COMMONS MAGAZINE
Recently, I participated in a workshop on Active Listening. This is a way of listening that actually involves LISTENING instead of just waiting for your turn to talk.
A few days ago 26 states argued before the Supreme Court that the health law’s dramatic extension of Medicaid coverage constitutes unconstitutional federal coercion.
Putting open source and permaculture together is a savvy combination, and in this case, it’s also really useful. Add crowdsourcing and you have a complete online resource for all things permaculture.
Sophia Novack, a self-described permaculture geek, is currently leading a crowdfunding campaign to support the creation of Open Source Permaculture, an online resource and tool, which consists of a Q&A website and wiki, as well as a free Urban Permaculture Guide eBook.
The Tea Party, libertarians and other so-called conservatives devoted to slashing all government spending not related to the military, prisons and highways have an easy answer when asked what happens to people whose lives and livelihoods depend on public programs. They point to volunteerism—the tradition of people taking care of each other which has sustained human civilization for millennia.
The World Water Council, the convener of the World Water Forum, sure knows its market. At their recent global gathering held in Marseille, France, they tapped into the thirst of governments, development agencies, banks, NGOs and private water operators for a conversation about water services and managing the growing water crisis — as well as a shot at lucrative contracts. Exhibition booths included desalinization companies and private firms like Suez and Veolia, the biggest in the industry.
Growing citizen disaffection for government is a stark reality of the current political moment. Coupled with the erosion of our country’s civic fabric, this causes polarization, powerlessness, and anger in communities nationwide. At On the Commons, we believe that rebuilding community connection with government will not happen without a fresh approach.
For the past year powerful voices around Washington have singled out programs to improve biking and walking as prime examples of wasteful government spending.
Since last summer, Republican proposals have flown around the Capitol to eliminate all designated funds to make biking and walking safer—even though biking and walking account for 12 percent of all trip across America but receive only 1.6 percent of federal funding.
For its first 200 years the American Republic slowly, sometimes infuriatingly slowly and at horrific human cost (e.g. the Civil War) expanded the franchise.
The Tea Party’s attack on the commons in Congress takes many forms, ranging from weakening environmental regulations to slashing programs that help the poor and middle class. Thankfully they’ve encountered fierce resistance on many fronts, even some where they never expected to face controversy like federal funding for bike and pedestrian projects.
Topsoil is a Commons
We’re not talking Soviet-style collectivization of agriculture here—simply an understanding that we all depend on the soil, like air and water, for basic human survival. Together we have a stake in protecting farmland’s fertility for ourselves and future generations. This is a long established tradition in the U.S. going back to the creation of soil and water conservation measures in the 1930s, and before that to indigenous people’s agricultural practices.
Driving down any rural highway in northern New Mexico, you are sure to come across a valley with acequias—irrigation ditches that in some cases have existed for several centuries.
Each day I walk out of my Minneapolis house into an atmosphere protected from pollution by the Clean Air Act. As I step onto a sidewalk that was built with tax dollars for everyone, my spirits are lifted by the beauty of my neighbors’ boulevard gardens. Trees planted by people who would never sit under them shade my walk. I listen to public radio, a nonprofit service broadcast over airwaves belonging to us all, as I stroll around a lake in the park, which was protected from shoreline development by civic-minded citizens in the nineteenth century.
I am so pleased that the Occupy and Commons movements are finding each other and starting a new conversation. Occupy is an incredible force for change. It has a bracing vision, a deeply principled philosophy, and an independent, risk-taking spirit that is unusual in American political life. There are many challenges for Occupy, however, as it tries to imagine new ways to move forward and grow. I’d like to suggest how the commons framing and language may be strategically important by surveying the international scene of commons activism, which is remarkably robust.
Making Worlds, an educational committee of Occupy Wall Street, convened a watershed forum on the commons Feb. 16-18 in Brooklyn.
OTC’s program director Alexa Bradley gave a presentation about Reclaiming the Commons, where she stressed that the commons is found “at the intersection of environmental responsibility and restoration, and direct democracy, and social and economic equity.”
I am just back from Making Worlds, an Occupy Wall Street (OWS) Forum on the Commons consisting of workshops, presentations and discussions last Thursday through Sunday that explored the intersections of the Occupy movement and growing efforts around the world to reclaim and reinvent our commons.
In a recent blog I discussed how shoppers migrating to the Internet could mean curtains for many strip malls, big boxes and malls, but opportunities for downtowns and other traditional business districts that function as commons, not as monolithic retail destinations.
A cushion of reliable income is a wonderful thing. It can help pay for basic necessities. It can be saved for rainy days or used to pursue happiness on sunny days. It can encourage people to take entrepreneurial risks, care for friends, or volunteer for community service.
Conversely, the absence of reliable income is a terrible thing. It heightens anxiety and fear. It diminishes our ability to cope with crises and transitions. It traps many families on the knife’s edge of poverty, and makes it harder for poor people to rise.
A cushion of reliable income is a wonderful thing. It can help pay for basic necessities. It can be saved for rainy days or used to pursue happiness on sunny days. It can encourage people to take entrepreneurial risks, care for friends, or volunteer for community service.
Conversely, the absence of reliable income is a terrible thing. It heightens anxiety and fear. It diminishes our ability to cope with crises and transitions. It traps many families on the knife’s edge of poverty, and makes it harder for poor people to rise.
Annie Leonard is one of the most articulate, effective champions of the commons today. Her webfilm The Story of Stuff has been seen more than 15 million times by viewers. She also adapted it into a “book”:http://www.storyofstuff.org/resources/the-story-of-stuff-book/.
Drawing on her experience investigating and organizing on environmental health and justice issues in more than 40 countries, Leonard says she’s “made it her life’s calling to blow the whistle on important issues plaguing our world.”
Annie Leonard is one of the most articulate, effective champions of the commons today. Her webfilm The Story of Stuff has been seen more than 15 million times by viewers. She also adapted it into a “book”:http://www.storyofstuff.org/resources/the-story-of-stuff-book/.
Drawing on her experience investigating and organizing on environmental health and justice issues in more than 40 countries, Leonard says she’s “made it her life’s calling to blow the whistle on important issues plaguing our world.”