You can win more & bigger changes than you might think
When “the gravity is off,” the impossible becomes possible
MAR 21, 2023
Sometimes, it can feel like the change you want is impossibly far off. That the structures of society are too heavy, entrenched, and immovable to be changed and the idea that you could change them is laughable.
But there are moments when, as Organizer & Theorist Jay Carmona says, “the gravity is off” and things that otherwise would be nearly impossible to move suddenly become moveable. When the gravity is off, you have a window of opportunity to rearrange things as much as possible before the gravity turns back on. Some of these windows of time when the gravity is off are big and semi-predictable. For example– around an election, around a budget setting process, or in a codes & standards creation process. And a key way to effect huge change is by keeping an eye out for those moments and being ready to make the most of those windows of opportunity as they come up!
Take the California High Speed Rail project for example. Although it’s struggling, it’s still chugging along and a huge swath of it is “shovel ready.” Getting a burst of Federal funding would help cut years off of the project timeline. The President is a “train guy”, the Vice President is a Californian, the control of the Senate is on a knife’s edge, the Speaker of the House is a Californian whose district is the heart of the project, the US is spending billions of dollars to aid Ukraine as it fights of a petro-state– and there is a highly competitive race for a California Senate seat going on right now. The “gravity is off” and an activist group that wants the California High Speed Rail project built ASAP could work to inject the issue of winning funding for the project into the Senate race (potentially tack it onto Ukrainian aid, because the project would cut oil demand significantly and hit Russia in the pocketbook– in addition to all the other good things about the project).
While the big “gravity off” moments enable huge changes, the world is also filled with small moments where the gravity is off. Where a “break” in the everyday allows for a connection to be made, deepened, reimagined, or ended. In Romantic Comedies, these moments are the “Meet Cute.” In the transportation activism world, these moments are times like when you're waiting at a bus stop with others and the bus is delayed, or you are at a big group bike ride. Moments when something that can feel so impossible, like connecting with a stranger about the need for better street safety, becomes easy.
Also– if you know how to do it, you can make moments when the gravity is off. The world can be different and more like the one you want to see. You can make that happen.
Want help learning how to plan for and take advantage of times when the gravity is off and you can win bigger changes? Email me at Carter@carterlavin.com and let’s schedule a consultation.