Dandelion Report: 8/7/2025
"It is my conviction that there is no way to peace - peace is the way." — Thich Nhat Hanh
Dear Dandelion Readers,
Thank you for your patience with me during this past month when I was unable to provide you with the Dandelion Newsletter. I have needed to spend this past month helping my family through some medical challenges.
While we are still in an uncertain period of resolving these health issues, I am at a point where I once again have the time, energy, and balance to pick up the proverbial pen and begin writing again.
I hope all of you that are reading this have been able to care for your struggles, as we all work together to address our collective struggles and efforts at building a better world for everyone.
Going forward, I expect to focus more of my writing on the Sunflower posts, on reflections and inspiration. Primarily this is because this is what I have been finding to be the most crucial element I need to support my activism. But this is also because there are excellent sources for time-sensitive unique opportunities released almost daily by other great substacks.
For a streamlined daily highlight of ways to be involved, Chop Wood, Carry Water is an excellent source. For a broader roundup of actions that are happening you could also check out Rogan's List , though it can be more overwhelming if that is something you struggle with.
I have missed writing for you all. I hope I can write something useful for you in the coming months!
Thank you for being here,
Chris
“My actions are my only true belongings. I cannot escape the consequences of my actions. My actions are the ground on which I stand.” — Thich Nhat Hanh
In these Dandelion reports, I provide some productive actions we can take currently; use it to create your own personal ongoing action plan.
Don’t try to do everything on this list—that is just a recipe for burnout. Moreover, do not limit yourself to this list; as you learn more you will discover many more ways to be engaged.
If you are just starting out, find an idea or two, and start there. If you are unsure, take a look at the first section, “Starting Seeds.”
For unique, time-sensitive, or one-off opportunities, take a look at my Spring Rain posts. Or for inspiration and motivation, browse through my Sunflower posts.
This report is a living document; see the “New” sections for items not included in past reports. “Ongoing” sections have been edited for clarity, added links/resources, and category choice. You can see if you have the most up-to-date version or see past versions here.
The Six Sections of the Dandelion Report
Starting Seeds: If you are unsure where to start, consider starting here.
Our Physical Actions: Showing up, volunteering, donating, protesting, etc.
Our Words: Speaking out, spreading information, contacting representatives/voters, etc.
Our Thoughts: Education, training, mindset, avoiding burnout, finding inspiration etc.
Deep Roots: Acts of resistance that are non-political for populations at risk for being deported for direct political involvement (f.e. student visa holders, immigrants, refugees, and their partners).
Cross-Pollination: Highlighting other useful resources and newsletters.
Take action like a dandelion; start now, grow fast, and spread wide.
(New) Starting Seeds
Unsure where to start? I recommend the following:
Call your representatives using the “5 Calls” phone app. This app makes it fast and easy to put pressure on your elected officials. Additionally, it gives you a good summary of the issue you are calling about helping you to stay informed about the issues you call about. In 5 minutes you can contact all three of your members of Congress on an issue important to you! If you have anxiety about talking to strangers on the phone, call after 5pm to be able to leave a voicemail instead.
Learn about, and attend, events that are happening in your community. Attending protests, rallies, and other events is a great way to connect with other people in your community, which can open up more opportunities to get involved down the road. You will also learn what groups are hosting impactful events; these groups likely are seeking more volunteers at all levels of engagement. If it is not feasible or safe to engage in person in your community, consider exploring groups hosting online events and actions. Set a goal: aim to attend at least one event a month, or perhaps even one a week if possible.
Try a mindfulness practice. Like mindful breathing or mindful walking. Stress management is a major issue for being able to be involved long term. A mindfulness practice, or something similar, can be an invaluable tool in your activist toolbelt.
These three ways of being involved can provide a solid foundation that you can build on over time.
Physical Actions
New
Assist Protests by Becoming a “Peacekeeper”
You can read more about Peacekeepers at protests and events, as well as read about my experience being a Peacekeeper for a large No Kings protest in this Spring Rain post.
Ongoing
Consider learning mindful breathing.
Attend Protests
Protests will vary by area. While there will be nationally coordinated protests, more frequent local protests are also important. Here are some resources for finding some near you: Tesla Takedown, 50501, Indivisible, and Mobilize.us.
The Visibility Brigade is a group utilizing public spaces like freeway overpasses to raise awareness.
We the People Dissent is collecting stories, photos, and videos from protests; consider sharing them here.
Boycott
Notable or Successful Ongoing Boycotts
Tesla—Large direct impact on Elon Musk. (See Protests and Divestment also)
Target—Notable reversal of commitments to DEI
Avelo Airlines—Contracted to provide ICE deportation flights.
(NEW) T-Mobile—Working with Elon Musk on the T-Satellite program.
Amazon, Meta (Facebook/Instagram), and Twitter/X.
General Boycotts
Latino Freeze: broadly targets companies that have rolled back DEI programs.
Overall, boycott massive corporations, shop small, shop local, and shop immigrant/BIPOC/LGBTQIA+-owned.
Tesla Takedown’s Divest Public Dollars Campaign
Building upon the success of the Tesla Boycotts, and Tesla Takedown Protests. You can sign up here, view their launch call or slide deck, or view their toolkit.
Find your community ICE Hotline, learn about Rapid Response Networks, and get training to be a “Legal Observer.”
I did a full write-up on this action in this Spring Rain post. It also has steps to be prepared in an area without these resources.
Donate your Time or Money
National
Institutional Support—Support organizations bringing legal challenges to the Trump Administration. For ideas, I would check out Oath’s campaigns for “Protecting Democracy” or “Block Trump’s Agenda.”
Partisan—For electing support in the state/federal legislature, I recommend Jessica Craven’s “Where Do I Give?” Google Doc.
Community
Mutual Aid Organizations: Shelters, food banks, community gardens etc. Their funding is getting cut, while our communities needs will go up due to cuts to other support systems.
Grassroots Organizations: Mobilizing others, ICE Legal Observer trainings, local Indivisible groups, etc.
International Mutual Aid
USAID accounted for about 20-25% of total global aid health programs; donors can help cover the gaps USAID cuts have left, and the impact of global donations is especially great now. Just because someone lives outside the USA does not mean they are not a part of our community that is being impacted by this administration.
If you want to assist global health during this time, I highly recommend GiveWell’s All Grant Fund and reading their response to the situation.
Take Time to Be Fully Present for Your Loved Ones
This is a time when we all need to be there for each other; do not let the media cycle prevent you from coming back to the present moment with your loved ones.
Live Frugally and Build a Financial Emergency Fund
Many of us spend money to deal with the stress, but many great stress management techniques are free. Improve your financial stability, or to add to your donating plan.
Run for Office
We require caring people to be elected to all levels of government: school boards, cities, states, federal—everything. Run For Something (RFS) is a great organization that will help you get started. Because you care about doing the right thing, you are qualified.
According to RFS, “over 40,000 have signed up just since the November election.”
Words
New
“Bring-Your-Own-Phone” Textbanking with Field Team 6
This is a unique and ongoing text-banking opportunity that can be done daily since they use Google Voice numbers to reach out to people. This additionally makes the outreach free saving hundreds of dollars. Start here, or read more about this opportunity in this Spring Rain post.
Help Register and Prepare Voters with VoteRiders.
Online and in-person opportunities to get people registered, prepared, and out to the polls in key areas. See opportunities here.
Ongoing
Call Your Representatives Daily
“5 Calls” Phone App: I cannot recommend this app enough. Put in your zip code, and it will give you executive summaries on issues, an optional script, and quickly connect you to your representatives. It takes about 5 minutes per issue (3 calls total), and you can call after hours to leave a voicemail if you are nervous.
Add your representatives and other elected officials to your favorite contacts. Call them whenever you like; they work for us.
Write Postcards or Letters to Voters
Activate America—Script Postcards
Postcards to Voters—Script Postcards
Vote Forward—Unique Letters
Markers for Democracy—Script Postcards
4×6 index cards work as cheap postcards if needed. I used them while waiting for the delivery of 500 custom postcards.
Write a Letter to the Editor
RepresentUs has a great guide on why and how to write an LTE and provides talking points on current important topics. Submit local and national.
(NEW) Women Forward also has a 13-page guide on writing an LTE.
Phone-banking or Text-banking
Here are some groups where you may find opportunities:
Talk with People in Your Community
Attend or organize an event. Get outside your normal bubble if you can; try not to only communicate with people online.
Take steps to feel less alone and isolated. The problems facing us today will not be solved by one person. If you feel like you are doing this alone, you will fall into despair.
Learn to Have a Dialogue with People You Disagree With.
Understanding people will be critical to this work and is critical to bridging the gap between people. For ideas, you can check out the Sustained Dialogue Institute.
If you are not ready to have a hard conversation, then consider practicing with Storycorp’s “One-Small Step” below.
Find and Build Communities of Activism
Activism is hard work; without a community supporting us in the practice it will be difficult to sustain long-term. Here is a Sunflower with some thoughts on community.
Encourage friends and family to be involved
Share and promote actions on social media
Resistbot
This is a tool that allows you to quickly send emails to your elected officials. Calls are so much more effective than emails. I don’t recommend writing your own unless you plan to share with others. I will share the codes I use in my “Spring Rain” reports.
Go to www.resist.bot to set up and learn how to use.
Practice Communicating with StoryCorps’ “One Small Step”
Connect people from different backgrounds for a moderated 50-minute video call, where you will talk about anything besides politics. Fill out a quick profile, and then you will get a list of people you can invite to a conversation. Give it a try, seeing what feelings come up; even looking at other people’s profiles is a helpful practice.
This is a “small step” to reclaiming our ability to see the humanity in others; it lessens the gap between people that allows us to feel ok using violence against each other.
Thoughts
Ongoing
Find Joy and Meaning in Life
This will help us from falling into despair, which would make our activism and life much worse. Furthermore, if every activist looks miserable, why would anyone join that movement? How can your activism be a part of what sustains you?
Take Time to Train: Some links to general training resources.
Choose Democracy Trainings: 6 skill-based training module slides that you can read or present to others.
Hands Off: De-escalation and Safety Training YouTube video (1 hour)
Digital Hygiene
Are your passwords strong? Do you have two-factor authentication on, especially for critical accounts and email?
If you intend to record ICE activity if you see it or plan to bring your phone to protests, consider turning OFF biometric unlock and turning ON photo and video backup over mobile data (remember to switch if mobile data is limited on your plan).
Brush Up On Media Literacy
We are all susceptible to mis- and dis-information, especially when strong emotions are involved. Learn how to fight and identify it with this CISA guide, and these MediaWise education resources. Do your best not to spread misinformation.
For news, try to rely on in-depth and accurate reporting. Don’t neglect local news sources, since that is where we can have a large impact. If you primarily get news from social media, consider reducing that in favor of a more reliable source.
Consider Your Media Consumption. Are you doom-scrolling?
Spending hours reading terrible things on social media, or obsessively watching the news, can sap your energy without making a difference. Consider using that time to take action or get true rest.
Read some practices you can try in this Sunflower on Mindfully Consuming Media.
Be conscious of how much energy you are spending staying up-to-date with the news. If you are subscribed to a lot of news sources, and action newsletters, take the time to see which ones are serving you. If the Dandelion Newsletter is not serving you, making you feel despair, and making you less likely to take action—please unsubscribe (and send me a message of how it could be better if you have time).
A General Strike is Possible in the Future
Learn what a general strike entails. This Waging Nonviolence article is a good place to start.
If you already know you would want to participate, you can fill out your General Strike Card here; that way, if it becomes necessary it can happen fast.
True Rest and Health
It is essential to make time to rest and sleep. Mindfulness practices can be helpful, as can exercise and community. Eat well, and seek medical treatment—you cannot separate your mind, body, and activism work from each other.
Ideally, we give our mind true rest, rather than numbing/distracting it with drugs, alcohol, shopping, consumerism, and media consumption. Heal your fear, suffering, and anger—do not just cover it up.
Building resilience is important during this time to weather the storm.
What are your values?
In a time when we may be called on to make hard decisions and sacrifices, it is helpful to know your values or guiding principles. This will help us to make decisions and take actions that align with our true selves, rather than defaulting to what is habitual or most comfortable, or being driven solely by fear, anger, or hate.
Considerations on Managing Time and Energy
Try to keep these following competing ideas in mind:
We likely will need to be engaged long-term, so we need to work at a sustainable level of involvement. At times, this may mean stepping back to actively support our health.
The hardest step is sometimes just starting to be involved; it is ok to start small and grow your involvement as your knowledge and experience grow. This is better than doing nothing.
We do need a big effort from a broad section of our country, not all or even a majority (some research suggests as little as 3.5% is sufficient), but we need this engagement from people sooner rather than later. The costs of being involved grow as human rights and civil liberties erode.
Ask yourself if you can do more than you are currently, or if your limited time and resources can be used more efficiently. Do you need to watch the news for an hour, or can you get the key details in 15 minutes and spend the other 45 minutes actively engaged?
The demands on our time may be greater during certain periods of opportunity. How can we be ready if called upon for a greater level of action? This is a marathon, but there will be times that sprinting will be advantageous.
Deep Roots
Ongoing
Know Your Rights for Immigrants—From ACLU
Consider Learning Mindful Breathing—as long as we are alive, our breath is a tool that can never be taken from us. Here is a tutorial I have written to start.
Quietly Boycott—No one needs to know why you aren’t buying a Tesla.
Volunteer or Donate to Mutual Aid Organizations
Food banks, shelters, and other non-profits are crucial for community resilience in the face of widespread cuts to social support in our country without being considered directly political. Some mutual aid organizations are more politically involved, so be aware of their actions when getting involved.
Care for your physical, mental, spiritual, and financial health.
Building internal resilience is important during this time to weather the storm. Eat healthy, seek medical care, exercise, find joy and meaning in life, and try to build a financial emergency fund.
Take time to be fully present for your family and loved ones. Help care for their health also.
Have an emergency plan for if the scope of deportations or human rights violations expands.
Build Community and Make Connections. Here is a Sunflower with ideas.
Read and Learn.
Cross Pollination
Ongoing
I highly recommend the Substack newsletter Chop Wood, Carry Water by Jessica Craven, for a daily action newsletter; scripts for calls, positive Sunday newsletter, national events and fundraisers, and more!
I also recommend Rogan's List if you want more actions or ideas. The scope is broader than Chop Wood, Carry Water, so it can be more overwhelming to follow if that is something you struggle with.
If you NEED additional news commentary (some of us consume too much already) I recommend Today's Edition Newsletter by Robert B. Hubbell
If you NEED additional news commentary (some of us consume too much already) I recommend Letters from an American by Heather Cox Richardson
Waging Nonviolence often has interesting articles specific to nonviolent resistance.
There it is! Many actions that anyone can take—start now and do more as you are able. You don’t have to do everything, but you do need to do something.
I will post updated versions as time goes on. I also have “Sunflower” posts (inspiration) and “Spring Rain” posts (time-sensitive or unique opportunities).
If you are interested in these future posts, please subscribe. And, if you found this post helpful, please like and share with others. If you have any questions or ideas, please comment or reach out to me.
Thank you for reading this Newsletter and taking action,
Chris