It’s not all about being a po-faced do-gooder, you know: you can actually enjoy yourself while you save the world. Here’s how.
Click any of the images to see them at a larger size.
LEAVE A DEPOSIT
Shop dropping is the opposite of shop-lifting: instead of taking from a store, you leave something.
Slip a note into a jacket pocket, pin a badge onto a lapel, or leave a drawing between the pages of a book: a political message for a future shopper to find.
Works particularly well for spreading the word on issues like sweatshop conditions, the living wage, and undesirable business connections.
This action may contravene the law in some jurisdictions: proceed with caution.
Image by Kate Charlesworth
MAKE A JOKE
If humour is your strong suit, we need you now more than ever.
Things that make us laugh spread like wildfire online: you can smuggle important political messages in there, too.
Plus couldn’t we all do with a little more laughter in the world?
Image by Jim Medway
CRAFT YOUR PROTEST
Sarah Corbett found traditional methods of protest to be aggressive, loud and unkind – so she embraced Craftivism, a gentler form of protest.
Her project to give embroidered handkerchiefs to the Marks and Spencers board worked: it brought about a change in policy that saw a higher-than Living Wage being introduced for the department stores’ workers.
Craftivism encourages contemplation, community and critical thinking — and anyone can do it.
Image by Joan Reilly
RAISE FUNDS
Now more than ever, charities and services need money.
Fundraising needn’t be dreary: just find a way of making some money from what you enjoy, whether that’s running a craft fair, selling plant cuttings or drawing pictures.
Image by Steve Reynolds
BE A RAGING GRANNY
Your rampaging days are not over just because you’re a grandparent.
According to Raging Grannies International, “The delights of grannying include: dressing like innocent little old ladies so we can get close to our ‘target’, writing songs from old favourites that skewer modern wrongs, satirising evil-doing in public and getting everyone singing about it[…]. Grannying is the least understood yet most powerful weapon we have.”
This action may contravene the law in some jurisdictions (depending on what you do, of course!): proceed with caution.
Image by Rachael Ball
SWAP THEM OUT
Changing your social media avatar or your mobile ringtone sounds pretty frivolous, doesn’t it?
But these small injections of your political beliefs into everyday situations can spread the word far and wide: every time your phone rings, every time you comment on a thread seen by others.
Image by Tessa Astre
BEAR WITNESS
The work of comic artists like Olivier Kugler and Kate Evans show us that documentary or reportage drawing can be a powerful tool.
As comic artists we might feel that we don’t have much to offer when faced with gross injustices, poverty, or warfare. But we can tell stories, and in a very immediate way.
A way that can change minds, soften hearts, even alter the political discourse.
Image by Sousa Machado Arts
DIVERSIFY YOUR BOOKCASE
Seek out and read stories, books and comics created marginalised people. Recommend them to others. It’s a win-win: not only are you increasing your knowledge about a different world view, but you’re supporting the authors too.
Image by Amanda Priebe
VOLUNTEER
For many charities and organisations, time is just as precious as money. Give both if you can; but if money is tight, see if you can offer hands-on help.
From helping at a food bank to running social media for an awareness campaign, there’s always plenty to do.
Image by Nate Macabuag
START A CLUB
Casserole clubs are an Aussie concept: volunteers share extra portions of home-cooked food with people in their area who aren’t always able to cook for themselves — the elderly, the disabled, the lonely. Cooks share once a week, once a month, or whenever works best for them.
Image by Laura Sorvala
HACK YOUR STREETS
With cutbacks to local authorities, who’s going to make improvements and repairs to our streets?
Here’s a radical idea — you!
Naturally, this one isn’t strictly legal (although in some places, local councils are training residents up to fill minor potholes) so it will all depend on your perception of the balance between doing good, and staying within the law.
This action may contravene the law in some jurisdictions: proceed with caution.
Image by Steve Reynolds
MEET THE NEIGHBOURS
Run a zocalo. Named after the Mexican city square, a zocalo is a simple scheme to encourage neighbourhood community.
The official Zocalo website says: “On Zocalo Day we invite you to step out from your home, plonk a chair on the street and get to know your neighbours. Of course, if you want to share tea and biscuits with them, all the better. Zocalos are mercifully free of fund-raising, red tape, council intervention and bunting. And with any luck, at the end of the night you’ll find you’ve acquired a whole load of new friends who just happen to live down the road”.
Some of those new friends might be people who are very much in need of a neighbourhood community, to combat loneliness or because they find it difficult to leave the house.
Image by Amy Lam
SHARE YOUR SKILLS
Run a workshop to share your practical knowledge, whether that’s about cooking, gardening, bike repair, plumbing…or anything else that will help people save money.
Image by Jenny Drew
PLANT RADICAL ROOTS
Start a community gardening project where everyone reaps what you sow together.
You’re growing cheap, healthy food, and at the same time, creating friendships, getting fresh air and exercise, improving mental health, and reducing the amount of fruit and veg that needs to travel half way round the world.
Image by Zara Slattery
CRANK UP THE SINGER
If you’re handy with a sewing machine, making your own clothes means that you can opt out of the multinational fashion business, which often exploits workers, ships garments half way round the world, and dictates how women should look.
Fashion-loving blogger Ivy Arch set herself a challenge to stay away from clothes shops for a year, in 2013, and never went back. As a result, she’s now got one of the most personal and eclectic wardrobes you’ve ever seen.
Image by Jacqueline Nicholls
INDULGE IN CONSUMERISM
Don’t feel guilty about going on a little shopping spree — just make sure you’re buying the t-shirt, badge or mug from an organisation whose cause you support.
Image by Ally Shwed
ESCHEW THE NEW
Buy second hand. You’ll be benefiting a charity if it’s from a thrift store, or helping out the seller if you buy direct.
Either way, you’ll be circumventing big business and shrinking your carbon footprint.
Image by Myfanwy Tristram
EXPOSE YOUR KIDS
Make sure your children are reading books and watching movies that present a diverse range of characters and expose them to worlds outside their own.
Choose entertainment that will help shape them into true citizens of the world.
Image by Sally Kindberg
GO CROSS-COUNTRY
Taking fewer flights can be a reward in itself, if you take time to enjoy the journey as well as the destination.
Work in some extra time to go by train, boat, bus, bicycle, or a combination of all the above.
Image by Myfanwy Tristram
KICK IT OLD-SCHOOL
Got access to a photocopier or printer? Make a zine, then hand it out at a gig or political meeting. Whee, it’s just like the 80s all over again.
Image by Rachael House
MEME IT UP
If something strikes you as politically outrageous, world-changing or important to know, ain’t nothing like a meme to get it out there.
Visit a site like memegenerator.net, stick it on Twitter or Facebook and bob’s your uncle.
Image by Henri Tervapuro
WRITE SONGS
The catchier the tune, the more likely it is to spread.
So, what if you wrote a hummable tune that listed all the lies politicians had told, like Chequeado did in Argentina? Or an anthem that got people up and protesting?
If music is your superpower, use it.
Image by Maël Estevez
GROW WILD
We depend on bees for many of our fruits and vegetables, but since 1945 the UK has lost 97% of it wildflower-rich meadows on which many species of bees depend.
Why not grow your own mini wildflower meadow or create a bee friendly habitat for your community, school or workplace?
If you have a space big enough, Friends of the Earth will provide kits and support to get you going and keep our world buzzing.
Image by Birta Thrastardottir
PUT DOWN YOUR PHONE
Communications technology is a very powerful tool for fostering connection. In fact, only one thing is more powerful: real life.
Being in the world, talking in person, sharing an embrace, plugging into nature and not a device. When you really want to connect, whether inside yourself or with others, put the phone down and meet IRL.
Image by Bishakh Som
All artwork on this page is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Draw The Line 