their own power reliably and reduce their reliance on major power providers.
These are the kinds of things I am interested in. I feel that the most effective way to push back against profiteering corporations is to simply reduce our need for them in the first place.
What are some good community oriented solutions to societal needs that you feel deserve more attention and interest?
Urban Farming!
When I lived in Missoula, Montana, there were a handful of small farmstands that sold their own produce - most were on a couple of acres managed by a single family, but some were even just on a corner in a residential district. They would have CSA (community supported agriculture) memberships where you could pay $X every 6 months or per year, and you'd get a share of their produce as they would harvest it.
Back down here in California it's like produce mecca and we don't really have seasons as much, so it's even easier.
The benefits were tangible! In addition to healthy, fresh (not shipped), in-season produce, it's also significantly better for the environment (storage and shipping emissions are close to zero). It was also generally MUCH cheaper than the equivalent you could find at the chain grocers, while being higher quality.
Seriously, grow your own food people! Get rid of your ugly ass lawn and reject monoculture!
I’m finally getting my own home this summer and I’m going crazy waiting to plan the garden out.
Haha! I'm right there with you. My partner and I are always trying to balance our needs with our desire to live in the middle of nowhere so we can have room for all of our plants and projects.
Been following this for a while. They were very active 10ish years ago, not sure where things stand now: https://www.opensourceecology.org/
Years ago, I immigrated to a new country and got a job doing physical labor on a farm (as per the limits of my visa at that time), and I discovered something interesting: Doing hard labor in a team, even as a foreigner amongst strangers, goes a long way toward created a sense of belonging in a community.
The tasks that did this most effectively, I found, were those that involved a high degree of cooperation and an easy means for everyone to be valuable: for example, installing new greenhouse plastic (where basically we needed as many people as possible — even office staff got roped into it — to pull the plastic up and over the frame and then hold it in place, with the wind fiercely trying to whip it from our hands, while a couple of people installed spring clips as quickly as they could before we lost our grip). It was such hard work, and always in terrible winter weather, yet everyone was always smiling and laughing, and it really felt like you were amongst friends you'd known your whole life.
I think we need a modern equivalent to barn raisings. We need opportunities to do more things like this.
I agree that one of society's goals should be to provide more opportunities for people to work together. Community projects are a great way to allow people to get involved in improving their home without putting a ton of obligation or responsibility on them individually.