Positive thinking gets a lot of praise because people think that just changing one’s thoughts their lives would improve. This is not entirely true. It turns out to really make change in your life you need to change how you act. Sure this sounds obvious upon reading it, but read
Continue readingTag: Direct Action
Things Are Good: Declaration of Internet Freedom
Around the world governments are trying to restrain the ability of people to freely share information across the internet. Bills like SOPA in the USA and Bill C-30 in Canada to the more recent TPP all focus on propping up old media monopolies and curtailing people’s privacy and communication rights.
Continue readingThings Are Good: Two New Services to Exchange Things and Improve the World
Two similar services have sent me emails letting me know about their new startups and they both share something in common: they want you to make the world better by engaging with strangers. The way they encourage this is through web services that connect your skills with other people and
Continue readingThings Are Good: Canadians Black Out and Speak Out to Defend Democracy
BlackOutSpeakOut is an online protest running in Canada today about the omnibus budget bill that the anti-democratic Conservative government is trying to force through parliament without debate. This is bad and you should care. Find out why Canadians are concerned here. Sign an online petition:
Continue readingSketchy Thoughts: Fire and Flames, Black Blocs, and Militant Resistance
On KPFA’s Letters and Politics show featured an interview with Gabriel Kuhn, on the subject of the West German Autonomen, and the book Fire and Flames (which Kuhn translated into english). i have mirrored the interview here; it is well worth listening to. i found his comments on the evolution
Continue readingSketchy Thoughts: Report on Quebec’s Student Strike
Reposted from the excellent signalfire blog: We are now in the 13th week of a Quebec student strike against a 75% tuition hike – the longest student strike in Quebec history – the conflict has become a rallying point for any and all opposition to austerity here, and clearly represents
Continue readingThings Are Good: Get Fourth Wall on Tour and Online
Dave Meslin is a Toronto based awesome dude that wants to make Toronto a better place, and now he and the Fourth Wall team want to bring something cool to your town. The Fourth Wall exhibit was a project that looked at ways to get people more engaged in their
Continue readingSketchy Thoughts: Paint Bombs in Quebec Student Strike
From the pro-police media: Vandals armed with suspected Molotov cocktails and red paint hit several buildings in Montreal overnight, in an hour-long spree that left windows damaged and buildings defaced. Montreal police say there were at least four attempted firebomb attacks at buildings containing provincial government offices after 3 a.m.
Continue readingThings Are Good: Daily Social Well-Being Challenges
MeYou Health is an online community that is trying to get people to make small changes everyday that add up to big change. They have a suite of apps for Facebook and iPhones that remind you to drink water or partake in a daily challenge. When you think about it,
Continue readingOccupy Ottawa: Occupy Ottawa re-occupies Confederation Park to warm hearts against cold capitalism
It was a different kind of protest today as Occupy Ottawa activists defiantly returned to Confederation Park for the movement’s first “Warm Up Your Heart Against Cold Capitalism” event. The activists set up shop on …Read More
Continue readingThings Are Good: Board Game Jam 2012
Board Game Jam is happening in Toronto February 25-26! If you’ve ever wanted to make a game then this is a place to start! Here’s a special challenge to Things Are Good readers: make a game that is designed to educate or empower people to make the world a better
Continue readingThings Are Good: USA Rejects Keystone XL Pipeline
Yesterday saw two very effective protest movements in the USA, one was in regards to SOPA/PIPA and the other saw the Obama administration reject the Keystone XL pipeline. There are also concerns about carbon emissions from oil sands production in Alberta, a western Canadian province. Bill McKibben, founder of 350.org,
Continue readingThings Are Good: Why We Went Down Yesterday
Yesterday you probably noticed that most of your favourite websites were down yesterday or had a notice up warning you about two bills in front of the American government. Those bills are SOPA and PIPA and essentially if these bills pass the internet would be all but dead to American
Continue readingThings Are Good: Occupy 2012 and Beyond
Megan Boler has an inspirational article on The Mark about the coming year in the Occupy Movement. She did research into the Occupy Movement and interviewed many participants to see what some people are still wondering – what’s occupy all about? Well, Boler points out that at the core there
Continue readingThings Are Good: Just Show Up
People often say to me “Why go to protests? They don’t change anything.” Usually my response relates to the necessity of an actively engaged population within a democracy. If we’re not on the streets asking for change then change won’t happen. The usually response to that is a lame excuse
Continue readingThings Are Good: Global DIY Window Gardening
A TED Talk by Britta Riley is filled with inspirational information about the online movement to get efficient, open source, window gardening. Worth every minute:
Continue readingThings Are Good: Help Santa Keep His Home This Christmas
The David Suzuki Foundation has launched a campaign to raise awareness of the lack of ice coverage at the North Pole. Where Will Santa Live? is a fun spin on a serious issue and looks like a good way to talk about ice coverage while keeping the conversation entertaining. “We’re
Continue readingThings Are Good: 30 Ways in 30 Days
30 Ways in 30 Days is a December long project that encourages people to do a small good action everyday. There are (obviously) 30 small things that you can do everyday to make the world around you a little better. Today’s action is to Like We Day on Facebook. When
Continue readingThings Are Good: United Republic: Creative Organization Grows from OWS
Democracy takes time, and it’s rough and tedious work, so it’s amazing that in the two short months since the Occupy Movement began an organization has sprung up that will help the movement. United Republic aims to support the Occupy Movement by championing the idea that political decisions should be
Continue readingThings Are Good: Canadians Like the Occupy Movement
Even the right-leaning Canadian press can’t disagree that the Occupy Movement is a positive thing in and of itself. A new poll reveals that almost 60% of Canadians view the movement in a positive light, while some others tend to have problems because it is “leaderless”.
It’s great to see Canadians (who have not suffered […]