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Ready To Change The World? 9 Most Innovative Ideas By Walk Outs Who Walk On (PHOTOS)

Posted: 06/16/11 10:11 AM ET

In this era of increasingly complex problems and shrinking resources, can we find meaningful and enduring solutions to the challenges we face today as individuals, communities and nations?

An emerging movement of people around the world are doing just that by walking out of limiting beliefs and assumptions and walking on to create healthy and resilient communities. These Walk Outs who Walk On use their ingenuity and caring to figure out how to work with what they have to create what they need.

We learned the phrase "Walks Outs who Walk On" from our friends in India. They had created a network of young people who chose to leave school. They didn't consider themselves "dropouts," a negative label assigned to them by the school system. They left school because they wanted to be learners, not passive students. They walked on to discover many ways they could contribute to creating change in their world.

Although the phrase may be new to you, think about situations in your life that you've consciously chosen to leave because you knew that to stay any longer would limit you. Whenever we choose to leave behind what confines us, whenever we courageously step forward to discover new capacities, then we can rightfully call ourselves Walk Outs who Walk On.

Here, we offer a glimpse into the world of Walk Outs, where people are walking on to beliefs and practices that solve problems and reveal abundant resources. They are creating communities where everyone is welcome to learn, grow and contribute.

What are you ready to walk out of? What are you willing to walk on to?

Pedal-powered Possibilities
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Carlos Marroquín and colleagues at Maya Pedal in Guatemala recognized that salvaged bicycles could be reconstituted into human-powered machines that grind corn and cacao, pump water, sharpen metal, blend beverages, wash clothing, generate electricity, plow soil and saw wood. As its designs evolved, Maya Pedal decided to give away its knowledge freely so that many other friends and partners could participate in the evolution and diffusion of the ideas. Bicimáquinas (bicycle-powered machines) began to appear throughout Mexico, the U.S., Canada, India and beyond. Here, friends from Universidad de la Tierra in Oaxaca and Chiapas, Mexico, make smoothies on a bicilicuadora (bicycle-powered blender). We call this trans-local learning, when we carry an idea from one place to another and set it loose in a new local environment, allowing it to emerge into something entirely different.
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In this era of increasingly complex problems and shrinking resources, can we find meaningful and enduring solutions to the challenges we face today as individuals, communities and nations? An emergin...
In this era of increasingly complex problems and shrinking resources, can we find meaningful and enduring solutions to the challenges we face today as individuals, communities and nations? An emergin...
 
 
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05:04 PM on 06/16/2011
#1 educate a republican! It's very difficult but has been done. Mythological dogma doesn't die without a fight.
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darquelourd
You Get What You Play For
02:20 PM on 06/16/2011
I want to walk out of here into a Land of Gifts and Cuddles.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
colonelsun68
Ready! Fire! Aim!
09:07 AM on 06/18/2011
And cookies...don't forget cookies!
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
TWeissMA
http://www.disabilitymessage.com
12:54 PM on 06/16/2011
The cities of the world, in nations that are massive, have become so very large they are completely unsustainable in the long run. Bigger is not better. What humanity needs is many smaller, self-sustaining communities that interact with one-another.

The people portrayed in this article demonstrate ways smaller communities can pursue self-sustaining activities. Humanity needs to calm down and live more simply.
11:44 AM on 06/16/2011
All you have to know is hemp. Hemp can save the world. Hemp is the mighty plant spoken of in the Bible. Look into the real reason why marijuana a harmless,recreatinonal drug is illegal and you will find it is because by extension so is hemp, even though you could smoke a joint the size of a telephone and not get HORROR OF HORRORS high. Hemp can reverse global warming because it gobbles up CO2 at 4 times tha rate of any other plant. Hemp, along with sugar cane, are the only realistic biofuels. Hemp seed is a great food source. Hemp can be made into wood, paper, plastic medicine...the list is endless.
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BoFo
Like, you talkin' to me?
08:41 PM on 06/16/2011
That's why it's illegal in the US.
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11:12 AM on 06/16/2011
Beautiful post. Many cultural creatives have walked out and walked on ... and it seems as more and more people are awakening to their own creativity at crafting a life in unity with others and nature, new inventions are blooming into life that will assist in sustainability.