Thinking about Michael Moore
Sadly I missed "Capitalism: A Love Story" in the theaters, but based on what types of conversations it's stirring up, I'm excited to see it. My landlady here in fairy land sent an email to me that Michael Moore wrote up due to the number of times people said... hey, this move is great, but what can we actually DO? He narrowed it down to 15 action items, which I still found totally daunting.
I read through them and found the things that really spoke to me, and I'm hanging on to the email so I can tackle more items as I digest others. One thing that I was already doing was slowing down, reading, getting enough sleep, surrounding myself with positive people... that was all kind of rolled into one item about taking care of yourself. The other part of that is that I'm participating in a CSA, specifically through Mountain Bounty Farm. This fits the bill of taking care of myself as well as supporting my local community. Being part of a community is one of the main reasons I wanted to move to a small town, and specifically why I chose Nevada City of all places... it's a very welcoming and active community.
The other action item that was so fascinating was his commentary on banking. Michael Moore thinks we should all pull out of banks who took bailout money. Of course my bank is on there... the list is so long, whose isn't? I was shocked to even find a small local bank from here on that list. But his email included a link to a site that helps you find a local credit union. That's one of the things I'm going to do next year... there's a credit union that I can join that's just a few miles from my house... maybe not as convenient as having an atm everywhere I go, but it will be nice to know I'm banking with someone who's not in it for profit, and if there is profit, we all share it.
The idea of joining in on things is ringing true for me. A CSA makes me feel part of the local farm community, a credit union will be great, and next I'm going to join the local co-op. Soon that may get me tackling some of the more political items on Michael Moore's agenda, but I have to take things one step at a time.