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Civic Engagement 101
| The Financial Activist Playbook: 8 Strategies for Everyday People to Reclaim Wealth and Collective Well-Being by Jasmine Rashid Financial activism is how everyday people radically reimagine money as a tool for widespread well-being, instead of a weapon of absurdly increasing inequality. It’s the antidote to traditional finance that evokes confusion, trauma, and (in the best-case scenario) straight-up boredom. It’s how the underestimated collectively resist systems that cause harm to people and the planet for the sake of profit, reclaim wealth that’s been stolen, and redesign our relationships with capital and one another, in ways big and small. | |
| Craftivism: The Art of Craft and Activism by Betsy Greer Craftivism is a worldwide movement that operates at the intersection of craft and activism, full of inspiration for crafters who want to create works that add to the greater good. In these essays, interviews, and images, craftivists from four continents reveal how they are changing the world with their art. Through examples that range from community embroidery projects, stitching in prisons, revolutionary ceramics, AIDS activism, yarn bombing, and crafts that facilitate personal growth, Craftivism provides imaginative examples of how crafters can be creative and altruistic at the same time. Also available on Libby as an ebook. | |
| A Future We Can Love: Effective Approaches to the Climate Crisis That Begin with Us by Susan Bauer-Wu Scholars, scientists, artists and interfaith leaders embark on conversations around environmental activism, including discussions on; climate anxiety, grief and burnout and metabolizing that energy, recognizing the interdependence between well-being and climate crisis solutions, avoiding feedback loops, developing personal rituals and practices for connecting to Earth and renewing hope, and overcoming common obstacles to speaking and acting clearly on behalf of the human and wild communities most affected by climate crisis. | |
| Rest Is Resistance: A Manifesto by Trisha Hershey What would it be like to live in a well-rested world? This manifesto casts a light on our troubled relationship with rest and how to imagine and dream our way to a future where rest is exalted. Our worth does not reside in how much we produce, especially not for a system that exploits and dehumanizes us. Rest, in its simplest form, becomes an act of resistance and a reclaiming of power because it asserts our most basic humanity. We are enough. The systems cannot have us. Also available on Libby as an ebook and an audiobook. | |
| It Was Always a Choice: Picking Up the Baton of Athlete Activism by David Steele Using their celebrity to demand change, athlete activists have inspired fans but faced great personal and professional risks in doing so. David Steele identifies the resonances and antecedents throughout the twentieth century of the choices faced by athletes in the post-Kaepernick era, including the advance of athletes’ political organizing in the era of activism following the death of George Floyd. He shows which athletes chose silence instead of action—“dropping the baton,” as it were. The examples of courageous athletes multiply as LeBron James, Megan Rapinoe and the activist-athletes of the NBA, WNBA, and NFL remain committed to fighting daily and vibrantly for social change. | |
| The One-Hour Activist: The 15 Most Powerful Actions You Can Take to Fight for the Issues and Candidates You Care About by Christopher Kush No matter what your political persuasion, this book offers fifteen powerful grassroots actions that persuade lawmakers and candidates to see things your way. Each action is designed to grab the attention of your representatives and build relationships that serve your issues over the long run. And each action takes less than an hour to complete, so you can make a difference without giving up your life, with insider advice from elected officials, professional organizers, lobbyists, and journalists who share state-of-the-art tips for getting your message across. Real-life examples of effective letters, e-mail, phone calls, public testimony, and news story pitches from concerned citizens just like you illustrate the actions. | |
| The Animal Lover's Guide to Changing the World: Practical Advice and Everyday Actions for a More Sustainable, Humane, and Compassionate Planet by Stephanie Feldstein An empowering book for everyone who loves animals and wants to live a more animal-friendly life, even if they aren’t ready to join a movement or give up bacon. With more than 7.5 billion people on the planet, wildlife is going extinct at the fastest rate since the dinosaurs. Three to four million dogs and cats are killed in shelters every year; billions of chickens, pigs, and cows are killed for food; and countless animals are killed in research labs or their habitat. The numbers are daunting, but there’s good news too! Even one person truly can make a difference without breaking the bank. It starts with changes as simple as taking a shorter shower, skipping meat once a week, wearing "this" not "that," and extends all the way to online activism and politics. | |
| How to Survive a Plague: The Story of How Citizens and Science Tamed AIDS by David France A definitive history of the successful battle to halt the AIDS epidemic, here is the incredible story of the grassroots activists whose work turned HIV from a mostly fatal infection to a manageable disease. Almost universally ignored, these men and women learned to become their own researchers, lobbyists, and drug smugglers, established their own newspapers and research journals, and went on to force reform in the nation’s disease-fighting agencies. From the creator of, and inspired by, the seminal documentary of the same name, How to Survive a Plague is an unparalleled insider’s account of a pivotal moment in the history of American civil rights. Also available on Libby as an ebook and an audiobook. |