# Community as a System
Let’s regain control of our lives by strengthening our interdependent bonds with friends, family, neighbors and community. # Highlighted Community Actions
* [ ] Create a Community Coworking Space. (Expand Action)
* [ ] Start or join a Local Theater Group. (Expand Action)
* [ ] Implement Participatory Budgeting where you live. (Expand Action)
* [ ] Reconnect to End Loneliness and Build Community.Expand Action
# Explore the Community Topics
* [x] Sense of Belonging
* [x] Mapping
* [ ] Community Spaces
* [x] Local Democracy
* [ ] Community Media
* [ ] Performance Arts
* [ ] Resisting Consumerism # The Big Picture This Guide describes localization initiatives in particular sectors of the economy – food, energy, business, and so on. But no matter what aspect you get involved in, you’ll find that **localization is about connection**, and it starts with reaching out to like-minded friends and neighbors to form or join a hub of mutual support. Doing so not only enables you to undertake meaningful **collective action** on social and environmental issues, it also links you to community structures that offer profound healing at the individual level. This is why localizing is so intimately connected to strengthening community, and why reversing the process of globalization – which systematically undermines community – is so important.
In modern, industrialized countries – and increasingly in the global South as well – the traditional connections between family, neighbors, and community have been badly eroded. We are told that our independence is a good thing, that relying on others is to be avoided. Combine that with **advertising designed to produce dissatisfaction**, and **social media that heightens insecurity**, and it’s no wonder that rates of depression, anxiety, addiction and suicide are rising in almost every country around the world.
The first step towards reversing this situation is summoning the courage to be open and honest with one another. By revealing our own vulnerabilities and supporting others as they do the same, we can dissolve the illusions created by mass-media and curated Instagram profiles, in favor of more profound and real connections.
The actions in this section are about connecting with others, whether through an informal "gift” economy, through community art, theater, and media, through neighborhood associations, through intentional communities like ecovillages, and more. In every case, people share something of themselves in order to counteract the fragmentation that is reaching unprecedented, inhumane levels. In the process, they improve their own well-being while making the world a better place.
These initiatives are like lifeboats of both ecological and community wellbeing, offering resilience and sustenance in a crisis-ridden world. In all of the projects described here, the synergetic power of **coming together in community pushes against the forces that are separating us**, helping to create pockets of healthier, happier and more sustainable futures.
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