How to Build Community

"Turn off your TV.
Leave your house.
Know your neighbors.
Greet people.
Look up when you're walking.
Sit on your step.
Plant flowers.
Use your library
Play together.
Buy from local merchants.
Share what you have.
Help a lost dog.
Take children to the park.
Honour elders.
Support neighborhood schools.
Fix it even if you didn't break it.
Have pot lucks.
Garden together.
Pick up litter.
Read stories aloud.
Dance in the street.
Talk to the mail carrier.
Listen to the birds.
Put up a swing.
Help carry something heavy.
Barter for your goods.
Start a tradition.
Ask a question.
Hire young people for odd jobs.
Organize a block party
Bake extra and share.
Ask for help when you need it.
Open your shades.
Sing together.
Share your skills.
Take back the night.
Turn up the music.
Turn down the music.
Listen before you react to anger.
Mediate a conflict.
Seek to understand.
Learn from new and uncomfortable angles.
Know that no one is silent though many are not heard — work to change this."

How to Build a Global Community

"Think of no one as 'them'.
Don't confuse your comfort with your safety — talk to strangers.
Imagine other cultures through their poetry and novels.
Listen to music you don't understand; dance to it.
Act locally.
Notice the workings of power and privilege in your culture.
Question consumption.
Know how your lettuce and coffee are grown; wake up and smell the exploitation.
Look for Fair Trade and Union labels.
Help build economies from the bottom up.
Acquire for needs.
Learn a second (or third) language.
Visit people, places and cultures — not tourist attractions.
Play games from other cultures.
Watch films with subtitles.
Know your heritage.
Honour everyone's holidays.
Look at the moon and imagine someone else, somewhere else, looking at it too.
Read the UN's Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Understand the global economy in terms of people, land and water.
Know where your bank banks.
Never believe you have a right to anyone else's resources.
Refuse to wear corporate logos: defy corporate domination.
Question military/corporate connections.
Don't confuse money with wealth or time with money.
Have a pen/email pal.
Honor indigenous cultures.
Judge governance by how well it meets all people's needs.
Eat adventurously.
Enjoy vegetables, beans and grains in your diet.
Choose curiosity over certainty.
Know where your water comes from and where your wastes go.
Pledge allegiance to the earth: question nationalism.
This South, Central and North — there are many Americas.
Assume that many others share your dreams.
Know that no one is silent though many are not heard — work to change this.”