By Christal Padilla

If we can imagine a 20 hour work week (so everyone can contribute), fresh food growing in every neighborhood, an electric car and a solar-powered house then we can make it happen. As a modern civilization we are choosing to not participate in our lifestyle’s design as often as we allow our lives to be “consumed” by a consumer culture.  Most Americans walk very little, watch hours of television, eat frozen meals often, and rarely talk to their neighbors.  Why?  More importantly, what?  What is holding us back from making the kind of improvements we are able to imagine and aspire to?

Daily life in America has not improved much in the last 50 years. People are not happier today than they were in 1960 -we are richer on paper, but poorer in spirit.  We don’t “need” much; there is a threshold where our basic needs are met and we are satisfied (this is when we reach a happy state of being). Simultaneously, humans have the predisposition to consume more if presented the opportunity, and there are many corporate departments that focus on tapping into and taking advantage of this predisposition. 

American culture is currently organized to support people multiplying the amount of distracting, excessive, and time-consuming stuff in their lives (bigger houses to keep up, more credit to pay back, big box stores to buy from, large storage containers to hold it all, etc). 

The majority is so enveloped in the current culture they cannot recognize that they are infected with a cultural condition that should be diagnosed as a social problem. In addition, people have been lead (through smart design and marketing) to think that “stuff” will make them happier and better people, which is an insane idea!   Unfortunately, this way of life has effectively dampened our spirits.

YOU ARE HERE in the midst of it all, and thankfully, communities across the country are beginning to take control of changing their cultural dynamic, and you are invited to participate.

In the past, people have made dramatic cultural shifts and we can learn from our history.  During World War II citizens united around solutions – we saw the rise of victory gardens, carpools, and scrap metal drives.  When necessary, we can be more efficient and conserve resources.  People sacrificed, but more importantly they were ambitious, resourceful, and inspired.   Americans have rallied in support of the vision of winning wars and are now being challenged to rally around the vision of creating necessary and meaningful change, locally and globally. This is a fight worth winning!

Do we have the political and cultural will to change our way of life? All the issues surrounding our global environment, concerns about peak oil, and clean water depend on individual change.  To shift our culture we need more people to participate in the strategies, design and growth of our economic, social, and environmental systems. We are full of great ideas and together we can implement them, because if everyone does a little bit – a whole lot will get done.  

Individual choices have a significant impact on our community. An individual can make a difference; to think otherwise denies the fiber of social change.  Individuals acting together can shift the culture they live in and bring about the political change we need to secure a sustainable future.  We can change our culture as much as we deem necessary, as long as we are resolute in our conviction that a better way is desirable and act accordingly. 

Individual actions add up, below are a few ideas you can implement:

• Design your own eco Sabbath: For a period of time per week live with no impact. If you carve out an hour,  half day, or whole day to buy nothing, use no electronics, and use no resources you will not only experience the way low-impact life feels you will also be giving the world a break! Every hour you live with no impact cuts your carbon emissions. 
• Eat vegetables:  Beef production is a larger contributor to climate change than the entire transportation sector.  Cutting beef out of your diet entirely will reduce your CO2 emissions by 2400 pounds annually.  Cutting back on your beef intake, buying locally raised beef, and eating more vegetables are positive steps in the right direction.
• Tithe a fixed percentage: if every American gave just 1% (an average contribution of $502.33) of their average annual income ($50,233) to a local non-profit organization working to reduce our environmental impact, each individual could offset 40.7 tons of carbon dioxide per year. If you want to make an impact you can shift 1% of your spending and help move a valuable program forward.
• Believe that you make a difference: We are all interconnected, and every step you make towards a more sustainable way of living supports everyone else who is try to do the same thing.

Individuals acting together can secure a sustainable future, and you are invited to participate:

• Participate in the Common Roots Collaborative (the CRC): Beginning in the summer of 2010, the CRC will work tirelessly to empower citizens to make choices that impact their lives and lower their impact on the environment through community action and civic participation.  The CRC will bring experts and residents together to begin growing food in yards instead of lawns, organize “stuff” swaps to reduce unnecessary consumption and build community, hold neighborhood meet-ups to identify new localized ideas and organize their implementation. The CRC will also register the unregistered to vote.