Resilient Communities Create a Sustainable Future

The constant stream of small-minded, xenophobic, and greedy orders coming from the White House is exhausting. Which, as several Trump advisors have said, is exactly the point—their intent is to keep us so overwhelmed that we have little to nothing left over after making it through our day to day lives. They want us to feel like we have few, if any, options to fight for our rights, our health, an equitable economy, and a healthy, sustainable planet.

But the current administration and the big corporations and billionaires who back them aren’t the only ones capable of wielding economic power—we, the people, have both considerable individual and collective power, too. Most of all, investing our time and money in the welfare of our neighbors, local businesses, and community institutions builds vital bonds of trust and care, which is itself a revolutionary act. Especially in the face of selfish public figures and predatory corporations whose success depends on cultivating our mistrust of and unwillingness to work with the world around us.

This is what Green America’s community does best—your collective actions encourage responsible corporate policy and the adoption of economic solutions that benefit us all. Together we are making a real difference for people and the planet when it comes to renewable energy, regenerative agriculture, and fair labor. Your support has helped us save crucial forest acres in California from biomass logging efforts, expanded our guides for climate-friendly banking and climate-smart insurance options, grown the Climate Victory Gardens program, and much more.

The articles in this issue of Your Green Life explore the various ways we can use the power of our money and efforts to strengthen our own communities in ways that can reverberate beyond the borders of our daily lives. Whether it’s a waste reduction program that worked to meet both consumers and businesses where they are, a personal journey to remove microplastics from use, protesting eased restrictions on child labor in supply chains, encouraging the expansion of tool lending libraries, shifting your money away from megabanks, or exploring regional property insurance providers, this edition of Your Green Life is dedicated to the idea that there are myriad ways for everybody to use their money, time, and energy for the betterment of their communities and the planet within their own means.

The public backlash against companies that dropped their diversity, equity, and inclusion commitments after the current administration issued executive orders dismantling federal DEI programs are a stark reminder that our choices and actions matter. When we work together, we can ensure that corporations and powerful people still face consequences for their actions. Just look at how Target was subjected to multiple boycotts after it backed away from its corporate DEI initiatives in January—the company was forced to cut its financial outlook for the year after anticipating further declines in sales.

Our American economic system relies on constant generation of profit and growth at the expense of communities and the environment, so making intentional choices to put our money and energy to work for us is an important way of encouraging collective action that can benefit the planet. Using our economic power in service of our principles and for the common good is especially impactful under a federal administration—not to mention state governments— aggressively gutting social supports and services in favor of tax breaks for the rich and relaxed regulations on corporations.

When we put our money, time, and energy into building strong local economies, we create resilient, sustainable communities that build momentum for sweeping global actions. In times of economic, social, and political uncertainty, choosing to trust each other and support local businesses, organizations, and institutions can have positive impacts that extend far beyond the people and places we see every day.

One of my favorite writers, Charlie Jane Anders, wrote in her newsletter about how the stories we see in pop culture often paint the struggle for justice and a better world as one that relies on a final proverbial straw to trigger a massive collective action that makes everything fall into place in the end. It makes for heart-pounding storytelling, but Anders argues that it ignores how in real life, our reaction to a single, overwhelming crisis alone isn’t what brings change. It’s also the thousands of individual choices to do better and strong community bonds among people who might otherwise have been strangers that provide the momentum for success and fertile ground for justice to take root.

Everyday actions in our own neighborhoods and townships—from where we choose to bank to how we spend our money, the ways we participate in civic life, the causes we volunteer for, how we manage our consumption and waste, and the ways we care for each other—are vital to creating a safe, healthy, and sustainable future for ourselves and our planet.