Dear John,

Hello, peacemakers! Spring is here. This spring season, what seeds are sprouting in your spirit? What are you tending to in the soil of your soul? What do you want to grow in your community?

We'd love to explore these questions with you. Join us for our next Local Peace Economy Community Call on Wednesday, March 27th at 5:00 PT/8:00 ET.

During this call, we’ll be talking about mapping - why mapping is an important piece of our local peace economy journeys and how you might begin, if you haven't already. You can find more information about stories on page 117 of The Local Peace Economy Workbook.

If you weren't able to be with us during our last meeting, we hope you can join us this time. You can catch up on our last call here. You can also watch the recording of our introduction to the Local Peace Economy Workbook during our first meeting here.

Local Peace Economy Community Calls take place every other Wednesday at 5:00 PT/8:00 ET. Newcomers are always welcome. Stay up to date on all of CODEPINK’s events here.

Next Community Call Topic: Mapping

The war economy disconnects us from the place we live. We are conditioned to see ourselves as individuals, separate from the land and our neighbors. This makes us believe we are reliant upon the institutions of the war economy to get our needs met.

The practice of mapping can help us see who and what is already present in our community and cultivate relationships that lead to deeper connection to place and each other. Who has lived in your community before? What forces have shaped it? Who created the commons? What commons still exist? What has changed over time? Getting curious about questions like these is the start of community mapping.

Pivot to Peace

Transactional to Relational

Mapping helps us see more clearly the web of relationships that already exists in our community. The war economy tries to reduce all of our interactions into transactions. Transactions do not support life's thriving and steals what nourishes us and community.

When we live relationally, we are embracing the fullness of another person's humanity, or another being's Beingness, as well as our own. We recognize that relationships are the source of our personal and collective wellbeing. We tend to them not to "get something out of them" individually but as a way to care for ourselves and each other.

Where in your life are you living from a place of transaction rather than relationality? Where does the speed of transaction come automatically instead of the slower place of relating? What would it take to make one consistent interaction you have more relational?

Read more about the pivots to peace here.

Inspiration for the Journey

The local peace economy is all around us. Stories of the local peace economy inspire us and teach us how we can create a culture of peace together. On the Local Peace Economy Wiki, we’ve been gathering stories of local peace economy projects. Check out this story about how to localize our food systems - how to root them in relationship rather than transaction.

Resources

You can always find more resources for your local peace economy journey on CODEPINK’s website. Here are some helpful links:

• Lean into supported reflection by downloading or purchasing The Local Peace Economy Workbook
• Tend to yourself with The Cycle of (Re)connection
• Find a community of practice with The Local Peace Economy Ecosystem
• Get inspired by The Local Peace Economy Wiki

Please email Emily at [email protected] with any questions. We look forward to being with you on Wednesday, March 27th!

Take good care, 

Jodie and Emily

PS: If you missed our first email introducing The Local Peace Economy Workbook, you can learn more about it here!