Big Idea: Small Actions
By Zane Parker

I can imagine a province where we step back from big ideas and take up small actions. After all, it is the everyday, small actions that set the course for our collective future.

For me, the most important small actions are the ones that begin to forge a local network of sufficiency and exchange, of trust and understanding. The machinery of global commerce and endless growth is wrapping up. Whether this process takes two more years or two more decades is hard to say, but the system is revealing a bankruptcy that goes much deeper than the bailout dollars show. It is a system failure.

The opportunity, in the midst of meltdown, is to slow down and take stock of what matters in this life. Food matters, for one, and offers a great avenue for kicking off some small actions—whether it is kitchen sprouts or a full-fledged garden, whether making your own yogurt or setting up a backyard chicken coop. The next step, when you have some extra eggs, or a surplus of kale, is to talk to your neighbours and see what they need and what they have to offer. This is an authentic economy, built from the ground up, in stark contrast to our current economy of speculation and ephemera.

Water is important, so think about where yours comes from and what happens when the supply chain breaks down. Why not set up a rain collections system and figure out your own grey water recycling?

Energy is critical, but it is a question of scale. Big ideas have a tendency to lead to big engineering and technological solutions. But the energy closest to home is the energy of the body—highly decentralized and flexible. Where can we substitute effort for electricity or hydrocarbons? Hand grinders, push mowers, bicycles, and shovels, to name a few.

Shelter and community are essential to life and they also start with small solutions. How can we invite more people into our space and into our social sphere and so alleviate the need to simply build more? How about hosting a community barbeque to get a sense of the people and the possibilities close to home?

While big ideas can bog you down, small actions are cumulative and self-reinforcing—they start with where you are at and they move outward, to family and neighbours—they build a sense of satisfaction and success so that, before long, we may hear about a global meltdown on the news, but we live a simple and sustaining life.

Please note: the opinions expressed in these stories are those of the authors and not necessarily shared or endorsed by Dialogue Programs