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Hi, i have wanted to do this for a while so here it goes..

As many might have noticed, our society isn't structured as most think and expect.. This is primarily because of the way we receive our information. Most of the information we get come from a few sources, usually the national press association which in turn gets it from Reuters and AP. This way it has become easy to keep up status quo and manipulate it when and where needed. Just look at the coverage of the water wars and the anti gmo protests for example.

This is where the internet comes in, the internet is a source of you could say raw data, mostly undistilled still with bias and urban myths incorporated. To get through to the real issues the internet can be a great help, but also dangerous as the misinfo can easily be thought of as credible. Still, while the internet might contain a lot of half truths and misinterpreted data it also contains a lot of valid information that can be of great use.

Take for example grassroot initiatives like Windowfarms and the Global Vilage Construction Set. Ideas like Permaculture and Vermiculture are also very benificial. So there is a lot if good stuff to be found if you know where to look. The problem then becomes, where do you get valid information about the state of the human experiment and how can you participate so you can make a benificial contribution.

What is needed is local initiatives linked to a global hyve of ideas; meet Grassrootz. Here you can browse for grassroot projects you can implement on a local level while gaining all the advise the web has to offer.

At the moment it is mostly a set of links to different documentaries and grassroot initiatives but slowly i am writing a narrative to accompany it to make things more clear. If you see errors or have suggestions please don't hesitate to leave a comment or contact me on facebook.

The problems:
The problems we have are huge but can be split up in a few categories to make it more managable, these are:

Economical

- Our economy is based on scarcity and thus self interest, this leads to:

Ecological

- Ecological destruction. Our air, land and water are all polluted to a certain degree.

Psychological

- Those two together give quite a bit of stress and annoyance.

Sociological

- Which leads to a downward sociological cycle that makes the other 3 exponentially worse.

Documentaries
Here i want to list some good documentaries that will give a decent picture of what is going on and how it became that way.

Economy
Like said our economy isn't all that well structured. Because of the fact our economy is based on scarcity our psychology is constantly driven to compensate for that and hoard, and while this was a good mindset for our ancient ancestors for us today it is totally out of context, but more about that in the psychology and sociology sections.

- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Corporation_%28film%29
- http://www.thecorporation.com/

Do the Math
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/350.org

- http://350.org/

The century of the self
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Century_of_the_Self

Story of stuff
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Story_of_Stuff

- http://www.youtube.com/user/storyofstuffproject

- http://www.storyofstuff.org/

[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TxbmjDngois Poor Us: an animated history - Why Poverty? ] - http://www.whypoverty.net/

Ecology

The solutions:
While there is no cover it all solution there are a lot of small projects that when combined give a better perspective on our options. Here a list of a few of the projects i am aware of, if you might know a good project and if it isn't listed yet please comment below.

Economy
So first let's start with our economy, there is a lot wrong with it and to fix it we will need to combine the efforts of dozens of projects and communities.

Finance
Our banking system with central banks and usury is a big drain on the economy as it guzzles up billions of all different currencies. Inflates money everywhere it goes and thus makes anything worthless so they can buy it all with the money they made from said usury.... This needs to stop and the easiest way to do so is to use our own currency, outside of the system, its known as alternative or local currency. Bitcoin is a popular alternative currency.

- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternative_currency

- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Local_currency

- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bitcoin

- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Community_Exchange_System

- https://www.community-exchange.org/misc/links.htm

Dutch

- http://www.fair4all.nl/

- http://onsgeld.nu/ - FacebookTwitterYoutube

Manufacture
Next up comes manufacture. The way things are made and distributed nowadays is way too inefficient. And besides inefficient its also made to break.. (Planned obsolescence...) In order to regain efficiency and make sure the things we own are durable, sustainable and not dripping in oil we'll need to change a few things, first make sure we don't put our money in the pockets of those designing and selling inefficiency as a lifestyle but create most we need ourselves. Reduce, reuse and recycle. To do this the following projects are not sufficient but a decent start.

GVCS
A starter kit to set up your own town, from baking ovens to tractors, over 50 different machines with which sustaining modern life is possible. It's all open source and at the moment they have 23 of the designs prototyped. Its a good project to show what can be done with a bit of determination and a DIY, open source setup.

- http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/622508883/global-village-construction-set

- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_Source_Ecology

- http://opensourceecology.org/

- http://opensourceecology.org/wiki/Global_Village_Construction_Set

3D printing
Again another great open source project, a 3d printer you can build yourself. I also included a few you can buy.

- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3D_printing

- http://reprap.org/wiki/Main_Page

- http://cubify.com/cube/

- http://www.makerbot.com/

- http://www.shapeways.com/

DIY
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Do_it_yourself

- http://www.diylife.com/category/products-and-materials/

- http://www.replayground.com/pages/diy/diyhome.asp

- http://www.wikihow.com/Do-It-Yourself

- http://openmaterials.org/ DIY projects:

- http://www.gobookee.net/folding-bench-and-picnic-table-combo-plans/

Wikihouse
- http://news.discovery.com/tech/gear-and-gadgets/wikihouse-diy-home-building-130301.htm

- http://vimeo.com/52383144

- http://www.wikihouse.cc/

Hempcrete
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hempcrete

- http://www.collective-evolution.com/2013/02/03/hempcrete-worlds-strongest-building-material/

- http://climatecolab.org/plans/-/plans/contestId/11/planId/1001108 (incomplete but a nice idea)

- http://qz.com/68780/architects-are-starting-to-3d-print-houses-but-without-a-house-sized-printer/

Other
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_building

- http://www.ecovillagefindhorn.com/findhornecovillage/ecological.php

- http://www.ecotecture.com/your-ecological-house/what-is-ecological-house.html

- http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/first-earth-uncompromising-ecological-architecture/

- http://www.ecologicalhousing.com/

- http://www.thenanoleaf.com/

Heating / cooking
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocket_stove

- http://www.rocketstoves.com/

- http://www.rocketstove.org/

- http://www.richsoil.com/rocket-stove-mass-heater.jsp

'Power plants'
A great idea where aesthetics, efficiency and sustainability are combined.

- http://www.yalescientific.org/2013/05/electricity-from-thin-air-using-nanotechnology-to-capture-the-energy-around-us/

- http://solarbotanic.com/

- https://www.facebook.com/SolarBotanic

Thorium
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thorium

- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liquid_fluoride_thorium_reactor

- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9M__yYbsZ4 (2 hour remix)

- http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/gordonmcdowell/thorium-remix-2012-feature-film-to-propagate-hard

Food
One of the things that we will need to put some serious effort into is our food production, because while we can easily feed everyone there are hungry people everywhere. To grow food there are a few options, use raised beds in your own garden like with square foot gardening or straw bales. You can also create a food forest if you have enough space or even a green neighborhood where there is food everywhere.

Organic gardening
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organic_horticulture

- http://www.organicgardening.com/

- http://naturesorganicgarden.com/

Raised beds
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raised-bed_gardening

- http://www.wikihow.com/Build-Economical-Raised-Vegetable-Beds

- http://eartheasy.com/grow_raised_beds.htm

- http://organicgardening.about.com/od/startinganorganicgarden/a/raisedbed.htm

Square foot gardening
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Square_foot_gardening

- http://www.wikihow.com/Practice-Square-Foot-Gardening

- http://www.squarefootgardening.org/

- http://www.squarefootgardening.com/

- http://timssquarefootgarden.com/

Straw bale gardening
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Straw_bale_gardening

- http://www.wikihow.com/Grow-a-Straw-Bale-Garden

- http://strawbalegardens.com/

- http://www.no-dig-vegetablegarden.com/straw-bale-gardening.html

Hydroponics
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydroponics

- http://www.wikihow.com/Build-a-Homemade-Hydroponics-System

- http://www.hydroponics.net/learn/hydroponic_gardening_for_beginners.asp

- http://www.simplyhydro.com/system.htm

- http://www.hannainst.com/hydroponics/

Aquaponics
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aquaponics

- http://www.doityourself.com/stry/how-an-aquaponics-system-works

- http://www.ecolicious.com.au/aquaponics.html

Vertical gardening
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_wall

- http://www.buzzfeed.com/marcelle/39-insanely-cool-vertical-gardens

- http://www.verticalgardenpatrickblanc.com/

Windowfarms
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windowfarm

- http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/windowfarms/turn-our-cities-windows-into-vertical-veggie-farm

- http://www.windowfarms.com/

- http://our.windowfarms.org/

Guerilla gardening
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guerrilla_gardening

- http://www.guerrillagardening.org/

- http://www.ted.com/talks/ron_finley_a_guerilla_gardener_in_south_central_la.html

- http://www.youtube.com/user/TheGuerrillaGardener

- http://www.wikihow.com/Start-Guerilla-Gardening

Companion planting
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_companion_plants

- http://www.altdotenergy.com/renewable-energy-solutions/permaculture-companion-planting/

- http://deepgreenpermaculture.com/companion-planting/companion-planting-table/

- https://attra.ncat.org/attra-pub/summaries/summary.php?pub=72

- http://www.rexresearch.com/agro/comp1.htm

- http://www.ghorganics.com/page2.html

Food forests
- http://www.foodforest.com.au/

- http://www.happyearth.com.au/a-forest-of-food/

- http://permaculturenews.org/category/plants/food-forests/

- http://www.wildernesscollege.com/permaculture-food-forest.html

Plant databases
- http://www.pfaf.org/user/default.aspx

- http://gardeninglaunchpad.com/DtB.html

Seed bombs
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seed_bombing

- http://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-Seed-Bomb

- http://www.guerrillagardening.org/ggseedbombs.html

- http://www.coolhunting.com/design/ready-to-go-gue.php

- http://www.thecommonstudio.com/greenaid.html

Composting
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compost

- http://www.wikihow.com/Make-Compost-for-Houseplants

- http://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-Compost-Pit

- http://eartheasy.com/grow_compost.html

- http://mastercomposter.com/

Vermicomposting
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vermicompost

- http://www.wikihow.com/Make-Your-Own-Worm-Compost-System

- http://www.vermiculture.com/

- http://www.organicagcentre.ca/docs/vermiculture_farmersmanual_gm.pdf

Worm towers
- http://midwestpermaculture.com/2012/11/how-to-build-a-worm-tower/

- http://highlyuncivilized.com/2011/01/22/worm-tower/

- http://www.ecofilms.com.au/how-to-build-a-worm-tower/

Mushrooms
- http://library.uniteddiversity.coop/Permaculture/Growing_Gourmet_and_Medicinal_Mushrooms.pdf

- http://www.shaman-australis.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=25019

- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NeASZgnlN_M

Water
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_purification

- http://www.ted.com/talks/michael_pritchard_invents_a_water_filter.html

- http://www.lifesaversystems.com/

Other
- http://www.gusta.com/

- http://www.super-marmite.com/

Ecology
- http://www.ecology.com/

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecology

Mycology
Mycology can be used from cleaning oil spills to protecting the houses from termites.

- intro (TED) - long version (LOHAS)

- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mycology

- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mycorrhiza

- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Stamets

- http://www.sustainablebrands.com/digital_learning/event-video/life-box-plantable-packaging-assisted-fungi-paul-stamets

- http://www.lifeboxcompany.com/

- http://www.mycology.net/

More info than you can handle about this... ^^

https://www.facebook.com/1billionforpaul

And my pages about this project:

https://www.facebook.com/notes/sustainability-unplugged/project-mycology/724459304245129

(Invite only group, please send me a mail if you want to join.)

And that as wiki.

Hemp
Hemp is the most versatile crop known to man, from plastics to fuel and food and much more, its all possible with hemp.

- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hemp

- http://www.hemp.com/

- http://www.hemp.org/

- http://www.jackherer.com/

- http://www.informationdistillery.com/hemp.htm

- http://listverse.com/2009/04/15/15-fascinating-facts-about-hemp/

- http://www.treehugger.com/environmental-policy/perfect-plant-7-great-uses-for-industrial-hemp.html

- http://hempbasics.com/shop/hemp-information

R&DIY
Research and Develop it Yourself: a 'new movement' started by the creators of the windowfarm. It's quite simple, research how it works and make it yourself; as efficiently as possible.. So it like old school hacking, modding mechanics and tech to fit your needs but then in a new jacket. Another good example is the GVCS, the Global Village Construction Set.

- http://www.rndiy.org/

(Especially when R&DIY and open-source are combined you can get amazing results as seen in both the gvcs and windowfarms)

Lifehacks
Lifehacks are the most easy way to start and R&DIY, you use common objects for out of the box uses.

- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_hacking

- http://www.lifehack.org/

- http://twistedsifter.com/2013/01/50-life-hacks-to-simplify-your-world/

- https://twitter.com/search?q=lifehacks

- http://www.reddit.com/r/lifehacks/

Learn anything
- https://www.coursera.org/ - http://ocw.mit.edu/index.htm

- https://www.khanacademy.org/

- http://www.youtube.com/user/crashcourse

- http://www.openculture.com/freeonlinecourses

- http://www.gobookee.net/

- Many more links..

Sociology
Networking is what makes projects work, the help of others is often essential to efficiently reach your goals. This can be done in a multitude of ways and the internet has helped to create some very innovative ways to use the power of large groups to start projects and realize goals.

P2P
Peer to peer is a relative newcomer to the scene, most might know it from bittorrent but it's also used in a loads of other innovative ways.

- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peer-to-peer

- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peer-to-peer_lending

Crowd sourcing
Crowdsourcing can be a very efficient way to get the information, feedback, services and content you need by asking the respective niche comunities. You can also go to more general crowdsourcing sites and ask there.

- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crowdsourcing

- http://www.crowdsourcing.com/

- http://www.topsite.com/best/crowdsourcing

- http://www.designcrowd.com/crowdsourcing

- http://www.topcoder.com/

Crowd funding
And the same you can do to get the needed funds..

- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crowd_funding

- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_crowd_funding_services

- http://www.kickstarter.com/

- http://www.indiegogo.com/

- http://www.kiva.org/

- http://fiverr.com/

Crowd 'selling'
To sell goods and services.

- http://www.etsy.com/ (hand crafts)

- http://www.shapeways.com/  (3d printer)

- https://www.taskrabbit.com/ (services)

Crowd speaking
- https://www.thunderclap.it/

Transport
To get transportation. - http://www.zipcar.com/

- http://www.buzzcar.com/en/

- http://www.carpooling.com/us/

Traveling
Or to get a cheap place to sleep while traveling.

- https://www.couchsurfing.org/

- http://www.globalfreeloaders.com/

- http://www.bewelcome.org/

- http://nomadbase.org/

- https://www.tripping.com/

Religion
Some interesting perspectives on religion.

- Mind Control Made Easy

- The Chronic Dependence of Popular Religiosity u pon Dysfunctional Psychosociological Conditions

-- https://yourlogicalfallacyis.com/

-- http://www.informationisbeautiful.net/visualizations/rhetological-fallacies/

Transition towns
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transition_Towns

- http://www.transitiontowntotnes.org/

- http://transitionculture.org/

- http://www.transitionnetwork.org/

- http://www.transitionnetwork.org/resources/transition-primer

- http://www.transitionnetwork.org/support/becoming-official

Mycology
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XI5frPV58tY

- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NeASZgnlN_M&list=PL5243B91097BE425C

- http://kickass.to/growing-mushrooms-mycology-t87369.html

- http://www.amazon.com/Paul-Stamets/e/B001JS0KV6

- http://www.fungi.com/about-paul-stamets.htm

Permaculture
With permaculture we can re grow our ecosystems and at the same time feed everyone.

- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permaculture

- http://www.permaculturenews.org/

- http://www.permacultureglobal.com/

- http://www.permacultureday.org/

- http://www.ipcon.org/ (2011)

- http://www.ipc11cuba.com/ (2013)

- http://www.globalexchange.org/tours/11th-international-permaculture-convergence-and-research-tour

Earthships
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earthship - http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/garbage-warrior/

- http://earthship.com/

Conclusion
With open source and smart planning we can solve nearly all of our problems, the biggest problem is the current system which provides millions of people with their needed income so they will fight to protect it.

So the easiest thing to do is set up a plan how to gradually change things while replacing the inefficient and problematic jobs with efficient and sustainable jobs. We can do this by slowly influencing the service economy that has been growing the last decades.

Additional commentary
I'm kinda out of inspiration as far as writing goes but still want to make this list of links more comprehensive, so here are some extra things to consider. This time alphabetical:

Common sense
There needs to be a special class for common sense, how to think rationally about the world and how to interpret claims made for authenticity. Teach skeptisism and

Science
Kids are natural scientists, they try things, are creative and inventive untill the time their parents, education and society in general beat that out of them. Sir Ken Robinson had a great comment on that, there has been a longtudinal study done on the ceativity of kids and as kids grew up they because less creative, and he said that might have something to do with the fact that by now that had become educated. Neil deGrasse Tyson also made an interesting remark about it, check it out:

- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIEJjpVlZu0

- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwioVE_83p4

Mosquito patch
- http://www.kitepatch.com/

- http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/kite-patch

- https://www.facebook.com/kitepatch

- https://twitter.com/KitePatch

Debt clocks
- http://www.economist.com/content/global_debt_clock

- http://www.nationaldebtclocks.org/

- http://www.usdebtclock.org/

Service economy
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Service_economy

- http://www.businessweek.com/innovate/content/feb2010/id20100223_469626.htm

- http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2012/01/the-shift-from-manufacturing-to-service-economy/

- http://www.oecd.org/industry/ind/2090561.pdf - http://fiverr.com/

Other stuff to check out
- http://www.march-against-monsanto.com/p/blog-page.html (May 25th 2013)

- http://occupywallst.org/

- http://strikedebt.org/

The Boycott App

- http://www.theboycottapp.com/

- https://twitter.com/theboycottapp

- https://www.facebook.com/TheBoycottApp

- https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.theboycottapp.boycott

Internet safety
- https://www.torproject.org/ (currently compromised by the FBI)

- http://hidemyass.com/

- http://piratebrowser.com/

- http://www.digitalconfidence.com/downloads.html

- https://projectmeshnet.org/

- http://www.justdelete.me/

The Plan
The plan...

Million mask march
- http://millionmaskmarch.wordpress.com/

Map
- http://www.zeemaps.com/view?group=654291&x=38.995077&y=40.977111&z=13