What has helped me stay involved, at least on some level, are historical examples of when a handful of people have made a difference.

Consider the slave trade, which was norm until just 15 people got together in a print shop in England in the late 1700s and vowed to stop it. They did within a generation, against all odds (at that time 3/4ths of the people in the world were either slaves or serfs).

I learned about this by reading Adam Hochschild’s “Bury the Chains,” which I blogged about here:
http://gailjonas.blogspot.com/2007/05/on-this-day-two-hundred-and-twenty.html

I’m glad to see you posting even if you’re discouraged. I frequently tell people to check your blog.

I understand discouraged, believe me, I do. I don’t blame you a bit. I do suggest taking heart and continuing to act as though your courage is pushing you. Maybe this will help.

I just published my first Squidoo lens on Lester Brown’s Plan B 2.0. It’s a start on my longstanding commitment to get the word out. I’d be interested to know whether you and anyone else interested think it can help motivate others. There’s a guestbook for that purpose.

Like Al Gore says, Todd, this is a bottoms-up, grassroots movement. We can’t depend on our “leaders” to solve the problems. But we are the ones making choices about the transportation we use, the foods we eat, the packaging surrounding the stuff we buy. We are the ones with the real power to make the changes. When enough of us vote with our pocketbooks, the politicians wake up and listen.

Lester Brown tells us how to go about it in his book and on the Earth Policy Institute web site.

Hang in there, Man!