Power & Democratic Life

Today’s problems are too deep and interconnected to be solved from the top down. Solutions require infusing the power of citizens’ voices and values throughout our public lives and removing the power of money from governance. Living Democracy is an enlivening culture in which the values of inclusion, fairness and mutual accountability show up in a wide range of human relationships. It is about empowering individuals to make changes, from the bottom up.

Small Planet Resources for Empowerment & Living Democracy

Learn more about organizations that embody the Living Democracy movement. Find resources to inform your understanding of our democratic life, and discover courage to create a world we want.

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Resources for Living Democracy, Including Downloadable Tools

Democracy is not merely a set system of government, something done to us or for us. It is the way we interact and experience democratic principles such as transparency, mutual accountability and the dispersion of power throughout our lives.

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Solutions-Based Resources and Campaigns

We’ve identified resources, campaigns and organizations that are helping to lead the way by examining root causes of today’s problems. They recognize that the values of democracy apply just as much in economic life and cultural life as in political life.

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Frances & Anna Lappé

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Surprising Facts

Ninety percent of Americans make less in real dollars than they did in 1973 – on average $4,000 less. The wealthiest 400 Americans now control more wealth than half the world’s people.

Worldwide, more people are members of cooperatives than own shares in publicly traded companies. Cooperatives provide a fifth more jobs than do global corporations.

More than a third of both the world’s grain and fish catch now go to feed livestock, which return to us only a fraction of the nutrients.

If the whole world moved to sustainable agriculture, a U. of Michigan study found that enough food could be grown to feed the world’s current and projected population.

An MRI study of people competing vs. cooperating found that cooperating stimulates the same parts of our brain as does eating chocolate!

America emits twice the carbon per person that Europe does. But think what’s possible: California emits 20 percent less carbon per dollar GDP than Germany; and it gets almost a quarter of its electricity from renewables!

In Washington DC, more than two dozen lobbyists push mainly corporate interests for every one representative American citizens have elected to protect our interests.

In 2011, solar use grew all over the world, soaring 54% to 28 gigawatts.

Organic farming yields are about the same as conventional yields under normal weather conditions, and during times of drought, organic farming outperforms conventional methods by 31 percent! Organic farming also uses 45 percent less energy.

Because of lower overhead costs, farmers using a non-pesticide approach in India enjoy a 23 percent increase in income, and report their health improving as well.

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