Ripples in the Shed

(Note: This piece has evolved through discussion, collaboration, and lived experience. It began as “From Passive Consumers to Active Citizens: Six Steps Toward Collective Action.” But through feedback (thanks everyone that got involved) and reflection, we realised: this isn’t a tidy sequence of steps. It’s not a straight path. It’s more like a dance.

The journey toward collective action moves in rhythms, not rules. You find the others by voicing your feelings. You decide what matters. You explore your role, which will likely shift over time. You build trust through action. You reimagine the future, again and again.

These are movements you return to. Shapes you learn and improvise with. So, instead of steps, we now offer this as a dance: one where you practice the moves, feel the tempo, and respond as needed.)

I recently found myself standing in a shed at the ACTionism weekender, surrounded by ideas and dreams of transformation. I was stood with citizens that are reimagining education. Transforming school canteens. Redesigning the built environment. Repairing our things, restructuring finance, reconnecting people to nature, telling stories of possible futures, supporting legislation to transform care, creating collective action - and much more. It was energising, all that ambition, creativity, possibility, in one space.

All those ideas and dreams of transformation are sending out ripples that are beginning to overlap. At the weekender ACTionism felt like a living movement.

"At Actionism Camp I was reminded of teaching an A-Level social psychology lesson on minority influence. Research shows that for social change to happen, the minority must show consistency, commitment, and flexibility – and I saw all three alive this weekend. Magical.

It felt like building community. A place where I belonged, amongst incredible people who believe in the interconnected nature of us all, and the importance of valuing our relationships with ourselves, with each other, and with the world. And of course, no community is complete without eating together! " Shenel Shefik

What brought us together wasn’t just shared meals and workshops. It was a deeper search for agency, belonging, and the will to act, together.

On the journey home, I began writing. I started with “steps” toward collective action. But the more I reflected, the more I realised: these aren’t steps. They’re movements, part of a larger, dynamic dance we’re all learning in real time.

From Passive Consumers to Active Citizens: The Dance of Collective Action

Six Interwoven Movements

- Face the Truth, Together
- Decide What Matters, Together
- Find Your Role in the Work
- Build Local Relationships & Trust
- Take Collective Action
- Reimagine the Future, Together

Face the Truth, Together

Feel what’s real. The grief, fear, anger, and overwhelm in response to a world in crisis. These feelings are not weaknesses, they are openings. Share them with others. When we voice what’s true, we create connection. When we face the truth together, we build the foundation for something new.

Why it matters: Unspoken fear isolates us. But naming what we feel breaks through paralysis and ignites collective energy. It signals to others: you’re not alone.

Decide What Matters, Together

Come together, in your community, workplace, or shared space, and ask: What do we care about? What are we protecting, restoring, or creating?

This isn’t about big numbers. It’s about meaningful connections. From shared meals to repair cafés to small conversations, these are the spaces where common purpose begins to grow.

Why it matters: When we reclaim the power to decide what matters, we remember that we don’t need permission to take action.

Find Your Role in the Work

You don’t need to do everything. You don’t need to be perfect. You just need to find your place. Maybe you cook, organise, listen, design, teach, repair, or tell stories. Every role matters. Every contribution helps shape the whole.

Look around. What’s already happening? Where could you add energy? What do you love?

Why it matters: Movements thrive when people commit to what they can offer. Action becomes more sustainable, more joyful, and more real.

Build Local Relationships & Trust

Before any big change, there’s relationship. Trust isn’t built overnight, it grows through showing up, ACTing, listening, helping out, and staying connected.

In every community, trust is the mycelium: invisible but essential. It’s what holds everything together.

Why it matters: Change moves at the speed of trust. Without it, action fractures. With it, we can weather anything.

Take Collective Action

This is where ideas take form. Join or start something that creates real-world alternatives: energy co-ops, food growing schemes, tool libraries, repair cafés, community kitchens, workplace transitions. This is where hope meets practice.

Why it matters: These projects don’t just respond to crisis—they model the future. They show that another world is possible, and already in progress.

Reimagine the Future, Together

Don’t just resist, dream. Use story, art, ritual, listening, imagination. Envision systems built on care, justice, and belonging. Dreaming isn’t a distraction, it’s direction.

Why it matters: In times of collapse, imagining a different future is an act of defiance and renewal. Hope is a resource. Shared imagination, a form of power.

The Result

When we engage in this dance, this rhythm of feeling, connecting, acting, imagining, we begin to shift not just what we do, but who we are together.

These movements, practiced in relationship, spark real change. They ripple out, shaping neighbourhoods, networks, and systems. They form the roots of a resilient, just, and regenerative future.

True agency is always collective. And when enough people start moving, something powerful begins to form. A shared rhythm. A collective vision. A new chapter in our human story.

Let’s share our feelings. Let’s dance. Let’s throw out some shapes.

From that rhythm, messy, joyful, human - our collective agency will rise.