I just returned from attending one of the most unique gatherings of men and women I have ever experienced. It was put on by BALLE (Business Alliance for Local Living Economies). http://www.livingeconomies.org/

My guess is that you haven’t heard of BALLE. They are part of a movement that Paul Hawken describes in his new book Blessed Unrest. The subtitle of the book is How the Largest Movement in the World Came into Being and Why No One Saw It Coming. You might be surprised to learn that you are part of the movement and don’t even know it.

This was the fifth annual BALLE conference, but the first one I had attended. I had known about the other gatherings from long-time movement leader David Korten who is one of the founders of BALLE. His most recent book, The Great Turning: From Empire to Earth Community, gives one of the clearest pictures I’ve seen about the nature of the world-wide problems we share, but more importantly what we can do to turn things around.

BALLE is an international alliance of 52 independently operated business networks with more than 15,000 members dedicated to building Local Living Economies. They envision a sustainable global economy made up of Local Living Economies that build long-term economic and prosperity through local business ownership, economic justice, and environmental stewardship.

For three days I met with people from around the

U.S.

and throughout the world to accomplish some exciting tasks:

1) To re-define what it means to be a successful entrepreneur in the Twenty-first century.

2) To learn how to build more self-reliant communities, and

3) To share concrete solutions that others can use in their own communities.

I encourage you to check out BALLE. You may already be aligned with their principals and wish to join. You may find that you’d like to shift your work focus to be doing work that is more self-fulfilling and more in keeping with what the planet needs.

Paul Hawken is a long-time colleague. He is an environmentalist, entrepreneur, journalist, and bestselling author of seven books. His most recent, Blessed Unrest, is the first of its kind on the planet. With so much "bad news" about global warming, peak oil, populations expanding, and economies failing, it is easy to become discouraged. Yet Paul gives us great reason for optimism.

He has gathered information on a word-wide movement made up of environmental organizations, social justice initiatives, and indigenous cultural resistance to globalization. What’s more he’s put all this together in a world-wide internet platform called WiserEarth (WISER standing for World Index of Social and Environmental Responsibility, www.wiserearth.org. It is now the largest database of its kind in world, listing organizations in 243 countries. Check them out and see if your favorite organization is listed.

There’s also room to add new organizations, if your favorite is not listed. So here’s a question for my readers. What is the nature of your work? In what ways does it satisfy your needs for self-fulfillment? Is what ways does it add value to the world? Do you feel hopeful about the state of the world in the future?

Everyone can join wiserearth.org. I just joined. Check it and let me know what you think.

Jed Diamond, author Male Menopause & The Irritable Male Syndrome

www.MenAlive.com

www.TheIrritableMale.com