Deeply Subversive Documentaries

Gardening is a subversive activity.

I like the sound of anything deeply subversive. 

That is because I am on the side of underdogs, misfits, rebels, and radicals. I am all for freedom, living your passion and your truth, and doing so without hurting any other people or the planet.

If that makes me a subversive, then guilty as charged. I don't mind.

Therefore, today when I came across an Internet resource new to me, I was intrigued and thought I should share my serendipitous discovery.

What caught my attention was the title, "87 Deeply Subversive Documentaries That Challenge The Status Quo". That is totally in my lane.

If you are nurturing your inner rebel, this might be just what you are looking for in order to expand your ideas of what is possible when challenging existing power structures.

Convention, conformity, and state-induced apathy have brought us a global ugliness that we now must confront in order to turn things around. It can't hurt to have a little help from other subversives that might have some good ideas for building a better system. 

Many possible strategies can be found in resources like filmsforaction.org, and more specifically, in their collection of system-challenging documentaries, which can be found here.

My hope is that you can find something of use in this collection specifically, and at the website in general. I consider it to be a celebration of all the non-conforming, post-consumer, simple living, freedom loving rebel types, many of whom frequent my own deeply subversive website. 

The status quo is so, like, yesterday. Today we educate ourselves about alternatives easily and freely, and we are about to change everything. 

The subversives united, will never be divided. 

Enjoy.

Recovering From Trauma - Do What You Can

A Film by Bill Benenson & Gene Rosow. More at DIRT! The Movie. Video from KarmaTube

Feeling overwhelmed? If so, that would not be surprising. Ecocide is hard to watch. It is natural that one would feel a little PTSD'd, especially if one is predisposed to being sensitive to such things.

Mental health workers tell us that watching disasters can cause serious stress and other problems. What is happening to our Earth is like watching multiple slow motion disasters all occurring at the same time.

Repeated exposure can render one feeling helpless and hopeless. These are not emotional states conducive to getting things done. They can be paralyzing, making one feel even more powerless to do anything constructive, or even cope with the deluge of bad news.

Thankfully, our human heritage has made us incredible resilient. Recovering from traumatic stress is completely possible. 

Here are a few ways to make recovery happen, and return to a balanced, active and joyful state.

Recovering From Trauma

Minimize media exposure. It is harder to heal if you are constantly exposed to new nasty stuff.

Accept your feelings. They are real.

Take positive action. Even small actions can make a big psychological difference. Helping others and/or the environment is a soothing mental salve.

Get moving. Get your heart rate up. Several short bursts of exercise are as good as one longer session.

Reach out to others for support. Visiting NBA is recommended for mutual support - we've got your back.

Make relaxing a priority. If you don't make time for it, it won't happen. Being out in nature is a great natural stress reliever. If you can't be out in it, open a window, or hang a bird feeder where you can see it. Viewing videos and pictures of nature's beauty is also good.

Eat a healthy diet. We recommend fresh, plant based foods that are high in prana, or chi.

Seek help. If feelings of anxiety, numbness, confusion, guilt, and despair don't diminish by six weeks, you may need more focused help.

Another thing you can do to relieve negative feelings is to watch the wonderful video above. You may not be able to do everything to fix things, but that doesn't mean you can't do anything. 

We may not be able to control what happens to the world, but we can control our response to it. We can only do what we can, which is always better than doing nothing. 

Thank you to Terri for emailing us the link to this uplifting video. 

About the video: 

"When confronted with adversity, when the odds are stacked up against you, you can either stand aside - helpless, frozen with fear - or do the best you can.  

Nobel Laureate Wangari Maathai stood up to seemingly insurmountable challenges all her life, and won. Like the hummingbird in this story; to give up was never an option for her.  

Her spirit lives on in the millions of trees she helped plant."

Things Are Getting Better

The March of Progress?

If I hear one more person say that things are getting better I am going to scream. Or cry. Or both.

When I am bringing people down by expressing my current world view they stop me mid-rant to remind me that, "things are getting better". But are they, really?

Oh yes. The gays have it better. Women have it better. Blacks have it better. The poor have it better. Aboriginal people have never had it as good. And peace is breaking out all over the place, while the environment is improving!

Usually it is a well off consumer class privileged individual sharing the optimism. They might even tell me to "lighten up" or "get over it" or "move on" so that I can join in and enjoy the privileged life that we can all have if we work hard enough.

What I want to do in those times is take them, and find someone who is gay and ask them if they agree that "things are getting better". Maybe a ask a gay person from Orlando, Florida.

I want to ask a woman if she thinks that things are getting better. Is receiving 77% of the wage of a male doing the same work evidence of this improved world?

Maybe they can visit a First Nations reserve here in Canada and see if the people there share this Polyana view of things. We could ask about the lack of clean water, or adequate housing, or the persistent racist attitudes of their settler neighbours.

And how about the perpetual war that the planet has been in for the past decade? Do Syrians think that things are getting better? Libyans? Egyptians? Ukrainians? Iraqis?

I used to be an optimist, too. But come on - our planet has never been in as rough of shape as it is now. We have had 10,000 years of civilization to get things right, and what do we get? Trump and his ilk.

Come on - we should have nailed this thing several thousand years ago.

Are things getting better? Perhaps. But as Neil Young said in Vampire Blues, the "good times are comin', but they're sure comin' slow". We are moving at a snails pace when we aren't actually going backwards.

If things are going to accelerate enough to get us back on track, we are going to have to have a simple living revolution the likes of which we have never seen before. Happy, comfortable consumer/slaves are going to have to get out of the bubble they have been in for a few decades, and start talking to the  rest of the planet that is suffering in order to prop up their unsustainable lifestyles.

Only then can we work to make this a simpler, more sane world where everyone can truly say "things are getting better". And getting better now. Right now.

If not now, then when?

Beat Your Wings, Change The World

With all that is happening to harm our world today it is easy to fall prey to despair. Too often despair leads to a feeling of powerlessness and a sensation of being overwhelmed. We stop. We give up. This is not what the world needs.

What we need at this critical juncture is hope and optimism. We want to feel that what we are doing is making a meaningful difference.

Sure there is a lot of harmful stuff going on, but so is there a lot of beauty in the world. There is a lot to be hopeful and optimistic about, and when we indulge these, we honour the good works that are right now changing the world.

Here are a few reasons I am feeling hope and optimism this morning:

- if a butterfly's beating wings can cause weather changes, then I trust that my practice of simplicity also has far reaching effects that can not be understood with conventional, limiting thinking.

The Butterfly Effect says that small changes can lead to great results. What we do as individuals matters. Live a harmonious, even anonymous life, and change the world.

- we have had everything we need to create a better world for many generations. With each generation that passes we are adopting more and more of these things, and are open to adopting more.

- ecological awareness is growing causing more and more of us to recognize that transforming the way we do things is required if we are to save ourselves. With each passing day we are more open to entertaining grand ideas and wholesale shifts. Readiness to do what is required is reaching a tipping point.

- an increasing sector of the population knows how to get stuff, but find its acquisition empty and leaves them wanting. Consumerism isn't getting the same bang for its buck. We are looking for something freer, simpler, more authentic, creative and satisfying.

- as a global family, we are leaving the concept of scarcity behind and adopting a new ethos of abundance. If there is enough to give a small group of individuals more wealth than over half the human population, then there is obviously enough to ensure everyone has a decent standard of living.

Nature is abundant. We are nature. We live with abundance surrounding us, and are now starting to see this.

I am seeing more out there about providing everyone with a Guaranteed Annual Income than I have ever seen before. All of Mother Nature should benefit from her gifts.

I know that we are doing this thing. We are changing the world. It is constantly happening, quietly, imperceptibly and inevitably. Rather than despair at what is not yet happening, I am refocusing on the hope and optimism that is provided by all the good things that ARE happening.

Don't look for the good news to be reported in corporate newspapers. I would love to see the headline "Hope and Optimism Sweeps The Planet", but what you are more likely to find there is despair and fear. Despair and fear that they tell you can be alleviated by buying more stuff. That is not good news - that is old news.

Where you will find the good news in your daily life. Little moments of magic as you and those around you make decisions based on the heart rather than the wallet. That has far reaching consequences that will lead us to a more compassionate planet.

Beat your wings, change the world.

Time Poverty

How would you like to have to work only 15 hours a week to cover your basic expenses?



Sixty years ago economists were optimistically predicting that by this point in time we would all be enjoying the fruits of our labour and increased productivity. Everyone would have enough, and we would only be working a fraction of the 40-60 hours we do now.


The times in my life that I had the most money, I had the least amount of time to enjoy it. During these moments of time-poverty I felt trapped. It made the money feel less valuable, and the work I had to do to get it more futile.

Early on in my work life I decided I would rather work less, spend less, and become time-rich. I didn't want to miss any precious moments doing the things I love.

Time is what gives us the freedom to work at our priorities instead of someone else's. Our own agenda and space to manifest our dreams.

Money provides no freedom if you don't have the time to enjoy it.

Eliminating Time-Poverty

It is possible to eliminate time-poverty from your life.

• Practice mindfulness. Nothing can turn ordinary moments into precious moments better than being present in whatever you are doing. Pay close attention to your perceptions and sensations as you do simple, every day activities. Go slowly, focus on each step.
• Change your language. Think "choose to" instead of "have to" when faced with seemingly unpleasant yet necessary tasks.
• Say no more often. I have found that "I don't think that is going to work for me" is better than an outright "NO".
• Stay on task. When you have to work, really work. 
• Plan some alone time. Schedule regular bits of time for yourself to do whatever you want. Even 30 minutes can make a difference.
• Live more simply. Spend less, work less, have more time.
• Try new things. Taking risks and trying new things makes us feel alive and vital.

Finally The Tables Are Starting To Turn

What is happening on our little planet is unprecedented in human history. Hundreds of millions of people rising up to take back what is theirs, despite desperate measures taken to maintain the status quo.

It is our Global Spring, and we will clean out the greed, corruption, and other turds that have gathered in our societal septic tank.

Today Linda and I are singing hopeful protest songs in our living room, and sending them out to the world. Our favourite today? Revolution by Tracy Chapman. It is an outstandingly optimistic piece of protest and performance.

Revolution - Tracy Chapman

Don't you know
They're talkin' bout a revolution
It sounds like a whisper

Don't you know
They're talkin' about a revolution
It sounds like a whisper

While they're standing in the welfare lines
Crying at the doorsteps of those armies of salvation
Wasting time in the unemployment lines
Sitting around waiting for a promotion

Poor people gonna rise up
And get their share
Poor people gonna rise up
And take what's theirs

Don't you know
You better run, run, run
Oh I said you better
Run, run, run

Finally the tables are starting to turn
Talkin' bout a revolution

We Can Make Earth Day Obsolete

I celebrated Earth Day for most of my life, but no more. I am finished with it, and I think that the planet is getting a little sceptical, too.

Earth Day began 40 years ago with grand intentions, but did Senator Nelson and the 20 million Americans that participated in that first year really intend it to be around 4 decades later? Surely they wished to make such an obvious and critical day obsolete as soon as possible. They were responding to a perceived environmental crisis, after all, and time was of the essence. A TV show that first year called Earth Day: A Question of Survival, would not be out of place on our wide-screen plasma TVs today.

The goal was to increase awareness in government and corporate board rooms of the importance of sustainability so that environmental crisis could be averted. Now here we are 40 years later trying to do the same thing, except now we, the people, are co-conspirators in the environmental mess. We vote with our dollars, and since 1970 we have been voting for consumer items and luxury rather than for appreciation and respect for the planet and its other life forms.

Earth Day has been a positive force for change, but it has ultimately failed to wake us up to any truly meaningful change. Not to say that there haven't been worthy changes since 1970, but most of them pale in comparison to the devastation that we continue to inflict. Our environment is in as much of a crisis as it was in 1970. Earth Day is unfortunately as necessary today as it was 40 years ago.

Let's do what Senator Nelson and the initial organizers of Earth Day must have envisioned in their most optimistic moments - that their special one day a year would soon become obsolete as changes were made and the planet healed itself. We can do this thing.

Let us make it obsolete by immediately becoming as non-destructive and sustainable as we can possibly be at this time. Let every day be a day that we focus on our appreciation and respect for the planet that sustains us. Let this 40th Anniversary be the (B)Earth of a new way of living more gently in cooperation with each other and everything else.

Let's give Nelson and the Earth something to celebrate.

Affirmations Make Your Day

Affirmations can help us live the lives we see for ourselves. Some think that affirmations are simply "magical thinking", and indicate childish expectations. However, if we can not visualize something we cannot create it. Affirmations, creative visualization, and positive thinking help us mold our lives out of the primordial clay of the universe.

I found the following affirmations by Steve Goodier at allthingsfrugal. They look like effective ways to maximize our quest to live simply and sustainably. All our work will be for naught if it drives us crazy in the process. We need little reminders to help keep us balanced and on track.

Now, Steve's affirmations:

• Today I will live through the next 24 hours and not try to tackle all life's problems at once.
• Today I will improve myself - my body, my mind, my spirit.
• Today I will refuse to spend time worrying about what might happen if...
• Today I will not imagine what I would do if things were different. They are not different. I will do my best with what material I have.
• Today I will find the grace to let go of resentment of others and self-condemnation over past mistakes.
• Today I will not try to change, or improve, anybody but me.
• Today I will act toward others as though this will be my last day on earth.
• Today I will be unafraid. I will enjoy what is beautiful, and I will believe that as I give to the world, the world will give to me.

Whether these are the best of times or the worst of times, these are the only times we've got. Live each day fully and you will look back on a life that made a difference.

These affirmations definitely apply to those of us that are attempting to lead an alternative lifestyle, especially one that runs counter to prevailing cultural expectations. In today's fast-paced technological world where what you consume defines you, not participating is seen as the ultimate act of rebellion. Simple living is met with fierce resistance from the delusional and self-interested.

If we stay strong and balanced awareness trickles in and transforms us. Affirmations can help us along in this life long pursuit, and will ensure that we do not allow the tall nail to be hammered down.

Today we will trust that we can be unafraid, and create the lives we wish to live.

What Are You Optimistic About?

Japanese Kanji symbol for Optimism

Sometimes I fear I focus more on 'consume less', and not enough on 'live more'. Talk of a global depression with simultaneous climatic catastrophes makes life seem more hazardous than the Cold War years. It is easy to get caught up in the sensational doom and gloom headlines and disaster entertainment. Is there anything left to feel optimistic about?

Yesterday I was at the public library waiting for Linda to get off work. As I scanned a shelf of books one title jumped out at me - "What Are You Optimistic About? Today's Leading Thinkers On Why Things Are Good And Getting Better" edited by John Brockman. What? A whole book of good news? I grabbed it.

From Marc D. Hauser who is optimistic about the end of -isms, to Roger C. Schank who is looking forward to the end of the commoditization of knowledge, this book is all about launching into action from a positive place, rather than from frustration and anger.

We may not often hear about the good things that are happening all over our little planet, but happening they are. Will a sunlight-powered future help us on the oily slide down Hubbert's Peak? Will having more women in politics end war? Is capitalism aligning with the good? All of these movements, or revolutions, are getting up to speed in the background hum of chaos. Positive patterns are beginning to emerge from the ether.

The last time I checked, the world was still peopled with mostly warm-hearted, intelligent, caring human beings. I meet them daily. Friends, neighbours, cashiers at the grocery store, fellow walkers, people on-line, all behaving in a most non-apocalyptic manner.

I am optimistic that current and future hardships will draw us together as a community like none other that this world has ever seen. Through the Internet and travel, more of us are meeting each other than ever before, and it seems to me that we are not only getting along, but are also growing and thriving together.

Not that there isn't work to be done, but I feel like we are headed toward a more cooperative future guided by non-violence and doing the least amount of harm. A future where we can talk and share and learn together for the benefit of human kind. I am optimistic that our vast potential as a species will see us to a whole new level of being.

Realizing what we are doing well, celebrating our potential and focusing on solutions will get us to where we need to go. We live more by thinking positive thoughts. What are you optimistic about?