A compelling mystery was solved as I attended a three evening talk, Heroic Futures, by futurist Alex Steffen, a TED Fellow who co-created the WorldChanging movement and book. As all of us more fully realize climate change, reversing it depends on all of us changing. The speaker gave us a way to realize hope: co-creating a culture of innovation as the Harlem Renaissance and Paris of the 1920’s did. It is developed by stories.

My name is Alice Green and I'm 72 years old. For more than 20 years, I've lived in a wonderful cohousing condominium community in Berkeley, California. But I'll lose my home in a few months - and with it, the community I consider my family - unless the government agrees to let me reverse mortgage my home.

(Fall, 2016 Update: We were surprised and delighted by the response we got to this, over 10,000 signatures in one weekend! It got the government's attention, and we ended up going to DC and meeting with HUD staff and shifting FHA policy. But since differences in city and federal guidelines around our unique community are keeping us from pursuing this path (for now), and I'd rather do this in a way that benefits my friends and neighbors rather than a big commercial bank, I'm making do with what I have for now, and continuing to work, and with my neighbor Raines and others we're researching and co-creating  community alternatives, like a Revolving Loan Fund and/or Permanent Real Estate Coop, perhaps in partnership with a Land Trust and Community Loan Fund. Read the recent articles in this section for more. )