Expensive Reader,
I like each YES! situation, however this one is particular. It addresses what I’ve come to consider is the overarching problem (and alternative) of our time. For greater than 25 years, YES! has reported on actual options, rooted in fairness and care, which are enhancing folks’s lives and preserving the vitality of our planet. Whereas there are boundaries to the mainstreaming of those options, none are insurmountable. However overcoming these boundaries requires recognition of a shared goal, which necessitates connection between a crucial mass of individuals. With out connection, there is no such thing as a motion. And as this second has proven us, disconnection results in isolation, loneliness, and polarization. We’re dealing with systemic challenges that, if not meaningfully addressed, might stop all different options from being replicated at scale.
As I shared in my final letter, I’m a part of a bunch establishing Rooted Northwest, a co-housing group in Washington state that mixes agri-village dwelling and permaculture farming. We realized early that we wanted a bunch decision-making mannequin that averted the pitfalls of each democracy (the place 49% of the group feels disenfranchised) and consensus (the place a single particular person can halt progress). Our answer was sociocracy, a peer-governance mannequin rooted in fairness and consent, the place members work collectively to search out options which are inside everybody’s vary of tolerance. I’ve been amazed by the variety of advanced selections we’ve been capable of make that stability each group and particular person wants. After seeing sociocracy up shut, I now dream of a day when it turns into the go-to governance mannequin for group organizations, small companies, faculties, even native governments.
This answer, if broadly adopted, might actually assist change the world. However like so many world-changing options, it takes apply, endurance, and perseverance. And it solely scales up if folks join, and keep linked.
When issues get exhausting or uncomfortable—as they undoubtedly will in 2024—we should collectively decide to staying targeted on the large image: creating the situations to carry a few protected and joyful future. And that dedication begins with connection.
In group,
Christine
P.S.: Thanks to everybody who supported our work in 2023—from those that grew to become first-time donors to those that’ve been with us a decade or extra, and everybody in between!
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Christine Hanna is the chief director of YES! Media. She is a founder and former co-director of the Seattle Good Enterprise Community.
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