In his new book, Our Choice: A Plan to Solve the Climate Crisis, Al Gore sets out in stunning detail the many sides of the climate crisis and the challenges is poses, writing that “we must recognize the necessity of concerted global action.”

Gore makes it clear that solving a problem of such enormity will require big action on many levels, compelling ambitious government legislation and unprecedented global cooperation. But that doesn’t mean that individuals can’t play a part. In fact, they should do so without delay.

In 2006, Gore founded the Alliance for Climate Change, a coalition of scientists, activists and policymakers dedicated to finding solutions to the climate change crisis. The group subsequently launched the We Campaign, which is aimed directly at spurring individuals to mobilize to combat climate change. Read More

In Agenda for a New Economy: From Phantom Wealth to Real Wealth, David C. Korten offers a big-picture story of where we went wrong in the design of our economic institutions and what we can do about it. He argues that the problems with our economic and financial system go way deeper than the current crisis, and that efforts so far to “fix” them are so much tinkering at the margins. The larger issue, Korten argues, is that Wall Street has perfected the art of creating “wealth” without producing anything of real value. He calls this “phantom wealth.”

For Korten, hope lies not with Wall Street (one of the sections of the book is titled “The Case for Eliminating Wall Street”), but with Main Street, which creates real wealth from real resources to meet real needs. He outlines an agenda to create a new “real-wealth” economy—locally based, community oriented, and devoted to creating a better life for all, not simply increasing profits.

Citing the Happy Planet Index, a set of measures devised by NEF, a think tank, which “reveals the ecological efficiency with which human well-being is delivered,” Korten notes that the shift from a phantom wealth economy to a real wealth economy will necessarily entail increasing some things and decreasing others. Here are two lists from the book that detail exactly what we want more and less of.

What We Want to Increase:

• the percentage of food grown locally
• attendance at farmers’ markets
• school attendance and graduation rates
• voter participation rates
• the number of pedestrian- and bicycle-friendly streets
• the acreage of open space near urban villages
• youth involvement in community service
• the number of neighbors with whom people interact regularly
• the percentage of locally owned businesses
• the size of wild salmon runs

What We Want to Decrease:

• divorce rates
• the number of single parents
• the extent of soil erosion
• incarceration rates
• infant and child mortality rates
• rates of hospitalization for children with asthma
• the total area of impervious surfaces
• childhood obesity rates

Zeitoun, by Dave Eggers, recounts the trials and tribulations of Abdulrahman and Kathy Zeitoun in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. With the storm barreling down on the city, Abdulrahman, a prosperous Syrian-American and father of four, stuck around to protect his house and contracting business. In the days after the storm, he traveled the flooded streets in a secondhand canoe, passing on supplies and helping those he could. His major troubles were only just beginning, though; in short order he was picked up by the authorities on suspicion of terrorist involvement (on no other evidence than his ethnic profile) and detained. The New York Times said this about Eggers’ remarkable book: “It’s the stuff of great narrative nonfiction…. Fifty years from now, when people want to know what happened to this once-great city during a shameful episode of our history, they will still be talking about a family named Zeitoun.”

The Zeitoun Foundation was created in 2009 to aid in the rebuilding and ongoing health of the city of New Orleans, and to help ensure the human rights of all Americans. It is distributing funds garnered from the sale of Zeitoun.

Most of the money will stay in New Orleans, going to non-profits already at work in the area.

Here’s Eggers on the Zeitoun Foundation:

I know this is something the family is very excited about. Something tangible and materially beneficial can come out of this. A lot of times when someone tells you a story and it comes out in the paper, that can definitely be very positive and raise awareness. But, if you can have something tangible come from it, actual three-dimensional benefit, that goes a long way to allowing the Zeitouns to feel that something good came from their suffering. (link)

Here are some of  the nonprofits the Zeitoun Foundation will be supporting. Check out their websites to learn about the work they’re doing — and buy Zeitoun by Dave Eggers today!

• The Louisiana Capital Assistance Center
• Innocence Project of NOLAMeena Magazine
• The Muslim America Society
• The Porch Seventh Ward Cultural Center
• The Green Project
• Catholic Charities, Archdiocese New Orleans
• Islamic Relief
• The New Orleans Institute
• The New Orleans Center for Creative Arts
• The Neighborhood Story Project
• Rebuilding Together

These action items are adapted from 50 Ways You Can Help Obama Change America by Michael Huttner and Jason Salzman, a book the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy called “a practical handbook on how every American can do something for our country…required reading for anyone interested in making a difference.”

1. Green your home

- Lower the temperature of your water heater to 120 degrees or lower
- Turn down your thermostat to 68 degrees or lower in the winter and 78 degrees or higher in the summer
- Use cold water in your washing machine
- Switch to compact fluorescent light bulbs
- Add insulation to your attic
- Purchase Energy Star appliances
- Use a clothesline whenever possible, not a dryer
- Turn computers off at night

2. Green your car

President Obama pledged to put one million plug-in hybrid cars–cars that can get 150 miles per gallon–on the road by 2015. Consider getting one.

3. Join a clean energy organization and track the energy debate in Congress

• The Alliance for Climate Protection, chaired by Al Gore, looks to show the American people–and people around the world–the importance and urgency of adopting and implementing effective and comprehensive solutions for the climate crisis.
• Al Gore’s website for An Inconvenient Truth, climatecrisis.net, provides practical steps you can take to reduce your impact on the Earth.
• Apollo Alliance advocates a new Apollo program for American to wean us from foreign oil
• Energy Action Coalition focuses on mobilizing students and youth in support of clean energy and climate legislation
• Green for All, founded by Van Jones, is dedicated to building a green and just economy
• League of Conservation Voters focuses on the US Congress–information on proposed legislation, how senators and congressmen voted on environmental issues, and pre-election evaluations of candidates
• Sierra Club is a well respected national organization with state chapters that focus on energy and climate issues.
• Union of Concerned Scientists offers an updated menu of ways to help pass meaningful energy and climate legislation.

In his Memorial Day weekend address this year, President Obama said,

“[W]e must also do our part, not only as a nation, but as individuals for those Americans who are bearing the burden of wars being fought on our behalf. That can mean sending a letter or a care package to our troops overseas. It can mean volunteering at a clinic where a wounded warrior is being treated or bringing supplies to a homeless veterans center. Or it can mean something as simple as saying “thank you” to a veteran you pass on the street.

“That is what Memorial Day is all about. It is about doing all we can to repay the debt we owe to those men and women who have answered our nation’s call by fighting under its flag. It is about recognizing that we, as a people, did not get here by accident or good fortune alone. “

Michael Huttner and Jason Salzman quote these words to start a chapter titled How You Can Support Our Troops and Veterans in their book, 50 Ways You Can Help Obama Change America. The book explains what we all, individually and together, can do, in our homes, our communities, in the United States, and abroad, online and off, to fulfill the promise of change and renewal that galvanized so many of us in 2008.

When it comes to the troops and veterans, write the authors, “[I]t’s not just a matter of supporting them because it’s patriotic. As President Obama says, we really are in debt to our veterans, for fighting for our country, whether the decision to deploy them was right or wrong. We are complicit in any decision to go to war….”

So in this, as in each of the 50 chapters that comprise their book, Huttner and Salzman lay out specific actions you can take to do your part. Here they are.

1. Support a veterans group
Donate or volunteer for one of these groups
- National Coalition for Homeless Veterans
- Support Your Vet
- Vote Vets

2. Help reverse the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy
Under this discriminatory policy, openly gay individuals can’t serve in the military. Sign a petition at votevets.org to reverse it. (President Obama has promised to reverse the policy but has yet to do so.)

3. Organize an event showing the human cost of war
The American Friends Service Committee has a free manual on how you can stage an “Eyes Wide Open” exhibit.

4. Take Veterans Day seriously
Attend an event. Donate. Fly the flag. (Usually November 11.)

In his new book, Howard Dean’s Prescription for Real Healthcare Reform, Gov. Howard Dean points out that “the average American has more personal stake in the outcome of [the legislative fight over healthcare reform] than any other piece of legislation before Congress for many, many years to come.”  Fortunately, as he also notes, thanks to the Internet average Americans have more power than ever before to “circumvent the traditional political process” — so resistant to change and remote from grassroots activism — and shape the outcome of this epochal fight. Dr. Dean offers several action steps we can all take to ensure that affordable healthcare for all becomes a reality–and soon. Some harness the power of new technology, others rely on old-fashioned shoe leather and a willingess to talk to people; all are simple, straightforward, effective, and practical.

1. Go to the website: http://standwithdrdean.com/

This site was created by Democracy for America.
“There you will find online petitions, organizing tools, campaigns to contact your senators and congressmen to let them know how strongly you feel about Americans’ right to choose whether they want a public health insurance option or whether they want to continue with their current health insurer.”

2. Educate Yourself
Read a number of leading bloggers to keep up-to-date with the health care debate, such as:

• Ezra Klein
• Jonathan Cohn
• ThinkProgress and its policy blog The Wonk Room
• Talking Points Memo
• The Huffington Post

3. Start Writing

Write letters to editors in your local paper and letters and emails to Congressmembers

4. Take Part in Door-Knocking Campaigns.

“Most Americans respond well to people they know. You should organize door-knocking teams to talk with people you know in your neighborhood or organize door-knocking teams so that one person has repeated interaction (dropping a flyer at the door is not enough) with the same person in each household, so that a relationship is established. Widening the circle, using now just the internet, but personal interaction gives this movement for real choice in our health care system much more impact.”

5. Contact Major Companies

“It is not an accident that the health insurance industry is taking on a much more conciliatory tone during this debate than it did during the health care debate during the Clinton years. They’ve heard from you. But don’t be fooled. While their rhetoric may be conciliatory, their intention is to derail or manipulate this effort at health care reform so they can continue their march toward greater and greater earnings.”

6. Contact Other Organizations that may be active in your community, particularly those that work at the grassroots level.

Including:

Health Care for America NOW! (HCAN)
MoveOn.org
SEIU