Worldchanging offers greener ways to imagine a future changed world. (Image from the NYPL Digital Gallery.)

The latest issue of ReadyMade arrived in the mail last week, and I was happy to find within it an interview with Alex Steffen, one of the forces behind Worldchanging, an organization committed to promoting and supporting efforts to build truly sustainable ways to live. In the interview, Steffen states:

"I'm really excited about a movement that doesn't have a name yet. I see a common cause out there. There's this culture-wide movement amongst smart, usually young people to know what's behind the systems that you're dealing with. It includes anything from the whole new crafting-DIY aesthetic to people who are messing around with their local food supply and starting local farmers' market and CSAs; people doing biodiesel cooperatives or sustainable design. This movement of people is defying the fundamental expectation that marketers place on Americans."

Current interest in the handmade is indeed tied as often to an individual's commitment to redefining one's relationship to what he or she consumes as it is simply linked to a creative urge or a certain style. And Steffen's organization Worldchanging is a go-to source for education and inspiration when it comes to rethinking the stuff in one's life. So if your handmade tendencies sprout from an interest in upcycling, recycling, and stepping outside common consumption habits, check out Worldchanging online and also take a look at Worldchanging: A User's Guide for the 21st Century. NYPL has copies at the Science, Industry, and Business Library as well as in its branches. You might be surprised at how closely your crafty habits can be aligned with the green movement.