In these troubled and increasingly dystopian times, the concept of ‘looking forward’ to the coming year may seem strange to people understandably filled with trepidation about what’s to come. We totally understand that and would be lying if we didn’t admit that we’re more than a bit fearful about what’s coming down the line to us in 2022. We’re using the words ‘looking forward’ in the context of rising to the many challenges 2022 will be throwing at us.

From the fourth industrial revolution that seeks to tie us into a de-humanising matrix of high tech control divorced from nature through to the adverse impacts of a changing climate, there will be challenges aplenty to deal with. Without wanting to be hyperbolic, the next few years will in various ways, be the most challenging we’ve ever faced. Bear in mind that this piece is written by someone who has over forty five years of activism in one form or another under their belt!

When you look at the array of problems we face that adversely impact our lives and are damaging the planet that’s our home, they all stem from pretty much one direction – a self serving, technocratic (techno-fascist even) elite that cares not a jot for the lives of us mere plebs. By various means, fair and if needs be foul, we have to stop these bastards in their tracks and start bringing power back down to the grassroots in our communities. We have to do that in a way that rebuilds the connection with nature we should have to be fully rounded human beings.

As we have written and said many times before, one way of achieving this is by starting to build the new world we want in the shell of the dysfunctional, decaying, dystopian one we currently have to endure. One way of doing this is setting up or supporting grassroots projects that give people a collective sense of empowerment, autonomy and start to free us from the all embracing matrix of high tech that will inevitably end up de-humanising us.

There are arguably as many ways of setting up a grassroots project as there are projects themselves. Part of what Alternative Estuary has always been about is encouraging people to share their experiences of the projects they’re involved in and the lessons learned from them. We’ve also been about encouraging mutual aid and solidarity so when a project needs extra help on an initiative, people from other projects are willing and able to step in and volunteer their time and energy.

2022 is going to be a challenging year in many ways. As grassroots activists, we have to recognise that we can’t do this alone – we need the support and mutual aid we can offer each other. Our aim in 2022 is to see Alternative Estuary play a part in helping to build the kind of network of grassroots activists that is considerably greater than the sum of its parts. We look forward to as many of you as possible joining us in helping to achieve this.