View Text The Best Resources The Best Links Resources Links, Regional Links

The Best Resources
     Your local food co-op, with healthy food, friendly people, local newsletters, alternative media publications, and good bulletin boards is an excellent resource.  Some of the larger health food chain stores offer more food but not as much information or community.  I look at a health food store's bulletin boards, literature space, and magazine racks (as well as their products and prices) and rate health food stores' values according.
     Local groups and newsletters.  Local newsletters can often be found in food co-ops, health food stores, book stores, churches, or other community centers.  As the Internet grows, I expect to see more local websites as well.
     Utne Reader magazine is the Reader's Digest of the alternative press.  It is an important Green publication and is much more cultural than political.
 
 
     Co-op America, an alliance of socially responsible businesses with nearly 50,000 individual and 2,000 business members nationwide, is the best overall resource for cultural empowerment.  Their goal is to build a Green economy in America.  They offer info on their website, Co-op America's National Green Pages Online, and a hardcopy version of Co-op America's National Green Pages (2000 edition), available for $7.95 postpaid or as part of your $20/year individual membership fee.  Your membership fee also includes a subscription to the Co-op America Quarterly Journal.
     The Communities Directory, $20, with 440 oversized pages, published by the Fellowship for Intentional Community, includes information on over 500 intentional communities and over 250 alternate resources and services, and is a very useful and inspirational resource for anyone interested in intentional community, communes or the counterculture.
     The Rainbow Family is a loose-knit hippie tribe that holds occasional Rainbow Gatherings, including the National Rainbow Gathering the first week in July in a different national forest each year.  Rainbow Gatherings are fun, entirely non-commercial, and very countercultural.  (Caution: if you're camping, be sure to drink only pure water.)
    EmpowermentBooks.com offers books on Cultural Empowerment, including books on Intentional Communities, Conflict Resolution Skills, and Worker Cooperatives.  It also offers over 500 recommended empowerment resource books for sale, over 80 links, and over 3 million books, 400,000 CDs, 65,000 audio books, 100,000 movies, and over 850 magazines to choose from.  Many of these these items are sold at a discount.

24% of the American People are Greens
     The Emerging Culture by Paul Ray explains that there are 44 million Americans with Green values (24% of the American adult population).  There are also 56 million Traditionalists or Heartlanders (29% of the American adult population) and 88 million Modernists (47% of the American adult population).  Paul Ray labels Greens "Cultural Creatives" and claims that 20 million Greens (11% of the American adult population, 2/3 female, labeled "Core Cultural Creatives" by Paul Ray) are into personal growth as well as social change and ecology, while another 24 million Greens (13% of the adult population, labeled "Greens" by Paul Ray) are primarily concerned with environmental and social issues.  You can also read "Cultural Creatives" offer Ideas and Hope by Mac Lawrence.

The Best Links
     Here are 4 excellent websites that are very similar to EmpowermentResources.com in that they provide links to many websites and have a holistic Green perspective focusing on personal growth, social change, and ecology.
     People in Action for a Better World.  There is also a Spanish version of this website. This is a huge list listing all kinds of resources, including Alternative technology, Books, Communities, Culture and thought, Developing countries, Directories, Ecological agriculture, Ecology, Education, Human rights, Internet, Music, Natural health, Peace, Progressive networks, Publications, Search for information, Solidarity, Spirituality, and Various subjects.
     The Natural Life Online Directory, a Canadian Green website, is very similar to EmpowermentResources.com.
     Motherheart is a resource that encourages nurturing in all aspects of life.  Topics include Community, Real Life, Spirituality, Birth, Children and Parenting, Care Giving, Health and Wholeness, Caring for Gaia, and Directories.

Resources
New Society Publishers
Community Bookshelf 
Online Intentional Communities/Communes
Intentional Community Resources
Communities Magazine
Eco-Village Information Service
Cohousing Network
Federation of Egalitarian Communities 
Sustainable Business.com
The GreenMoney On-Line Guide
The Calvert Group.  Socially responsible investing.
Ithaca Money Home Page.  Legal local currency from the town Utne Reader described as America's most enlightened town.  (Information on Ithaca Hours is also available in Espanol (Spanish), Deutsch (German), Francais (French), Turkce (Turkish), Suomalainen (Finnish), Svenska (Swedish), Portuguese, and Zhong-Wen (Chinese, 100k)).
Cafe Utne- online conferences
The Well Conference Directory
Womensource's Links
Ladyslipper.  Women's music.
Afronet
LatinoLink
Asian American Links
Native Web.  A website for Earth's indigenous peoples.
The Native American Adventure.  Includes plenty of historical Native American info.
EcoMall
Greenseal is part of the Global Eco-labeling Network.
Hippyland.  A colorful fun website.
See also Consciousness-Raising Information.
     For info on folk music, you can check out Folk Book or the Folk Music Home Page. Some of America's best folksingers and political activists include Pete Seeger (music link), Si Kahn (music link), Charlie King (music link), Fred Small (music link), Utah Phillips (music link), Sweet Honey and the Rock (music link), Holly Near (music link), Joan Baez (music link), and Magpie (music link).  Woody Guthrie [music link] was an outstanding folksinger and political activist in the 1930's and Phil Ochs [music link] was an outstanding folksinger and political activist in the 1960's.
     The 1960's produced a lot of good music, including music from the Beatles (music link), Bob Dylan (music link), the Grateful Dead (music link), Simon and Garfunkel (music link), and a lot of other good countercultural and rock and roll music.
     In my opinion, Jimmy Carter is an excellent humanitarian and has been the best American ex-President in recent history.  His causes include the Carter Center, Habitat for Humanity, and assisting with conflict resolution, including monitoring elections, around the world.
AmeriCorps [9-14-01]
Red Cross [9-14-01]

Links
People in Action for a Better World.  There is also a Spanish version of this website.
The Natural Life Online Directory
Motherheart
The Garden
communitas

Regional Links
America's 10 Most Enlightened Towns and the most enlightened town for every American state and Canadian Province, from the May-June '97 issue of Utne Reader.
Green Map System
Green Party of Humboldt County (including Arcata), Northern California.
Eugene Free Community Network - Eugene, Oregon.
The Helios Environmental Resource Network - Western Oregon.
Central Oregon Green Pages.
Puget Sound Green Pages - Seattle, Washington.
Sedona, Arizona.
Santa Fe Online - Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Pathways - Washington, D.C.
be well naturally - Baltimore, MD.
Voices of Women - Baltimore, MD.
Hippy Havens - from hippy.com.
List of Regional Countercultural Journals and Resource Guides - Countercultural/new age/holistic health journals and resource guides.
     I would like to add other Green regional links.  Some places that come to mind are San Francisco, Portland, Seattle, Vancouver, Alaska, Hawaii, Boulder, Madison, Ann Arbor, Austin, Ithaca, Vermont, and Appalachia.  I welcome suggestions for additional regional links.

Celebrations
Festivals.com.  Huge list.
Renaissance Festivals.  These are organized commercial festivals.
SF-Lover's Conventions Listing.  Science Fiction Conventions.
ConNotation.  The UK, European and World Science Fiction Convention Listing.
Rainbow Gatherings organized by the Rainbow Family.  Hippie gatherings.  Fun, loosely organized.

International Links
People in Action for a Better World.  There is also a Spanish version of this website.
European Rainbow Family Homepage.  A fun European countercultural website.
GreenNet is a progressive Internet Service Provider in London, England.
Equal Exchange provides a list of organizations promoting global fair trade.
Oxfam America.
Doctors Without Borders. [10-29-01]
UNICEF. [10-29-01]
Peace Corps.


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