Direct Action – Page 35 – Things Are Good

Amplifyd: A Platform to Stop Corporations from Doing Evil

Amplifyd Pledges – How It Works from Amplifyd on Vimeo.

Amplifyd is a new online platform that connects people to empower campaigns that want to stop corporations from doing evil things. The first campaign is focused on getting Starbucks and Peet’s Coffee to serve only organic milk in their stores.

In the future you can use the service in other ways. Is a company tearing down the rainforest or destroying land for precious minerals? Well you can use Amplifyd to get attention on the bad company!

Not all corporations are as overtly dreadful, but regardless, profits rule the day for most corporate organizations.

Amplifyd has launched a new advocacy platform, called Amplifyd Pledges, that gives people the power to take an amplified stand against harmful corporate policies, without even having to get up.

People can take part and amplify their voice by making a pledge to a campaign on the new platform. This works by choosing a dollar amount, then securely saving your credit card info for later. Amplifyd uses the collective pledges everyone makes as the financial carrot to get the corporations to change their policies.

Check out Amplifyd.

Only Keep Things That Bring You Joy

Are you sick of tidying your place all the time? If you are, just stop.

There’s no need to tidy if you go through all your items and only keep things which bring you joy and improve your life. Marie Kondo has published a book on the Japanese art of decluttering and organizing.

I had spent three years tidying and discarding things, yet my room still felt cluttered.Â Would someone please tell me why my room isnâ€™t tidy when I work so hard at it?Â Although I did not say this out loud, in my heart I was practically shouting. At that moment, I heard a voice.

â€œLook more closely at what is there.â€

What do you mean? I look at whatâ€™s here so closely every day I could drill a hole through it all.Â With that thought still in my head, I fell fast asleep right there on the floor. If I had been a little smarter, I would have realized before I became so neurotic that focusing solely on throwing things away can only bring unhappiness. Why? BecauseÂ we should be choosing what we want to keep, not what we want to get rid of.

Blog Action Day 2014: Examine Inequality

This year for Blog Action Day they are tackling inequality, which is great to see! Inequality manifests in various ways that aren’t alway obvious. By having so many global participants today it shows a diversity of thinking and approaches to providing solutions to this global problem.

Be a part of blog action day and post about inequality on your site or share a post with your friends online!

Blog Action Day Livestream.

Look at This Landscaping Called Xeriscaping

California is suffering a huge drought due to horrible water use policies and climate change. For some reason people love to have lawns where they naturally shouldn’t exist, this itself leads to massive water wastage and arguably microclimate issues. Thankfully, perhaps people are beginning to understand that their landscaping is a sad attempt to modify their built environment.
A better solution than an artificial environment is a natural one. Xeriscaping may be a good solution to reduce water waste. Check out how it can replace lawns with aesthetic and naturally pleasing solutions.

The Growth of Solar Power is Shaking Power Companies

Solar panels have come down in price rather dramatically in the last decade and if this trend continues it can be the death of old-school electric utilities. That is, unless the energy companies embrace solar and embed it into their system. Smart companies see the writing on the wall and others will start to falter.

So even though solar provides just 0.4 percent of America’s electricity, it’s growing at a shocking rate. Rooftop solar generationÂ has roughly tripledÂ since 2010. By some estimates, a new solar system is installedÂ every four minutesÂ in the United States.

To electric utilities, this poses a dilemma. AsÂ rooftop solar becomes more popular, people will buy less and less electricity from their local power company. But utilities still have plenty of fixed costs for things like maintaining the grid. So, in response, those utilities will eventually have to raise rates on everyone else. Trouble is, thoseÂ higher electricity rates could spur evenÂ moreÂ people to install their own solar rooftop panels to save money. Cue the death spiral.