Reflections on the Commons Space at the World Social Forum in Montreal 2016
For many months I’ve intended to write an article on the Commons Space at the World Social Forum (WSF) which took place in Montreal in August of 2016.
the commons
French Development Agency Champions the Commons as New Vision for Development
As climate change intensifies, the ecological implications of growth-based “development” are now alarming if not fatuous.
Permaculture, Commons and Community
In the individualistic society which is promoted by global capitalism, it’s a radical act to choose to live collectively. Sharing, be it space, food, or resources, has not been strongly promoted by those who want us to consume as much as possible…
The Twelve Days (and Months) of Climate Justice Day Ten: Being(s) Fully Alive: The New Science of Enlivenment and the Struggle for Climate Justice
Linking science and spirituality more closely to our own and others’ worlds, and seeing these entangled worlds through the lens of poetic objectivity is challenging – and humbling – stuff.
What is the Commons Transition?
The world – and chiefly among it, first world countries – seems to me, to be moving away from a purely industrial model, aimed mainly at production, to a new type of society whose contours and goals have yet to be clearly defined.”
Robert Macfarlane: How Language Reconnects Us with Place
I have come to realize that language is an indispensable portal into the deeper mysteries of the commons. The words we use – to name aspects of nature, to evoke feelings associated with each other and shared wealth, to express ourselves in sly, subtle or playful ways – our words themselves are bridges to the natural world. They mysteriously makes it more real or at least more socially legible.
Cities in Transition
CommonsPolis— a civil society initiative to create dialogue between progressive municipalist movements and city governments, and European citizens — held an encounter described as “a common space for exchange; cities in transition and citizen struggles” in Paris on November 24, 2016…
Patterns of Commoning: A Journey Through Time to the Irrigation System in Valais, Switzerland
In Valais, Switzerland, a network of “artificial canals” was rediscovered in the 1980s.
The Commons: A Quiet Revolution
In the contemporary political landscape, the commons blur the lines of the ‘private’ and ‘public’ sectors as we have known them in the last century.
Cooperative and Common Ownership
What changes to the cooperative form would permit a better construction of the commons?
Patterns of Commoning: Can Commoners Become Self-Aware of Their Collective Potential?
As the idea of patterns of commoning suggests, commons are not objects, but actions.
Barcelona’s Brave Struggle to Advance the Commons
On a visit to Barcelona last week, I learned a great deal about the City’s pioneering role in developing “the city as a commons.”