action kills fear: finding hope and getting involved
finding your flavor of sustainable activism so that you don't burn out, and embracing the 3.5% rule
“It feels crazy to bring a child into the world right now.”
Tears welled as I looked into his eyes and shared my grief-heavy doubts.
What world will my child inherit?
A burning one? A militaristic one? One that wants to erase them? Wants to erase their parents? One without breathable air? How much plastic will be in their oceans?
What do I do with this heartbreak?
I’d woken up to the news of the cascade of loathsome executive orders that were tumbling out of the White House alongside the vile reports emerging about ICE.
A lot of it is megalomanic theater that will slow as it runs into the complex, seawall of checks and balances woven throughout our social, civic, and legal fabric. This gives me a sliver of hope but not enough to hang my hat on.
I’ve been trying to figure out where to plant my feet in the relentless wave of turmoil and vitriol. My inner experience yo-yos from real fear for our family, to steely determination, to naive denial, to disaster planning, to the occasional storm of scalding, white, hot fury.
If I act from hysteria or let myself collapse into feeling powerless, I let the Gang of Greed win. When I forget my power - when I forget our power - I don’t just let them, I help them win.
What do we do?
We need to expand our window of tolerance for living in discomfort because the discomfort is here to stay at a much louder volume than we’ve experienced in living memory.
Our ability to tolerate this discomfort and not let it master me will directly determine my ability to disrupt the tidal wave of hate and political violence that is gaining momentum.
The systems and players that want to erase me and my family from the world are gaining a stronger foothold and have the support of a lot of people I call neighbors. And damn if that isn’t painful.
We need to trust that whatever activism we can build into our regular day is enough. For there will always be more to do. We must trust the others around us to do what they can. Only together will we constitute the awesome power of collective.
For very few of us, activism will look like high-stakes encounters in the street with law enforcement. Marching in the streets is a powerful and valuable means of civil disobedience, and as someone who has peacefully marched many times in my life, I applaud everyone with the courage to do so. I’m sure I will again soon, but not one of the in-person rallies I’ve been to has snowballed into a violent altercation with law enforcement. When the media only covers combative rallies, they do all of us a disservice by ignoring and erasing what everyday people value and are fighting for in their communities. Don’t let them trick you into thinking that is what marches are. They almost always aren’t.
For many of us, our activism will take place in our own homes, at our places of work, at schools, in libraries, in groceries stores, in our relationships, at our libraries, and in the mundane choices we make each day. It will take the form of feeding neighbors, volunteering locally, teaching one another valuable skills, having brave conversations, putting up signs, voting on ballots, voting with our dollars (this everyone can do!), and refusing to support bigotry with inaction, avoidance, or complacency.
No one is going to swoop in and save us. If the last 10 years have taught me anything, it’s that the current party leadership lacks the courage and political will to put the safety of the everyday person ahead of political ambition. The march of justice is far from guaranteed, and hoping someone else will make the future better is an excuse we cannot afford to indulge any longer.
It can always get worse.
It’s our job - mine and yours - to make sure it doesn’t.
In order to be able to fight this good fight, our activism must be sustainable. The bulk of our activism needs to consist of actions and choices that feel good and enlivening to do Our daily activism must come with the intrinsic ability to give us back more energy than we expend to do it.
What does this mean? It means that if you love making sourdough, that you make sourdough and feed your neighbors. That if you love growing food, or making hats, or mending clothes, or teaching yoga, or tutoring, or gardening… that you continue to do those things in a way that fortifies and uplifts your community’s wellbeing. Start with what lights you up, what you are already able to give or are passionate about giving, and work outward from there.
The key to finding our unique place in the resistance will be focusing on specialization and teamwork. If you don’t know where to start or are feeling hopeless, start with this video by Kristopher Goldsnmith!
“What's profoundly rebellious, when you're a marginalized person, is recognizing that people might have the ability to take your rights, they might have the ability to take away your safety, but they can't take away your joy.” - Alok Menon
We can’t all do everything and we shouldn’t try to because that is the formula for burn out. We can’t afford to burn out. Specialization and teamwork will be the backbone of the resistance
Only you can know what activism gives you Life, but I’ll share what Sustainable Activism looks like for me in the hopes of sparking generative ideas that fit you that you can prioritize in your own life.
I don’t share this as a flex but instead want you to notice how many of these actions you are already doing, only have to do once, or that also hold that effortless spark of energy that makes an energy gain rather than an expense.
Each bullet below nourishes me in some way and that sets me up to never run out of the spirit required to fight for justice, safety, dignity, and joy for every one of us.
Putting up a pride flag in our yard.
Living into queer joy and love every. damn. day.
Resting my mind, body, and spirit often and as an act of resistance.
Deleting all of my Meta accounts (in process), cancelling my prime membership (done), coming up with a music solution other than Spotify (suggestions welcome) and divesting from all of the megacorporations (ie Amazon) that are funding the erosion of our civil rights and democracy.
Using Goods Unite Us to make sure that when I spend my hard earned wealth, it is ONLY going to companies that are apolitical or that invest in, rather than destroy, the future I want to be part of creating.
Putting stickers on my truck that communicate solidarity with my most vulnerable neighbors and show that values of kindness and justice are alive and well in our community.
Writing about hard things as bravely as I can here on Substack
Supporting emerging apps that are led by more ethically committed leaders and developers (like Bluesky and LinkedIn. Both prohibit misinformation and discriminatory content, the latter being owned by Microsoft).
Volunteering with and donating to Run For Something, an organization that recruits young, diverse, progressive candidates and helps them run for office at every level of local and state office.
Volunteering Spanish translation and education services to my local library and resource center.
Taking care of my neighbors and asking for help to strengthen my ties to real, striving, complex people.
Trying to live as much of a plastic-free, zero-waste life as I can. I’m getting better at it and it’s feeling easier and easier as I learn along the way.
My 2025 No Spend Challenge - so far this has been fun, forced me to slow down, helped me save quite a bit of money, and every time I make a choice aligned with my guidelines I feel a little burst of pride and satisfaction.
Supporting the survival of investigative journalism by subscribing to our local newspaper and the Seattle Times. I sat down for the first time and read the paper over coffee about two months ago and I gotta tell you that it beats getting your “news” from social media 100-fold. It was soothing. Interesting, locally relevant, intelligently investigated stories with triple-checked sources. Stop consuming information that has not been fact checked and thinking it is news. It’s not.
Getting news from not-for-profit media outlets like NPR and PBS. You can support your local PBS station and get access to a host of amazing shows for just $7/mo. PBS Newshour is free for everyone!
Gardening, growing food and flowers, and stewarding a natural landscape that aggressively supports pollinators.
Seed saving, seed sharing, and participating in my local Seed Library.
Joining our local Grange and getting plugged in to a network of growers, makers, and keepers who are passionate about empowering the community politically and socially.
Buying12 copies of “On Tyranny” by Timothy Snyder to give to all of my relatives this past Christmas.
Buying a pocket Constitution and Declaration of Independence and encouraging others to do so because anything digital can be and is being erased. While some information is being restored due to public outcry, the concern is that it is being erased in the first place.
Donating monthly to the ACLU. They will need a lot of support over the coming years.
Standing up to any examples of bigotry I witness in the real world and in my community using my privilege to protect others who face harsher realities of discrimination.
Journaling about my experience and current events, documenting what is happening, how it feels, what matters to me, so that no one can ever get away with saying that what’s happening didn’t happen the way we it did.
Revisit and re-learn history. Elders and ancestors have fought harder fights and faced worse odds and won important change for the many. We can learn from them and build upon that legacy in our modern times.
Educating myself on how to recognize and disrupt fascism in the everyday actions I take. (See Anti-Fascism Book Club recommendations below)
Have you heard of the 3.5% Rule?
It only takes around 3.5% of the population actively participating in protests to ensure serious political change. What’s even more encouraging is that “nonviolent campaigns are twice as likely to achieve their goals as violent campaigns”.
If you don’t feel safe enough to be part of the 3.5% on the frontlines, you can be part of the 20% standing behind them providing them with food, kindness, encouragement, water, respite, opportunities to laugh or rest, and so on. You can donate your voice, your energy, your time, your expertise, your money, your compassion, and so on. It all counts.
The real threat that the Black Panthers posed to the government wasn’t when they took up arms. It was when they began taking care of people better than the state or federal government ever had. All governmental power originates from the people. Without the people, governments loses it’s power. Even monarchies.
Everyone’s activism can and should look different.
If reproductive rights are deeply meaningful to you, then pitch in there.
If protection for immigrants is meaningful to you, then pitch in there.
If voting equality is meaningful for you, then pitch in there.
If fighting book bans is meaningful to you, then pitch in there.
If LGBTQIA+ rights are meaning for you, then pitch in there.
Wherever your fervor lies, trust it, and dig in.
While you are fighting on your frontline for me, I will be fighting on my frontline for you.
I will be part of that 3.5%.
Will you?
“In Germany they came first for the Communists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist. Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn't speak up because I was a Protestant. Then they came for me, and by that time no one was left to speak up.” - Pastor Martin Niemöller, 1945
Easy things everyone can do starting today:
Vote diligently with your dollars. Forfeit the seduction of hyper-convenience and syphon your money into places it will help not hurt your community. You are going to be spending money anyway, you might as well make sure it has a positive ripple effect instead of a negative one.
Put up signs in your yard or windows.
Wear pins or shirts that show what your values are so that people who are targeted see symbols that they are supported when they are out in the world. They won’t know you are safe, unless you show them.
Look your neighbors in the eyes and see their humanity.
Set up ONE recurring $15 (or more!) donation to an organization you believe in.
Keep a diary.
See something, say something. Dissent. Especially if you hold more privilege. Your privilege protects you and you can wield it as a shield to keep others safe who may not be able to speak up in spaces you have access to. You are brave and courageous, and I know you are strong enough to do it!
Anti-fascist Book Club by Veterans Fighting Fascism:
Please please please get these from your local bookstore, your library, or order from minority-owned bookstores. PLEASE do not buy from Amazon or Walmart or any of the other companies currently funding the fascist movement.
What is Fascism? by Task Force Butler Institute
This site is a must-read primer for understanding the authoritarian threats we face today.
START READING HERE → On Tyranny by Timothy Snyder
A concise guide to understanding and resisting authoritarianism in everyday life.
You’ll walk away feeling better after you read this book. This short book with short chapters was super easy to read (even for people who aren’t big readers I’ve heard). You can also listen to it as an audio book in less than an hour and a half!Strongmen by Ruth Ben-Ghiat
An exploration of how authoritarian leaders rise and maintain power—and how they are defeated.Surviving Autocracy by Masha Gessen
A critical look at how democracies are dismantled and how to fight back.How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi
An essential guide to understanding and combating racism as part of the broader fight for equality.
Extra Credit:
Consider reading The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism by Naomi Klein, which illuminates how politicians and corporations will manipulate crises to privatize and consolidate power.
Until next time,
