We've only got four minutes to save the world*

It's a brave new world, friends. It's also a mildly terrifying world, we'll admit. With so many pieces of legislation in the congressional pipeline as of late seemingly hell-bent on doing severe and lasting damage to wild places around the country, we as a global collective of trail-lovers have miles to go before we sleep.

Conservation and protection of wilderness and public lands doesn't have to be a partisan issue. We all need wilderness. We all need public lands that are protected, utilized sustainably, and thoughtfully managed. 

We know the news (and social media channels) can be overwhelming. It's hard to know where to begin to try to help enact positive change, and how best to keep important forward momentum. But we want you to know you aren't alone. We're all in this together, and together, our voices are louder, stronger, and able to effect more change. We as individuals and as an entity are here for this fight, no matter how uphill the daily struggle might feel. So, in an attempt to be helpful, we put together an activism resource list to help you use your voice when you're ready. Ready? Let's dive in! 

Go Go Gadget Daily Activism

We've committed to doing at least 15 minutes of activism a day. It isn't much, but it's a start, and we've been pleasantly surprised by how doable daily activism is, without it feeling at all overwhelming. We've found lists to be a great help in this endeavor, both to keep resources organized, and to keep the activism itself within daily reach. Here's our list of resources that have been most helpful in allowing us to use our voices as of late. We're sharing it here in the hope it may be helpful to you, too. There are so many ways we can fight for public lands, for wilderness, and for the marginalized populations in this country, but these are the resources / organizations / websites we've found the most consistently helpful.
They're all listed below with links and brief descriptions:

• Resistance Manual! Community/open-source. Kind of like Wikipedia for current events. Great resource for keeping up with issues (and legislation) as they’re evolving, and resistance action items for every situation if/when you feel like taking some action.
• Natural Resources Defense Council : Action items/advocacy centered on natural resources/wilderness protection.
• 5Calls.org : This site is AWESOME for phone calls. The premise: Spend 5 minutes, make 5 phone calls (a day, or as often as you can/want to). You plug in your zip code so they know where you are, and then the site autopopulates issues you can/should call your local congressional reps/senators about, provides a simple script, and your senators’ contact information, and then lets you quickly note whether you talked to someone/left a message, etc. It’s the best site we’ve seen for everything all in one place with regard to calling.
• Women’s March -- 10 actions for the first 100 days: The first action is sending postcards to your senators (we don’t have awesome senators, but if you do, you can also send them thank you postcards; senators need encouragement, too!), and you just plug in your zip code and get your senators’ contact information, + there are great prompts and other resources on the site. We’ve been sitting down with postcards whenever we’re also sitting down to Netflix & chill in the evenings. We mostly wing it or use quotes from our favorite naturalists authors and/or civil/human rights activists.
• Conservation Activism List: A list I’ll regularly update with all the worst (anti-)conservation-related legislation in the pipeline right now, and how you can take action against it.
• The 65: Weekly call to action on their site/in your inbox, + issues-related overviews (with scripts available for any suggested action).
• Liberation Library: Providing books, cards, and other resources to incarcerated youth; Rainbow Rowell first brought this org to our attention, and it would be an awesome thing to do with a group, and especially with kids, as the library is often looking for cards/notes/encouraging art.
• GreatCompany: Easy way to check what (public) positions large companies have taken on on Trump’s immigration ban/executive order — so you know who to support, and who you might not want to.
• Response to Refugee/Muslim Ban by Senator : This is a Google Doc with every single senator from every single state listed, so you can see who said what, and who has said nothing (and send them postcards/letters, yes!), so you know who to help vote out of office at your first opportunity.
• Countable :  This is a site where you can see/search bills and other legislation around the country, and weigh-in by voting and/or sharing your opinion on pending legislation. It’s also great at simplifying the language of current/pending bills and other legislation, so that it’s more readily understandable
• The Amplier Foundation: Free art downloads (for posters/signs to hang in windows, or mail, or use for protests, etc.). You can also buy art that supports resistance artists and the ACLU and other civil rights orgs via their Kickstarter.
• Wall of Us: Four concrete actions delivered to your inbox each week (once you sign up!).
• She Should Run: Political org/getting more women to run for office locally and nationwide; lots of good resources/videos. Know someone you think should run for local/regional/national office? Send her here!
• Talking points for emails, postcards, letters, social media channels, etc (from the Women’s March org).
• Indivisible Guide :  For finding local groups to connect with, and/or starting your own group (includes resources/group leader kit, etc.).
• SwingLeft : Tells you where and when local races/seats are in the position to swing left, and what you can do to help.
• Congress.gov : Makes it easy to search for current legislation, as well as contact information for your senators and representatives. I don’t recommend this as a starting point, though — Recommended for finding more info when you already know what you’re looking for.
• The Week In Congress : Provides easy recaps of what’s currently going on in congress. Again, not recommended as a starting point, but is a good way to make sure you aren’t missing something that may have passed the House without you noticing — thus giving you the chance to call your senators.

Feel free to chime in with any of your own personal favorite sites / activist orgs!
Or shoot us an email at [email protected].

And remember: Activism a day keeps the fascism away. Or so we're certainly hoping. 

*Did we just reference a Madonna song? You bet your buff biceps we did.