Build Community

Small investments of time in community building can garner significant and immediate personal returns (conviviality, inspiration) and possible longer-term benefits (safety and support). Transition Towns and Community Emergency Response Teams (CERTs) are two programs that can help dramatically improve community resilience. Volunteering at local nonprofits and participating in faith communities builds both relationships and community resilience. Knowing concerned and skilled neighbors, working together to address weaknesses in the community, and creating a response plan—Where do we meet up? Can we help one another install emergency water storage?—all help build long-term safety and increase peace of mind.

Close-to-home investments are so pleasing because they easily satisfy other needs: they are fun and they connect you with your community, often across generations. Learning how to knit socks from Nana is a great way to invest a Friday night. These nonfinancial investments in health, heart, and hearth are deceptively powerful, offering returns that are valuable beyond measure. The sense of purpose, satisfaction, connection with land, self, and others—these are all factors that many would cite as what makes life worth living.