By Sustainable Ballard

Hello Neighbors,

By now, you've surely heard about the Occupy Wall Street movement and accompanying protests, including Occupy Seattle which continues this week at Westlake Center.

"Occupy Wall Street is a people-powered movement that began on September 17, 2011 in Liberty Square in Manhattan’s Financial District, and has spread to over 100 cities in the United States and actions in over 1,500 cities globally. #OWS is fighting back against the corrosive power of major banks and multinational corporations over the democratic process, and the role of Wall Street in creating an economic collapse that has caused the greatest recession in generations. The movement is inspired by popular uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia, and aims to expose how the richest 1% of people are writing the rules of an unfair global economy that is foreclosing on our future."

As part of the 99% you may want to join the protest downtown, but there are many other ways to show your support for the movement as well.

Probably the biggest impact you can make as an individual is to shift your money out of corporate mega-banks into a community development bank or credit union. Just four banks: JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Citibank and Wells Fargo control a huge majority of assets and continue to consume smaller banks through mergers and with the help of the federal government. If you want to "break-up with your mega-bank," a great resource is Green America's Community Investing Guide.