Norton - 365 ways to change the world: how to make a difference-- one day at a time

Community and neighborhood

Getting to know your city or neighborhood, ways of brightening it up, bringing fun and laughter into local life, working with socially excluded people and with prisoners.

Culture and creativity

Connecting up with people, new ideas for getting your message across, communicating through language and stories, listening in to get inspired.

Democracy and human rights

Fighting for freedom of information, participating in elections, lobbying your elected representatives, human rights and human wrongs around the world.

Discrimination

Fighting for disability rights, tackling racism and sexism (and all the other -isms in society), dealing with violence and abuse.

Employment and enterprise

Sharing skills and resources, open access software, Internet collaboration, social enterprise, microcredit.

Environment

Global warming, pollution, pesticides and toxins, conservation of species and resources, trees and forests, sustainable living, waste and recycling, transportation.

Globalization and consumerism

Multinationals and responsible business practice, fairer trade and ethical consumption, consuming less.

Health

Battling HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other global diseases, water and sanitation, better health, sports and fitness, hunger and obesity, food and diet.

International development

Achieving the Millennium Development Goals, addressing inequality and social injustice in the world with skills, money, and ideas, recycling to benefit the worlds poor, paying off foreign debt, enhancing livelihoods, and using appropriate technology.

Peace

Ridding the world of weapons, waging war on war, promoting peace, preventing genocide.

Volunteering and citizenship

Getting your message across, being nice to others, gearing up for action, having the right attitudes, donating cash and raising money, giving in kind, volunteering your time.

Young people

Improving education and schools, fighting for childrens rights, supporting children in need, dealing with child abuse, providing opportunities for play and exercise, being a young activist.

Whats the big idea?

The world is full of all sorts of problems, including

HIV/AIDS, which is infecting more and more of the worlds population

A widening North-South divide

War and terror (and the War on Terror)

All the isms (racism, sexism, ageism, etc.) that deny people opportunities

Environmental degradation and pollution

A scarcity of water for living and working

Hunger for far too many of the worlds population

A lack of universal primary education

Corruption and bad governance in too much of the world

Abuse of human rights (including slavery and torture)

Global warming , which will have an impact on almost everything

and many more.

We all have our own ideas about whats wrong with the world. We argue about which are the most important issues. But everyone agrees that things could be a lot better than they are and that something really does need to be done. But what? Do we just leave it to governments and international institutions? Or are there things we can do that will actually make a difference?

The issues that confront us may seem so huge, so complicated, so difficult to deal with that its hard to believe that anything we can do will have a meaningful impact. But there are a lot of us in the world. A lot of people doing a lot of little things could have a huge impact. And by doing something, we are also demonstrating that lots of people really do care.

Together we can change the world. That is the idea underlying this book. Through the way we live, the adjustments we make in our lives, and the action we take on issues that really concern us, we can begin to make a difference.

This book has an idea a day for changing the world. Most are quite simple, can be done from home, and will not take up that much time. Some require a bit more time, energy, and commitment.

Get going on changing the world. You can make a start at anytime. But the best time is right now! Just open the book to todays date, read, enjoy, be inspired to actionand do something.

Visit www.365act.com: To complement the book, we have created a website that includes all the 365 ideas and many more. You will also be able to click on the weblinks to go straight to the sources of information listed in the book.

This book is just a starting point for an ideas bank for changing the world. We need your help, your ideas, the feedback from what you have tried to do in order to help us make our dreamof people everywhere doing all they can to change the worlda reality.

We look forward to hearing from you.

JANUARY 1

New Years Day

New Years REVOLUTION

The best way to predict the future is to invent it.

Alan Kay

New Years Day is traditionally a time for looking forward , when we resolve to make a fresh start, do better, try harder, live up to expectations. But all too often these resolutions evaporate by the time we have cleared up the remains of the previous nights party and almost certainly by the time we get in to work the next day.