Dear Reader,

Picture this: you’re driving down the highway, windows rolled down, music blaring, not a care in the world. As your mind drifts, you start thinking about how you’re going to start your day. Head to the gym, get lunch with friends, maybe go shopping. Why is this scene so easy to picture?

It’s cliche for a reason.

For most of us reading this magazine, life is pretty good. As Americans, we take great pride in our choices, freedoms, wants, and desires. It's far too easy to get caught up in what is going on in our own little world. We don’t often think that somewhere, someone is paying the price for our lifestyle.

In this publication, we aspire to bridge the social divide that a rapidly globalizing society creates. Everyone, not just a fraction of the world, has the right to decide their own future. In Dying for Protection, Stephanie LeBourdais discusses what happens when rights to medicine are infringed upon in the midst of a global epidemic.

Our issue explores how people are reclaiming their futures through the concept of self-reliance. We believe that self-reliance can exist anywhere from the individual to the global level. It does not create isolation; rather it brings people together. Panita Khampoosa examines how even the most unexpected communities are creatively finding ways to be self-reliant in her article, Backyard Solutions.

By taking steps toward self-reliance, communities are able to decrease dependence on the systems that hinder their ability to decide their own future. In her documentary, Dam Nation, Sara Schaumburg portraits how the disconnect between those who manage local resources and those who use them threatens a way of life.

We are pleased to include pieces by environmental activist and philosopher Dr. Vandana Shiva and Thai scholar Sulak Sivaraksa, both internationally recognized human rights advocates and winners of the Right Livelihood Award.

As a bi-annual publication and forum, we greatly appreciate your feedback. We hope these features provide you with a means of reflection and inspiration to change your little world.

Sincerely,

Angela Kassahun
Stephanie LeBourdais
Julia MacGlashan