No Gandhi Pill

In the 1990s, four researchers conducted a several year study of over a hundred diverse people “who had sustained long-term commitments to work on behalf of the common good.” They were interested in exploring what made these people that way, how they sustained their commitment over the years, and what might be done to encourage [...]

Activists fail to see success

When I worked for an environmental group years ago, and women’s organizations years before that, I often wondered out loud if I was getting anywhere, making any contribution to positive change. People responded that “it would be worse if you weren’t doing this work.” It wasn’t really that much of a comfort; but I wasn’t [...]

Have you been asked?

I was reading a journal article last night about why people participate in protests. The findings were pretty straightforward: the primary determinant was that someone had asked them to participate! While this may be stating the obvious, it echoes research I have read in the past about on volunteer recruitment. In national surveys, many people [...]

A Delicate Balance

The information you provide to people can make or break efforts to mobilize people to act. Give people too little and they might not know enough to feel confident about speaking out, to counter the counter arguments, or even to know what needs to be done. Give people too much and they might feel too [...]

Workshop – April 21

I will be holding a workshop about the topic of why do people act for change in Whitehorse on Tuesday, April 21st. The room is small so if you’re interested in attending, please email me to let me know. **************************************************************************************************************************************************** Engaging the Unengaged A free workshop for social change organizers What motivates some people to [...]

Red noses & feather boas

Imagine this scene: A small group of clowns is makings its way to the G8 Alternatives march [in the UK]. They pass over a bridge above the motorway. Half a dozen policemen line up, they face the line of clowns and stare at each other. Two clowns start to count down: “Three, two one – [...]

The world I want

Last year, as part of my Masters course work, I took a “Poetry, Social Change and Adult Education” course. For two weeks I had to–and got to–write poetry. Though it pushed my comfort zone, admittedly it was fun playing with words and bouncing about in the creative world for a while! One outcome was the [...]

It won’t always be this way

Last week, I heard a reference to acid rain and recalled how trees and lakes in Eastern Canada were once dying from toxic rains.  Emissions of sulfur and nitrogen were being belched out of large smokestacks, owned by even larger companies in the US, and carried north where they drizzled down on our environment. The [...]

Hope or Anger?

The other day I asked a friend from Vancouver, a long time activist, why he thought that some people acted while others didn’t. “Hope” he quickly said. But I wondered if it wasn’t more about anger?

The effectiveness of mosquitoes

As with any research, one sometimes pulls at threads, jumping from a publication, to a website, to another website. In the process I came across an online booklet called “I am an activist”. The publication was put out in memory of Anita Roddick, the founder of The Body Shop and a passionate activist on a [...]