12 Lovely Actions to Take Right Now

4 minute read

This post was originally an email, but I love it so much I wanted to keep it somewhere more permanent. Let me know if you do anything on this list!

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I got this idea from The White Pages, which is a newsletter I always enjoy.

Garrett titled his list: “Thirty lonely but beautiful actions you can take right now which probably won’t magically catalyze a mass movement against Trump but that are still wildly important”.

(He has a way with words that I do not!)

I tried to add my own spin to this list, and am sharing 12 actions today. (Does 12 feel less overwhelming?)

The items on this list might seem small, but I think for a lot of us who are feeling a bit lost in the world right now, small is a good place to start!

Plus, other people will see what you’re doing and maybe feel better about taking their own small action – and that’s what helps build a movement. Which is what we need right now.

All of these are offered with grace and care.

1. Diversify your news feed. Here are some options to get you started: Harbinger Media Network, The Tyee, The Narwhal, The Breach, and the Daily News podcast.
2. Step away from the news and go look at a tree, or listen for the birds, or make a snowball and throw it at a wall.
3. Read a book about an imagined future that is full of optimism, health, and vitality. (I always recommend Becky Chambers.)
4. When someone talks about the weather, mention climate change into your response. (1)
5. Create some simple posters in Canva explaining a crisis you are concerned about. Include a QR code that links somewhere people can take action or learn more. Post them where you can. Here is some local news that has me freaked out: UCP wants to risk poisoning your drinking water for the financial benefit of an Australian billionaire, the rent is too damn high, UCP scandal involving AHS procurement, etc.
6. Go to a Palestine solidarity event. They are still happening in Edmonton every week! Find the people organizing the event and ask if they need help at the next one.
7. Show up for and support other people’s efforts, even when you’re skeptical about them (I bet that you’re skeptical about many of the items on this list! I am too! But we should do some of them regardless!). (2)
8. Call up an organization in your community who does work with immigrants, trans kids, unhoused people. Thank them for their work and ask how you can help right now. Text 5 friends and tell them what you did.
9. Call your MLA, call your City Councillor, call your [insert title of local rep], and tell them what you are really afraid of right now for your family and your community.  Be polite – that person who answers the phone isn’t making the decisions.
10. Text a few friends, tell them what you’ve been doing, and ask for accountability. “I’ve called my MLA, but I’d like to do it more often. Can you help me remember to do this every day?”
11. Look for a mutual aid group in your area. Start showing up for their trash pickup, or outreach events. When your friends ask you “why are you doing that?!”, tell them it’s actually more fun than you realized and you’ve met some really amazing folks. (3)
12. Get in touch and tell me how you’re doing. Let’s practice this super basic, and yet ridiculously hard, community building skill – reaching out for support and offering it when you are able.

P.S. Here’s a bonus action! I have been adding external events to my Not Ladylike Community calendar. Find something on there and buy a ticket. Invite a friend and share it on socials.

Footnotes:

1. This exercise comes from Lessons From the Climate Anxiety Counselling Booth by Kate Schapira

2. This idea I took verbatim from Garrett’s list it’s so good.

3. In Edmonton we have Chinatown Cleanup who meets every second Saturday from 11am to 12:30pm. Meet at the Pacific Mall on 97 street!