Goodbye McMansion, Hello Simple Life: What I Learned From Thoreau
The philosopher’s lessons include how to let go and find happiness—even after crippling debt and a heartbreaking divorce.
YES! Article archive
Issues
I Owed My Parents Everything—But My Son Will Owe Me Nothing
Why family debts shouldn’t be about money or expectations, but about love.
The Interest-Free Lending Circles That Help Friends and Families Do DIY Loans
Who needs banks when you have communities? And organizations like Mission Asset Fund have even figured out how to use the system to raise credit scores.
When Energy Bills Skyrocketed, These Neighbors Banded Together to Keep the Lights On—And Won
For nearly 20 years, utility company Central Hudson has operated more or less unchallenged—until Nobody Leaves Mid-Hudson came along.
The Last Gift of Eduardo Galeano: Stories of History for the Sake of the Future
The Uruguayan journalist and historian authored more than 40 books, but his legacy will live on in our cultural imagination.
A Lifelong Search for Real Education
Grace Lee and Jimmy Boggs brought people together to rebuild inner-city Detroit and to teach the things you can’t learn in a classroom. At 94, Grace is still at it.
Grace Boggs: Reviving the Lost City
The YES! Breakthrough 15: A decades-long revolution to rekindle the soul of urban neighborhoods.
Terry Tempest Williams: “Survival Becomes a Spiritual Practice”
The author and activist talks with YES! about millennials, climate change, and how she can't imagine being alive at "a more thrilling, challenging time."
How to Make Your Own Toothpaste, Lip Balm, and Deodorant—Without Nasty Chemicals
And 2 other recipes for cleaning up naturally.
For These Borrowers and Lenders, Debt Is a Relationship Based on Love
There could be a different financial system, one where debt allows us to honor our freedom rather than our servitude.
Hero or Coward: Could Skipping My Student Loan Payments Start a Revolution?
A college professor is calling for a massive student-debt strike next year with only one necessity: that as many debtors as possible refuse to pay.
When Gamers and Activists Collide, It’s Not About Winning—It’s About Social Change
From computer screens to street play, these three game developers are redefining the medium by revealing a powerful new social potential in games.
Will Government Make Good on Its Promise to Forgive Student Debt?
Up to a quarter of the nation’s workers have spent 10 years working in public service on a promise of student loan forgiveness.
Infographic: A History of Debt Forgiveness and Relief
As long as there has been lending, there have been times when the people’s debt becomes a crisis. Here’s a look at the policy solutions governments have been using, starting in ancient Sumer.
6 Strategies to Make Powerful Social Change—Starting With “Stay Woke”
Bree Newsome’s removal of the Confederate flag from the South Carolina Statehouse reminds us that real change comes from people power.
Own a Home in Just Four Years? This Co-Op Program Keeps Workers in the Neighborhood
Nearly half of Evergreen’s worker-owners have purchased homes through the program.
Why We Did an Issue on Debt
Good debts? We know it sounds crazy. But there’s a quiet revolution brewing in how we move money around, and we want our readers to know about it.
“Don’t Owe. Won’t Pay.” Everything You’ve Been Told About Debt Is Wrong
With the nation’s household debt burden at $11.85 trillion, even the most modest challenges to its legitimacy have revolutionary implications.
Only 11 Percent of Kids’ Books Are About Characters of Color
Total cost of Social Security in 2013: $823 billion
Total income of Social Security in 2013: $855 billion
Current accumulated surplus reserve of Social Security: $2.8 trillion (1)
Infographic: The Real Reason You Have So Much Debt (It’s Not Crazy Spending)
$11.85 trillion in household debt has more to do with stagnant wages (and predatory banks) than shopping sprees.
The Indigenous Rituals That Heal Us
How the Medicine Wheel can guide us to transform communities that have suffered from racial injustice
What Native Hawaiian Culture Can Teach Us About Gender Identity
As the documentary Kumu Hina reveals, living between both genders is the more powerful “mahu" way.
One Poem That Saved a Forest
How the friendship between a poet and a timber baron kept a grove of California redwoods from clear-cutting.
Swapping Screen Time for Getting Dirty: Why Kids Need to Spend More Time Outside
In his book “How to Raise a Wild Child,” Dr. Scott D. Sampson argues that the current disconnect between kids and the natural world is a threat to their physical, mental, and emotional health.
Truth and Reconciliation at Work: How These Commissions Help Heal Wounds From Racial Injustice
Fania Davis explains how Truth and Reconciliation Commissions can help communities heal from a history of racial violence and oppression.
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