Do you want to change the world? The Citizen Muscle Boot Camp is a fun virtual course that helps you become a more engaged citizen, so you can in turn help make the world a better place.
Have you lost faith in humanity? Are you tired of reading headlines about the latest oil spill or the next animal to go extinct? Do you feel like our planet is riddled with so many problems that we won’t be able to solve all of them?
You are not alone. A lot of people feel the exact way. Ironically, it often leads to not doing anything at all, because you just don’t know where to start. This is where the Citizen Muscle Boot Camp comes in.
The Citizen Muscle Boot Camp, run by the team behind The Story of Stuff, is an online training program that helps you find your inner activist and motivates you to do something, even if you cannot solve all our planet’s problems. The emphasis is on turning people’s good intentions into actions based on participants’ interests and skill set. Through short videos, quizzes and reflection exercises, the program helps you determine what your talents and skills are, and figure out how they could best be harnessed to solve some of the world’s most pressing problems.
Like many fitness boot camps, the Citizen Muscle Boot Camp has a different program every week.
Week 1: Purpose – Connecting to your passions and skills
Week 2: Talk – Communication for connection
Week 3: Grow – Building Your Community of Changemakers
Week 4: Practice – Flexing your Citizen Muscle
Going through the content of each week’s topic takes about an hour or two, depending on your pace. You can pause the lesson at any time and resume it the next time you log in. I am currently in Week 1, and so far I find the exercises fun and inspiring. The alternance between texts, videos and quizzes keeps things interesting.
The Citizen Muscle Bootcamp is managed by The Story of Stuff Project, a non-profit organisation that was founded by Annie Leonard in 2008. Leonard, who is now the Executive Director of Greenpeace USA, created the 20-minute movie “Story of Stuff”, which critiques our consumption and production patterns.
Looking for other ways to do some good? Check out our Act Now section for helpful guides and tips to help build a more sustainable world.
