Hello world! This is the start of the Activated Blog.

What's in a name?

I have been (slowly) making my way from somewhat informed individual to active citizen. This blog is to document what I'm doing along the way to become more engaged and informed about policies and politics. In short, how I'm getting activated as a citizen. For now, this is largely for myself; it's a way to take whatever it is I've done in a week, write and reflect on it, and decide what to do next. It's also for you, reader, if you're also muddling through how to become more engaged with your government and civic life. This blog will hopefully give you some ideas, as well as remind you that you're not alone in trying to figure out how to become more engaged.

Why a new blog? How often?

The type of work I want to do doesn't lend itself to current social media platforms. I want to write about what I'm learning and doing, be able to either give an overview or a deep dive, and fully own that content. I want to be able to publicly share that information to keep myself accontable, and share it for anyone who might find it useful. Hence, a blog!

I'll be aiming to post about once a week; perhaps more frequently if a lot is going on, less frequently during holidays and time away.

What issues will be written about?

The overarching issue that got me activated is climate change. As I've gotten older, I've gotten more and more worried about climate change. After the birth of my child, the alarms going off in my mind have gone from a low hum to a loud siren... and I am still struggling to figure out what to do about it. The vastness of the challenge of climate change is the catalyst for me to get involved with trying to do something to fix or transform the systems that led us here.

There are many other issues I care about as well, and are connected to how we got to an overheating planet; racism, sexism, poverty & income inequality, education disparaties, an unjust justice system... just to name a few. I sometimes feel overwhelmed by the vastness of what we need to change about our world to keep it. For now, I am focused on climate change, not because those other issues are not deserving of advocacy and solutions, but because I recognize that I cannot do everything. I'm choosing the issue that will keep me coming back to do more work each week.