Cultural Creatives

["Dena Marchant" <dena@aha.com>]

A nice article from the Seattle Times on "Cultural Creatives."

Full Article: http://www.commondreams.org/headlines01/0422-03.htm

Excerpt:
"...
A survey commissioned by The Merck Family Fund, a foundation that
          promotes environmental sustainability, found 28 percent of U.S.
citizens
          voluntarily made changes in the past five years that resulted in a
drop in
          income. They live more lightly now. They don't want bigger SUVs.
They
          want time to spend with their families and their communities,
including
          volunteering.

          These people are not all New Agers, not all old hippies and not,
as has
          been suggested, all from California.

          Market researchers Paul H. Ray and Sherry Ruth Anderson, Ph.D.s
who
          believe there may be as many as 50 million people in the U.S. who
are
          realigning their lives to better reflect their values, call this
group "Cultural
          Creatives."

          These wide-ranging folks have lost faith in the large institutions
of
          modern life, including both major political parties, according to
Ray and
          Anderson, who've written a book, "Cultural Creatives: How 50
Million
          People Are Changing the World," based on 14 years of research.

          So instead of working through those large institutions, these
people get
          their own back yards in order - donating time, getting involved in
local
          politics or, literally, putting in drought-friendly gardens
instead of
          watering their lawns. They start with local and personal change
and then
          look at their impact on the world: Does our need for cheap goods
and
          high profits, for instance, create sweatshops in foreign countries
and
          damage the environment?

..."