what is service, and how do we get people excited about it? that’s where we started. where we’re at today is a focus on the idea of making our communities better by doing whatever it is we as people do. as designers and visual storytellers we’re part of a movement of artists, writers and creative culture makers who have set out to use our work to help build a better world. we designed a project around this idea and put it out there in hopes of getting people excited about service and making things better.

whatever (this) is, well that’s up to you, the visitor. in a general sense, everywhere we look — our schools, our health, our workers, our country, our planet — we are in need of serious improvement. yet, by volunteering our time, talents and energy people are making a difference every single day. it’s that special d.i.y. attitude in our local communities that has profound impact.

on this site we’ve come a long way. we’ve commented, critiqued, inspired, motivated, and celebrated. we’ve walked that thin line between cynicism and hope, anger and action. we are now asserting ourselves on the side of ideas over intolerance, building rather than belittling, love over hatred, “we’re all in the same boat” instead of “you’re on your own, this is my boat.” there’s just too much to be done if we want to get to a vibrant and robust society based on those democratic principles of freedom and equality FOR EVERYONE.

we’ve met a lot of great people since we started this site and look forward to more projects that create hope, change and progress. in the spirit of optimism, service and working together, onward! -jk-

for inspiration and ideas, please visit:

urban arts partnership
rock the vote
causecast
united we serve
current tv
nextaid
dosomething.org
takepart
the mighty united
serve.gov

Work to promote smart growth. That’s the gist. Smart growth. As opposed to growth that is not smart. I.E. dumb, silly or foolish growth, looking backwards, or regressing. That is the heart of sustainability and where it’s taking us.

With 6+ billion people on the planet and a projected 10 billion possible by mid-century we will need plenty of growing, building, and progressing if we’re going to deal with the many issues we have now and will have in the future. If we’re going to get away from the American style of 4 extra planet living, we need to be smart about it.

We’re on the brink. Not of death and destruction, but of a new, smart revolution, and it’s feeling pretty good. (more…)

profits are up, people are down, and the symbol for health care in america is burned black — tattered, torn, cracked and crumbling, despite patchwork attempts at reform. ha! the sad fact: we have the most pathetic, inefficient, ruthless health care system on the planet. and we have an ingrained aversion to the -ism we dare not speak and government intervention we claim so feverishly to be the most hideous of outcomes. as it will apparently lead us to a weak, dependent society. and with that, complete moral decay. or something like that.

as a system, the headline reads: just don’t get sick. in the vocabulary of pre-existing conditions, “experimental” surgery, and high risk, the business of health is a highly profitable, money-making machine. it’s a racket. and a disgrace to the idea of life and liberty. while the ever-so-simple-answer of single-payer is mocked in the establishment press and denounced as some great evil.

well maybe, but you tell me another way to create a simple answer to the most budget-crushing question of our time and i’ll be happy to forego my demands. those being: cover everyone, and treat us like people. -jk-

The future belongs to the society that best educates its citizens. And we citizens should determine the success of our nation, city or community not by what we can collectively destroy, but what we can build. In a world where the old norms have been wiped from the earth and everything is undergoing a grand remaking, it’s time now, to demand, the investment in our minds that will spring us into the next.

Right now, we, the United States, spend more money on our military than the rest of the world combined. And a culture of militarism persists. In these last decades, we have chosen to cut funding and ignore our crumbling services that are the very nature of what a government is supposed to do. We have allowed our schools to degrade into a shameful apparatus of failure while pumping more money into that which kills: more bombs, more tanks, more robots for war.

Continuing to spend half our budget on our war machine and expect our tools of government to foster prosperity is preposterous. We can no longer underfund education, thereby funding costly ignorance, and expect to lead in this world. We’re falling behind. In business, invention, technology, and ideas. We get what we pay for. In the uncertainty of “what is next,” will we be the ones able to comprehend the transformative thinking necessary to participate in life on this planet after we’ve come to realize the existential changes coming at us at increasing speed? -jk-

We are bottom-up. Youth savvy. Tech friendly. Bold idea generating. And we’re organized — a worthy band of realistic idealists ready for the challenges ahead.

The fringe existence of our social and environmental justice movements now pulses through the old channels and makes our message for truth and equality known. Right in the face of savage capitalism, our collective moment in history has arrived.

And all of them must go! The greed pushers and the wealth snatchers. The naysayers and the obstructionists. The corrupt and the selfish. The laissez-faire. The trickle-down. The big polluters and the big moneyed interests that have sacrificed our common, public good in the name of private gain for far, too, long.

We are on the verge of a monumental, transformational shift in our way of living on this Earth. More equitable. More sustainable. More just. More diverse and inclusive, positive and collective. Open-minded, creative thinking and community led. Energized, mobilized, and ready to usher in our new progressive era in the only way it ever happens — by and for, the people. -jk-

The “War On Terror” has shaped our thinking for far too long. It is time we cease using such an outmoded way of viewing the world. Wars aren’t a proper frame for our existence. We’re in the midst of a new creation. A new vision. A new dawning of what could be our finest era of progress that sets out our future in the long view.

We’ve come a long way these last eight years. We’ve grown up a bit. And we’re in the process of coming of age in a transforming world. One challenging in its complexity yet inspiring in its connectivity. Both ruthless and blessed. At times full of hate, other times full of hope. Most of all, full of energy. People are energized. People are hopeful, working for a brighter tomorrow. We’re moving beyond petty bickering, bitching, slandering and whining. We’re acknowledging the negative and focusing on the positive. Because cynics are a dime a dozen.

With so much going for us, so much possibility, it would be best, for our frame of mind, in an act of unwavering confidence, a cathartic act of vindication and honest relief, from this day forth, that we toss out that tired slogan known as the “War On Terror.” (more…)

We suckle like babe to bottle on black gold. Our lungs breath in that sweet, sweet crude, even as the canary chirps on the window sill. The laws we enact pound down billions in quarterly profits while a media lens pities all that those poor misunderstood fat cat executives sacrifice to deliver us to the American Dream. And we hum the battle hymn of the republic, “drill baby, drill.” Just so long as the oil is cheap, and their sand stays the hell out of our way.

A favorite topic on the PTTP site is oil. And its grip — its pervasive infiltration is driving our very existence. From cheap energy mind, to cheap energy lifestyle.

But in the everywhere that is this fossil fuel economy, there is impending reality: the way we do things is not sustainable, there is no longview, and we won’t be able to do it much longer. Hence, the task at hand. Change the cheap energy mindset, change the cheap energy way we do things. Problem solved. (more…)

The following is a work in progress, are words or phrases certain people will use as reasons for not doing things, are great cloaking devices, makes me chuckle.

The Liberal Media. Socialized Medicine. Big Government Is the Problem. The Free Market. The Patriot Act. Free Trade. They Want to Raise Your Taxes. They Are Taking Your Jobs. They Hate Our Freedom. Pro-Life. War On Terror. Trickle-Down Economics. Small Town Values. Family Values. Pull Yourself Up By Your Bootstraps. Liberal Latte Drinking Elites. It Would Hurt the Economy. The United States Does Not Torture. Out of My Cold Dead Hands. What’s In It for Me. An Imminent Threat. Ownership Society. They’re Just Lazy. Unlimited Growth. 9/11 Changed Everything. The American Dream. -jk-

by Justin Kemerling

One of the most powerful, single images of the last seven years has been that figure. Standing there isolated. Arms outstretched, wires attached to his fingers. That hooded figure. Beckoning for some sort of reason in the madness. A why. A how. And there is one explanation in that inhuman display that strikes the root problem of our democratic experiment.

The people are at the mall.

We the people say it’s terrible, horrific, but… we’re in the war on terror, we have to defend the nation. Part of that is ramping up the consumer engine of shop-shop-shop so there’s no time to second guess. We must continue our spending resolve so the terrorists don’t win. The hood might as well have polka dots on it, the new fall fashion. We probably would pay more attention. Really, if it’s not on sale and doesn’t fill up our tanks at less than $3 a gallon, then we don’t care. (more…)

by Justin Kemerling

We are moving toward the light. Taking on the responsibility of global citizenship, a beautiful mosaic of individuals and collectives are working on a high-charged, transformational, mighty unleashing of creativity and rethinking. An intentional act of setting things right.

We are a movement. Embracing social justice, environmental harmony and the rights of indigenous cultures that has become the immune system response to a world hell-bent on unsustainable, cut throat ruthlessness. It is greed and selfishness no more!

We are making a new, sustainable model. Living and working as if there is going to be a spectacular tomorrow. (more…)