Mazarine's Blog (10)

What surprised me most about how people react in a crisis is who they become. First, they preserve themselves. Then, they seek group preservation. Then, they try to place blame. Then, they seek Justice. Finally, they renormalize. I see this lately with people trying to get justice from Goldman Sachs and those who asked for a bailout and participated in the huge financial crisis that we are…

Continue

What I will have to pass on.

I've thought a lot about this recently, because I have had the time to pause and reflect about my life thus far. What kind of legacy do I want to leave? What do I want to pass on, knowledge to the younger generation?

As far as I…

Continue

Here's how we can have urban resiliency.

1. Everyone, get on your bike.

2. Everyone have a backyard garden.

3. Everyone get a cistern for your runoff, so you can have access to clean water.

4. Everyone, if you know someone who would…

Continue

I imagine a day when our system of exchange will be based on the good that nonprofits actually do. I imagine a day when a woman in the Congo who is helping the women in her town recover from rape can get a $100,000 grant from a billionaire in New York.

I imagine the day when our barriers will be broken down enough so that anyone who applies for a grant…

Continue

Here's how I started participating in the new economy.



I became a part of freecycle. I surf the Craigslist free section.



I am on couchsurfing and I help people travel for free instead of putting money into big hotel chains. I also get to use the couchsurfing network wherever I go as well.



I have moved my money from the big banks to a

small

credit union.



I have decided to buy a plot of… Continue

Here's how I learned about where I want my money to go.



I met a woman who is only using barter as her means of exchange for her speaking engagement business last year.



Huffpost started the Move Your Money campaign, and I emailed them and asked them, based on your circ**stantial evidence, how much money do you think has been moved out of the big banks? And they said, "At least $5 Million dollars, and that is a conservative estimate." This made me happy. I do… Continue

Empowering women is what I want to do. It's the reason I wrote a comic called "Psycho Bird." It's the reason I majored in Gender Studies. It's the reason that I write, every day.



I am very proud of the fact that I have written a book to help women and people of color learn how to fundraise and lead nonprofit organizations. Empowering women is one of my life goals. I am building an audience for this book by blogging at… Continue

Where I live, in Austin Texas, we have a water crisis. We shouldn't have this crisis, because we get as much rain as Portland Oregon, and if people all had downspout water cistern collection, every house could have its own water supply.



When I own my own house, I will collect water this way.



I have already taken action to help clean water, by working with yayasan emmanuel in jakarta, Indonesia, and helping people in Jakarta's… Continue

In Austin the big stores, Walmart, Randalls/Safeway and HEB have cornered the grocery market

We also have high end stores like wh*** Foods, Natural Grocery and Sun harvest. Food prices increased by a whopping 20% in april 2010, the biggest leap since 1984.



I see people sifting through the bulk food aisle because they're barely getting by on their social security and welfare payments and unemployment.



I see long lines at the drivethroughs for fast food, and smell the rank… Continue

Continue