I have come to precisely the same conclusion that you have. I recently sold a small business that i had built over the last 7 years in order to focus on work that matters more to me. I am also a lawyer, though the only law i have engaged in has been pro bono representation of political asylum applicants. It has been my intention to continue working in the human rights arena.

Recently, I have been reading books on sustainability (Insatiable is not Sustainable by Doug Brown, Earth in Mind by David Orr) and I am now looking at the work i would like to do differently. although i am still interested in human rights, i am also as interested in the connections to an economy of sufficiency including economic redistribution in many forms, access to public healthcare (Mountains beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder is an excellent book about what Paul Farmer, a right minded doctor, has done for community healthcare in the poorest parts of Haiti), and other reforms that have been talked about by progressives for a long time. I also recently read The Tipping Point, an inspiring book for those of us wanting to make a difference but awed by the enormity of the task in reforming our growth driven culture.

I was speaking with Michael Posner, the executive director of Human Rights First a few months ago about his organisation and he echoed similar thoughts. We discussed the need for Human Rights First to share resources with other organizations in order to educate like minded constituancies. He understood that it wasn't doing a whole lot of good to keep speaking to the same people on the upperwest side of Manhatten over and over again.

I think cross organizational education may be an important missing and critical link here. So many people are simply uninformed about the issues and how they are linked. So I too am interested in the links between issues and organizations, which you have illustrated in your comments above.

I am meeting with Human Rights First next week and possibly also Partners in Health, Paul Farmers organization in Boston. These thoughts will be at top of mind. I welcome any response.