MFTN: Our Way Of Life Must Die — Another World Is Possible

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The Essays of The Man From the North by Rivera Sun
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Originally published Nov. 25, 2018
December 8, 2025

Greed is an addiction. Like lab rats choosing pain to get doses of opium, the greed that underlies our way of life is killing us — and make no mistake: our way of life must die. Pathological consumption is no more acceptable in human beings than in locusts. It will die or we will die. The question is only: will we go down with the sinking ship of our culture or will we evolve again, past the folly of homo sapiens’ dubious wisdom into a species willing to live in balance with our one and only planet?

‘Tis the Season To Wage Boycotts! + Shopping as an Act of Resistance

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The Essays of The Man From the North by Rivera Sun
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Originally published November 24, 2013
November 23, 2023

Boycott Season is now upon us. Let every citizen take careful aim. Your target is the corporate empire. Your weapon is your wallet.

The Dandelion Insurrection At 10 Years + After The Fireworks, by Rivera Sun

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by Rivera Sun
Writer, Dandelion Salad
July 5, 2023

Rivera Sun on Jul 3, 2023

Author Rivera Sun reflects on reaching the 10-year anniversary of the publication of The Dandelion Insurrection. The novel has been read by thousands, including by activists in tree-sits or on the front lines of pipeline resistance. Over a decade of resistance and reading, Rivera Sun shares a short look-back on the journey.

Mother’s Day Proclamation: Divest From War! by Rivera Sun

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Happy Mother’s Day

by Rivera Sun
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Originally posted on May 12, 2019
May 14, 2023

Instead of flowers, give us peace. Instead of brunch, end the wars. Let no more mothers raise their children to kill other mothers’ children. Give us, instead, the abolition of war, the promotion of peace, and the care of people and planet.

I Can’t Imagine Maine Without Moose, by Rivera Sun

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by Rivera Sun
Writer, Dandelion Salad
April 5, 2023

At the post office, my neighbor rolled down the window of his pick-up truck to chat. As is typical in Northern Maine this time of year, we praised the sunlight, warmth, bare patches of ground, and eyed the shrinking snowbanks with delight.

Exxon Got Rich. We Got Played, by Rivera Sun

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by Rivera Sun
Writer, Dandelion Salad
January 21, 2023

When I was a teenager, I knew global warming was caused by fossil fuels. So did Exxon.

Rivera Sun: 10 Things Older Than War

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by Rivera Sun
Writer, Dandelion Salad
January 18, 2023

Rivera Sun on Jan 6, 2023

This short video was made by Rivera Sun for the Culture Jamming Team, a collaboration between Campaign Nonviolence and World BEYOND War.

‘Tis the Season To Wage Boycotts! + Shopping as an Act of Resistance

Image by Dandelion Salad via Flickr

The Essays of The Man From the North by Rivera Sun
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Originally published November 24, 2013
November 24, 2022

Boycott Season is now upon us. Let every citizen take careful aim. Your target is the corporate empire. Your weapon is your wallet.

Culture-Jamming the War Machine, by Rivera Sun

Image by Justin Norman via Flickr

by Rivera Sun
Writer, Dandelion Salad
November 17, 2022

In the drizzling rain, I yank up the military recruitment sign and throw it into the tall grasses on the side of the road. If anyone asks, I didn’t “destroy” government property. I merely relocated it. Think of me like a windstorm. A peace-loving, nonviolent windstorm countering military recruitment.

We Have A Violence Problem — Campaign Nonviolence Strives To Solve It, by Rivera Sun

Screenshot by Dandelion Salad via Flickr

by Rivera Sun
Writer, Dandelion Salad
September 13, 2022

We have a violence problem. It runs through our nation like an invisible road system, touching every front door, cutting through each town and city. Mass shootings kill our children in their schools. Forty-five thousand people will take their own lives this year. An additional 14,000 are likely to be killed by gun violence. Twelve million of our fellow citizens will experience intimate partner violence this year. More than ten million children face violence in the forms of maltreatment, verbal abuse, sexual assault, extreme neglect, and physical abuse.

Turning Up The Heat, by Rivera Sun

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by Rivera Sun
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Originally published July 30, 2021
July 31, 2022

Winds of Change is the third novel in the Dandelion Trilogy by Rivera Sun. It’s a wild tale of resistance and resilience, people-powered democracy movements and the race for climate justice.

After The Fireworks, by Rivera Sun

Image by Colin Knowles via Flickr

by Rivera Sun
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Originally published on July 19, 2021
July 6, 2022

Winds of Change is the third novel in the Dandelion Trilogy by Rivera Sun. It’s a wild tale of resistance and resilience, people-powered democracy movements and the race for climate justice.

Where Is Your Loyalty? by The Man From the North

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The Essays of The Man From the North by Rivera Sun
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Originally published May 1, 2017
June 27, 2022

For all the avowed patriots who demand my Pledge of Allegiance and salutes on Loyalty Day, Fourth of July, and other patriotic, militarized holidays, I fling this question to your hearts: how deep and far does your loyalty to your country run?

Sleepwalking Into Climate Nightmares, by Rivera Sun

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by Rivera Sun
Writer, Dandelion Salad
June 8, 2022

How can anyone sleep at night? My first nightmare about environmental crisis occurred in 1990. I was eight years old. In it, acid rain poured from the sky, scalding the skin of humans and stripping holes in the leaves of trees. On either side of a long, ashen-gray street, billowing plumes of smog chugged out of smokestacks. I was running, searching for sanctuary from the toxic waste. Nowhere was safe.

End the Occupation of the Corporate State, by The Man From the North

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The Essays of The Man From the North by Rivera Sun
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Originally published on Jan. 31, 2018
May 18, 2022

It happened so subtly, we missed the corporate coup. Like shadows, corporations surrounded our country and slowly strangled it. They crept into Congress, the White House, the Supreme Court, the FDA, the military, the Department of the Interior: everywhere you look, a corporation controls the decisions of this nation. We have become the occupied territory of brand names, corporate logos, monopolistic power, and corporate greed.