Changemakers

The guidebook for ordinary people who want to create a new society now rather than wait for a pie-in-the-sky future. With every news report, the world seems to be careening off the rails. It's all too easy to slip into despair waiting for co-opted, self-serving governments to act. Hope and action is the antidote. We each hold the power to make personal changes that can drive local changes and cascade into large-scale social transformation. This is the guidebook for ordinary people who want to create a new society now. The first section explores the idea of transformative change – what it is, what difference it makes, and how it is connected to learning. From creating a citizen-powered community bus service, to winning the right to local food, to women hand-sculpting their own houses, the second section explores powerful stories of everyday people who have challenged traditional understandings and transformed their lives, their communities, and wider society. In the final section, the authors provide a workbook to guide people, wherever they are, through the process of catalyzing change. We all have the power to create a more just and ecological society. We all have the power to be changemakers. Fay Weller is a community organizer, homesteader, researcher, and artist with a PhD. focused on social transformation. She and her partner live on Gabriola Island, BC, with two sheep and numerous chickens. Mary Wilson is a facilitator, researcher, instructional designer, and activist with a Ph.D. in education. She and her partner live on Gabriola Island, BC where they are restoring a home, developing a permaculture food forest, and building an engineless catamaran.