David Meslin, Community Catalyst, addresses the question: local politics -- schools, zoning, council elections -- hit us where we live. So why don't more of us actually get involved? Is it apathy? Dave Meslin says no. Meslin encourages we recognize apathy actually as a web of barriers that reinforce disengagement - and that we work together to dismantle the obstacles.

This video was updated with more current contact information that is contained below.

The national Community Rights movement represents a local level cultural and legal strategy for communities, both conservative and progressive, to begin to dismantle corporate rule from the local up!  If you're a single issue activist, as Paul Cienfeugos was for decades, using conventional methods, mostly regulatory hearings, protest marches, petitions, lawsuits, etc, it's time to recognize corporate harms as merely symptoms of allowing corporations to claim constitutional "rights", sometimes referred to as corporate personhood. 

Join with Community Rights activists, be trained and guided, to pass enforceable laws that prohibit harms, by reigning in corporate "rights". Join 200 communities in nine states which have already done so. Paul Cienfuegos offers his knowledge and expertise as a leader in the Community Rights movement. His email address is Paul@CommunityRights.US. For a selection of Paul and others' writings, interviews, and speeches, and for more info on bringing Paul or other resource people to your community or registering for an upcoming teleconference workshop, go to www.CommunityRights.US 

Interview and filmed by Barry Heidt of Sustainability Action Media (SAM) with help of Ruth Ann Barrett of EarthSayers.tv and Tom Hopkins of Sustainable Today in October, 2012.

In learning settings and conference inter-generational community building is a principle and value of the work Sabine Amend and Doug Cohen with youth and students.  In this  video they address various aspects of leadership from what does it all mean to an alchemy of imagination.

Sabine and Doug were interviewed by Barry Heidt at the SEED Graduate Institute's Conference, Wisdom from the Origins, September 13-17, 2012 in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The conference featured a Youth Leadership and Scholarship Program led by them.

This excerpt of a much longer interview was edited for www.earthsayers.tv, voices of sustainability by Ruth Ann Barrett.

Emphasis on the "we" in this speech aired by Democracy Now, the Green Party's convention's keynote address delivered by Gar Alperovitz, a professor of political economy at the University of Maryland. He is co-founder of the Democracy Collaborative. Alperovitz is the author of, "America Beyond Capitalism: Reclaiming Our Wealth, Our Liberty, and Our Democracy." In his remarks, Alperovitz stressed the importance of third-party politics to challenge a corporate-run society. "Systems in history are defined above all by who controls the wealth," Alperovitz says. "The top 400 people own more wealth now than the bottom 185 million Americans taken together. That is a medieval structure."

What will it take to build the future we want? In September 2011, over 50 leaders from around the world convened at Ecotrust in Portland to share stories of challenges and hope for building a resilient future.

 Filled with grace and eloquence, Sobonfu possesses a charm & modesty that enables her to touch her audience deeply. Her message about the importance of spirit, community and ritual in our lives rings with an intuitive power and truth that Alice Walker has said "can help us put together so many things that our modern western world has broken." She if from the coutntry of Burkino Faso in Africa.

Meet Richmond, CA's Tania Pulido, one of the Earth Island Institute's 2011 Brower Youth Award Winners! Tania is nourishing, employing, and educating her community through urban agriculture. Her award speech is here.

Alex Epstein co-founded New York 2 New Orleans Coalition, an network of New York City high school students mobilizing around the parallel struggles of New Orleans and their own communities. When he moved to Philadelphia for college, Alex helped co-found The Philadelphia Urban Creators (PUC) — an outfit of young community organizers trying to build relationships with Philadelphia communities to help them develop sustainably, and equitably, from the ground up. He accepts the Brower Youth Award.

The Brower Youth Awards recognize people ages 13 to 22 living in North America who have shown outstanding leadership on a project or campaign with positive environmental and social impact.

Tania Pulido runs a community garden that's more than just a place to grow food. The Berryland garden in the Iron Triangle neighborhood of Richmond, CA, is also a space where local youth can take summer apprenticeships and learn about issues like climate change and environmental racism. Here is a video about her work in her community, a food desert.  Tania is deeply involved in issues impacting the health of her community, including a campaign against the local Chevron oil refinery. She accepts the Brower Youth Award.

The Brower Youth Awards recognize people ages 13 to 22 living in North America who have shown outstanding leadership on a project or campaign with positive environmental and social impact.  

Creating the mindset to create real and lasting change working with Mothers, Children and Youth in disadvantaged communities to create real change through empowerment and the knowledge that each of us is important, that each of us count. Warren Te Brugge is the founder of the Foundation, My Arms Wide Open which supports rural villages in his native South Africa. Warren is a consultant and the principal of Manzimvula, a certified B-Corp.