We are a generation of makers, activists, farmers, craftivists, innovators, dreamers, artists and caregivers showing our leaders the change society needs. After COVID-19, we refuse to go back to normal. Now is the time to swap out our broken, unfair economy in favour of a “better than normal” society we can create together.
The COVID-19 pandemic has affected all of us in some way. It’s brought our current economy to a grinding halt, cost some among us their jobs or health — even their lives.
The disruption caused by the pandemic has also exposed the cracks in our unfair economic system, which leaves some among us more vulnerable than others. Corporate executives have used their influence to write the rules of our economy, allowing billionaires to hoard wealth while many live in poverty. They’ve allowed industry to profit while pollution and ecosystem destruction push our planet’s life support systems to the brink. They’ve taught society to value consumerism instead of our relationships with one another and nature.
That’s why we won’t go “back to normal”. “Normal” is downright harmful. This is our chance for a new beginning, to reprogram the rules of the economy so that it takes care of all of us and our planet.
Keep reading to learn more about our new campaign and how you can take action!
From baking bread at home, to sewing masks for frontline workers, to community gardens that feed our neighbourhoods, going local creates strong, resilient communities.
The backbone of our economy should be local, sustainable economies that thrive when we take care of each other, strengthen our communities and re-establish our important connection with nature. Things like cooking or baking at home or getting your weekly fruits and vegetables from a community-supported agriculture program are votes for locally resilient food systems and less plastic packaging. Purchasing products that are made from people in your community is another vote for nurturing livelihoods for your neighbours instead of enriching big box corporations whose supply chains might not be equitable or sustainable.
The same values should apply to any pandemic recovery funding being planned by Prime Minister Trudeau and Members of Parliament.
The federal government’s COVID-19 economic recovery plan should support creative, sustainable, and community-centred models of economic life. How? Well there’s a lot we can do, like supporting artists and culture-makers instead of big polluting industries. The government can also deepen investment in low-impact small businesses. For example co-operative business models, which put social responsibility, community and sustainability at the centre of their operations, already represent more than $60 billion (and growing). Meanwhile, projects in the growing clean energy sector (which employs nearly 300,000 people) are both shovel-ready and shovel-worthy. Another piece of the puzzle is restoring degraded ecosystems. This can be paid work that keeps the land, water and air we depend on safe and healthy. According to the United Nations, restoring degraded land around the world could generate USD$9 trillion in the next decade alone, while reducing greenhouse gases.
Join our new campaign! Turn stress and anxiety into hope and creativity by helping us all imagine a better society:
We are a generation of makers, activists, farmers, craftivists, innovators, dreamers, artists and caregivers modelling the change our society needs. Maybe you have a gig installing solar panels, or you’ve taken up new hobbies like growing your own food under COVID-19 lockdown. Or maybe you’ve always been into activism and DIY culture. Either way, the world needs more YOU.
Our personal changes can be political. When we bring what we’re doing at home out into our communities and share what we know with others, our personal choices have system-changing potential.
- Share your vision of the COVID-19 economic recovery with your MP: Add your name to our new personalized petition.
- Tell us how you’re making change: How are your organizing or living the change from home or in your community right now? Tell me (Jesse) about it at [email protected].
