It's not just about us any more. The next election must defeat the Tories. We owe it to the world. It is no overstatement to say that in the last month alone, Stephen Harper's assumption of the powers of a majority-House PM has literally laid waste to the future health of both this country and the planet.

Time is of the essence. It looks like we’re going to the polls in February or March (thank you, Karlheinz Schreiber), and we cannot let this opportunity to defeat Stephen Harper slip through our fingers. John Baird’s last-minute climate change cave-in notwithstanding, the whole world is watching – literally.

In the gorgeous setting of central Brazil, a rag tag group of 1000 permaculture experts, Rastafarians, alternative health practitioners, 13 Moon Calendar activists and NGO executives work towards a do-it-yourself action plan to make the world a better place in 13 days. But who is going to deal with the garbage? Welcome to "Survivor" for social change addicts where consensus is the only way to make decisions. Anyone can speak. For as long as they like about whatever they want. And they do...

We are at the end of a long era. It’s official. Just ask that UN. Human behaviour is poisoning the planet. There’s no bigger call to action. We all need a five year plan. Welcome to the 2012 Manifesto Community. Climate change is here. So is peak oil. No matter what, we will be facing big change and we all are participants in creating whatever comes next. But how are we going to do that? What is each of us planning to do? What should we do? What can we do? What actually works? What doesn’t? There are a lot of questions and a lot of answers. The over-haul we need to initiate is immense. It’s personal and political, social, cultural. It is body, mind, psychology and spirit. It’s about our relationship with industry, capital, employment and consumption. And about nature which is mysterious, overwhelming, inspiring and creative. And that doesn’t begin to describe it.

Named in 2000 as one of the 100 Graduates Who Shaped the Century by the U of T Alumnae Association, NOW magazine editor/CEO and co-founder/owner Alice Klein draws on her experience in politics, business and psychology to focus on issues related to archetypal evolution and the global economy. She is NOW's founding news editor, and the editor of NOW's annual Love & Sex Guide. Klein is also a documentary producer, director and writer (2007's Call of the Hummingbird) and along with being a founding member of Green Enterprise Toronto (GET) she sits on the Boards of the Toronto Arts Council (TAC) and Canadian Journalists for Free Expression (CJFE).