COMMONS MAGAZINE
Photo by Bellingham Rolling Rebellion Advocates for Net Neutrality under a Creative Commons license
In the last 20 years the Supreme Court has created a parallel judicial system to resolve disputes involving corporations that is effectively run by the very corporations whose behavior is under investigation.
Here is how that judicial coup against an independent judiciary occurred.
A three-acre wasteland on the South Side of Chicago is now an urban oasis. (Photo courtesy of Eden Place)
Serious issues threaten the health and beauty of much of what we call “the commons.” We all know this, and at times can feel overwhelmed by what to do about it.
The “three R's” (reduce, reuse, recycle) help us take action to protect the environment, and this has made a dent in the damage we’ve done to our environment. Practices related to the three R’s have reduced the amount of waste thrown away and have contributed to the conservation of natural resources.
By the European Parliament under a Creative Commons license
More than 1600 years ago, in the waning days of the Roman Empire, Augustine Aurelius, Bishop of Hippo declared himself a sex addict. His classical 13 book treatise Confessions of St. Augustine, one of the foundational texts of Catholicism was written “to remind myself of my past foulnesses and carnal corruptions”. Augustine was the first theologian to equate sex with sin.
(By Janet Schill, Expressions Graphics, Oak Park, Illinois. Rights reserved)
The law has been stolen from everyday people making decisions about how we will live together in our communities and on this land. My Ph.D-holding husband couldn’t understand his own father’s will. Most people defer to the lawyer in the room to tell them what the law is all about. Few people will dare step foot in a courtroom or legal proceeding without a lawyer attached to their hip.
The law has been stolen from everyday people making decisions about how we will live together in our communities and on this land. My Ph.D-holding husband couldn’t understand his own father’s will. Most people defer to the lawyer in the room to tell them what the law is all about. Few people will dare step foot in a courtroom or legal proceeding without a lawyer attached to their hip.
By Scott Beale under a Creative Commons license
We’ve always known walking is good for us--- it burns calories, reduces stress and helps the environment.
Forging the world we want to live in requires social imagination, the capacity to envision alternatives to what is, together remaking reality. What if instead of another holiday commemorating the past, we took time to envision and celebrate the future?
“Sticks and stones can break my bones but words can never harm me.” A fine sentiment, but any child subjected to cyber bullying knows that words do indeed matter.
Language evolves. Sometimes a word that once was negative becomes positive, like “terrific” which originally meant terrifying. Sometimes a word that was once positive becomes negative, as when “awful” changes from awe inspiring to very bad.
(By Ask the Climate Question under a Creative Commons license)
People took note when Ronald Reagan, a presidential candidate in 1980, asked “Are you better off now than you were four years ago?” That question got people’s attention and is still often quoted today. Some say, it’s this question which won Reagan the presidency.
(By Herald Post under a Creative Commons license)
The environmental movement is a microcosm of other realms of society in one troubling way: women are missing. In journalism, academia, politics – on climate change, agriculture, and the economy – men are the visible decision-makers and spokespeople.
(By Robert Huffstutter under a Creative Commons license)
The catalyst for a recent column by David Brooks was a speech delivered by his New York Times colleague Anand Giridharadas at the Aspen Action Forum.
Our society has no trouble promoting competence. In the workforce, we reward productivity and efficiency with promotions and higher pay. In schools, we promote competence by designing curricula around academic standards and evaluating teachers on how well their students do on standardized tests. We use the terms “good job” and “nice work” to recognize something we consider well done. But there’s another term and concept we might like to consider in promoting a better society. I’m referring to the term “good work,” which is defined by psychologist and writer Howard Gardner and his colle
(By colorblind Picaso under a Creative Commons license)
“Every person ought to have the awareness that purchasing is always a moral – and not simply an economic – act,” Pope Francis announced early this year.
How can we spend our money as if our values matter?
Kristin Jones came by the Brooklyn Rail to discuss her collaborative project TEVERETERNO for the revival of Rome’s Tiber River with Ann McCoy. The artist has been working to adopt an 1,800-foot long stretch of the river, and turn it into a site for contemporary art, a first for Rome. Past participants have included an array of national and international artists including Kiki Smith and Jenny Holzer, and composers such as Walter Branchi and David Monacchi. Upcoming is a project entitled Triumphs and Laments, by William Kentridge—a procession of more than 80 large-scale figures.
(Photo by Toshihiro Gamo under a Creative Commons license.)
When I have writing or very focused work to do, I work from a studio behind my house. Generally it is quiet and I have the added benefit of being able to take breaks and sit in my backyard.
In the Netherlands, older people bike at exactly the same rate as the rest of the population-- about 25 percent of all trips. (Photo by Amsterdamize under a Creative Commons license.)
“Cycling is the new golf,” declare the New York Times, CNN Money and The Economist, describing how road rides are replacing tee times as a favorite pastime for business networking.
Universities and hospitals support local initiatives in Detroit's Midtown neighborhoods, such as the Summer in the City program held at Wayne State University. (Photo by Summer in the City under a Creative Commons license.)
In urban development circles, strategies that leverage the staying power and scale of anchor institutions -- universities, hospitals and other place-based powerhouses -- are on the rise.
"Headlands" 2015.
Can we truly know wilderness? The word itself defies constraint, and contains multiple meanings. “An uncultivated and uninhabited region,” “an empty or pathless area,” and “a confusing multitude” are but a few definitions of wilderness, all of which indicate humans’ complex and changeable relationship to nature.
(Photo by Martin Schulz under a Creative Commons license)
The subtitle of Pope Francis’ stunning new encyclical, “‘Laudato Si’, On Care for Our Common Home,” belies the preference of some that a pontiff not venture into economic matters—Jeb Bush, for instance.
Image courtesy of Milwaukee Water Commons
Here's a new video showcasing the work of the Milwaukee Water Commons to make Milwaukee a Water City that works for everyone, including future generations and the natural world. On Sunday August 9, they are holding a community beachfront celebration, We Are Water.
Here's an update about their Water City 3.0 meeting held in June from their website:
