A framework for what goes around and comes back

I. Center of the Circle: These core principles characterize all commons-based initiatives and any vital commons.

Equity: Everyone has a fair and just share of our commons to expand opportunities for all.

Sustainability: Our common wealth must be cared for so that it can sustain all living beings, including future generations.

Interdependence: Cooperation and connection in our communities, around the world and with our living planet is essential for the future.

II. Second Ring of the Circle: New ways of life arise when our communities and society as a whole become more rooted in the practice of the commons.

Shared Governance: Everyone is engaged in gathering information, making decisions and exercising power to steward common resources.

Deepened Responsibility: Together we claim the power to repair inequity, restore our common inheritance and expand opportunities for human fulfillment and planetary resilience.

Belonging: A more expansive view of belonging fosters broader understandings of what ownership means and new structures for how it works.

Co-Creating: A spirit of common purpose lets us realize that abundance, not scarcity, prevails when we invite wider participation in our endeavors.

III. Outer Ring of the Circle: Commons exist—what we inherit and create together.

—THE ON THE COMMONS TEAM

Editor: Another chapter in Celebrating the Commons: People Stories and Ideas for the New Year from Commons Magazine being presented each Sunday at EYNU.

Musical Interlude

Can't stop laughing . . .

According to Mary

The Big Fix

In the scheme of things, there are terrifying enemies of life we owe it to ourselves to fight. Hint: They aren't our local city council members who many of us believe are doing a remarkable job methodically turning around a decades old systemic bias.

Oil and the Oligarchy are the enemy.

The Trailer

Via Diane Sweet, Crooks & Liars

"On Earthday, 2010, the Deepwater Horizon offshore drilling rig sank creating the worst oil spill in history. According to the global media, the story ended when the well was capped – but that’s when the real story began. By exposing the root causes of the oil spill and what really happened after the news cameras left the Gulf states, filmmakers Josh and Rebecca Tickell uncover a vast network of corruption. 

The New Orleans Times Picayune says THE BIG FIX is “a full-on, no-holds-barred bit of investigative journalism” into the dark secrets surrounding one of the largest man-made environmental catastrophes in American history."

Full Length

THIS

Small Spaces etc.: Traditional Cottages

"Lets face it: humans are gregarious —we like to live around others. We also have a desire—and perhaps a need—for personal space. Sometime in the last generation, however, we became so charmed with the dream of a ‘house of one’s own’ that we overshot our desire for privacy, leaving us marooned on our own personal island in a sea of houses."
—Ross Chapin

Cottages don't seem like a real stretch in a Southern California beach community that purportedly values its traditions. But where are the developments for this kind of building? What is stopping this? Is it greed, nimby terror of density, lack of imagination, building codes or something else responsible? It is time to bring cottages back into a beach community.

Ross Chapin Architects is one of the well-known names for this genre and is credited with the term "pocket neighborhoods." Within the Pocket Neighborhoods blog is the following:

In essence, pocket neighborhoods are about nearby neighbors sharing and caring for common ground. 

These communities don’t have to be built from scratch, or take much money at all. Section Four in the Pocket Neighborhoods book features a story about two subdivisions where residents have taken down their backyard fences to create a safe play-space for their kids. Another story tells about a suburban cul-de-sac where neighbors regularly take over the street for summer potlucks. In Baltimore and Los Angeles, residents along urban alleys have reclaimed their access lane as a shared commons, complete with BBQs, picnic tables and container gardens. And all over America, nearby neighbors are coming together to plan community gardens in vacant lots and undeveloped street right-of-ways.

New pocket neighborhoods can take the form of clustered homes around a garden in a variety of configurations in small towns or suburban settings. In urban settings, pocket neighborhoods are likely to be attached or stacked apartments opening onto a shared courtyard. This is because the higher value of urban land will force denser development. Cohousing is another form of pocket neighborhood that is becoming more common, but that will be for another blog post.

Style is not what matters; homes could take the form of Craftsman cottages, contemporary sheds, or urban lofts. Nor is location — suburban, urban, small town. It’s all about the essential pattern: having a relatively small number of neighbors gathering around shared space.

Free Geek

In a Tell-A-Vision framework, imagine a chunk of the Encinitas Fire Empire being donated to an enterprise like the Free Geek operation described below. In particular the now abandoned Cardiff-by-the-Sea Fire Station would be a great site for this.

This kind of thing is spreading across the country and a good reason to feel encouraged.  Imagine the same kind of entrepreneurial spirit for appliance repair, bike repair and other mechanical skill-based education and cooperative sharing to provide for needs in a transitional economy.

State of the Commons 2035: A Story of One City’s Transformation

How South Bend was transformed as part of a growing trend toward a more cooperative society

Photo by Brian Butko under a Creative
Commons license from flickr.com.

In the 2020s South Bend, Indiana, emerged as one America’s leading commons cities yet still retains a homey MIdwestern character. It’s a tradition to get together with friends and family at the numerous neighborhood taverns, which serve as public gathering spots.

(South Bend, Indiana) August 3, 2035. Just a few years ago, the sight of downtown streets in South Bend thronged with shoppers, office workers and entertainment seekers would have been shocking. Once upon a time you could shoot a cannon down South Bend’s Main Street at 8 p.m. with little risk of casualties. But downtown is now bustling with people day and night, many who come not to work or shop but to be where the action is.

Over the past five years, 6,800 new housing units have been built in the area, along with a spate of new offices, restaurants, bars, stores, theaters and galleries. South Bend’s newly completed downtown farmer’s market complex draws tens of thousands of visitors each day, and Lafayette Street is referred to as the “Wall Street of Credit Unions,” with more than a dozen cooperatively owned financial institutions headquartered along a three-block stretch. One of these, the Mondragon American Trust (MAT), which popularized the concept of transforming suburban subdivisions into eco-villages, is now larger than all but two Wall Street banks.

As much as anywhere in the United States, South Bend has prospered by capitalizing on the promise of the commons—which means assets belonging to all of us, from water and wilderness to the Internet and cultural treasures. The commons also refers to a new ethic of sharing and cooperation, which has come to influence decision making at all levels in South Bend, bringing big changes to city hall, business offices and neighborhood groups.

While the ideas of the commons sound theoretical and abstract, commons-based policies show practical results. The South Bend unemployment rate hovers below 1 percent, and the city ranks high for the quality of its municipal services and the strength of its civic organizations. Because such a sizable share of economic activity rests in the hands of locally owned businesses and cooperatives, South Bend’s new wealth is spread around the community, not piped to a corporate head- quarters far away.

High school graduation rates are the highest ever in the city’s history, with 93 percent of students going on to college or technical training programs. The St. Joseph River and local lakes are clean enough for fishing and swimming. Three light rail lines, coupled with policies to promote bicycling and pedestrian-friendly neighborhood businesses, give the once-gritty city an almost Parisian quality of urban charm.

“I don’t know of another place that has done a more thorough job of bringing government, community groups, non-profit institutions and private business together to solve pressing problems and make sure that future generations enjoy the bounty of the commons in their daily lives,” declares Salaam Sanchez, director of the prestigious E.F. Schumacher School of Business at the University of Puerto Rico. “South Bend is pointing us in the direction of a sustainable, prosperous and—dare I say— pleasurable future.”

While South Bend has accomplished the most of any American community in promoting a vision of the commons—thanks to the enthusiastic work of citizens coming out of neighborhood organizations, social movements, labor unions, the business community and religious congregations—you see similar policies being put into action everywhere
from Bangor to Berkeley, Ottawa to Oaxaca.

Nearby Gary, Indiana—once an economic basket case in anyone’s eyes—is now thriving as the center of the revived Lake Michigan fishing industry. Hard-hit Buffalo, New York, flourishes as the home of world-renowned green engineering firms. Even after the closing of its military bases, San Antonio is booming thanks to its emergence as a music and media capital known as the “Tex-Mex Hollywood.”

Probably the greatest impact of the commons all over the world has come in the flowering of community and civic organizations dedicated to improving people’s lives. Kieran Chang, best-selling self-help author states, “From the rise of shared-family housing to the teen service corps and the creation of new neighborhood plazas in almost every town, the commons brightens our lives from morning to midnight. It amounts to a spectacular shift from ‘me’ to ‘we’.”

Indeed, the daily rhythm of modern society has evolved dramatically since the harried days when demands of the market economy drove almost every aspect of life. “The long working hours, financial anxiety and lack of time for family, fun, friends and faith seem like a bad dream now,” Chang offers. “The rediscovery of the commons prompted people to think more about what really mattered to them.”

The spirit of the commons is on full display here at the Common Wealth Festival in South Bend, which opened last night. At the TED (technology/entertainment/design) Bazaar, folks are urged to download the latest movies, music, blogs, software, greenware, smartware, slowware, poetry, architectural codes, news reports, video mash-ups, engineering specs, gaming templates, typography, and fashion designs from everywhere across the planet. At the same time, festival-goers can sample 75 different beers, 19 wines, 13 bourbons, 31 vinegars, 116 cheeses, 56 different kinds of sausage and eight varieties of West African-style cassava brew, all made right inside the city limits.

“South Bend is the center of the universe—to those of us who live here,” exclaims Mayor Lakeesha Kluzynski, who admits to liking the Polish sausages best. “That’s the great gift of the commons—letting us discover the wonderful things around us that we all share.”

—JAY WALLJASPER

Editor: Another chapter in Celebrating the Commons: People Stories and Ideas for the New Year from Commons Magazine being presented each Sunday at EYNU.

According to Mary: Times Two - Birds & Bees

For some reason Coast News didn't upload last week's cartoon online. 

Celebrate Spring

Vernal  Equinox March 20, 2013

Small Spaces etc. - What is stopping this movement?

The following portions of an article by Lloyd Alter of Treehugger, citing The Tiny Life blogger, address barriers to the Tiny House Movement. The original is recommended, especially for the many informative comments.

The obstacles are all related to the free market system that has shaped our communities.  The model that once worked well is broken.  The excesses, financial bubbles and draconian building codes are all aspects of the barriers to choosing small (read: affordable) spaces. The article follows . . .

Notwithstanding the success of people like Jay Shafer and his Tumbleweed Tiny House line, it is still an incredibly tiny niche. What's holding it back? Over at The Tiny Life, Ryan Mitchell lists the Top 5 Biggest Barriers To The Tiny House Movement; the first three L's are well known to me, I am not certain about the last two, and I think he is missing a big one. 

Land 

One of the largest hurdles for people wanting to live in a Tiny House is access to land. Land is expensive, in growing short supply and people want a balance of having land and being close to city or town centers where they can access services, entertainment and employment. 

One of the main reasons people are interested in tiny houses is that they are relatively cheap. Once you try to buy land, it's not anymore, and the actual tiny house becomes the least expensive part of the equation. 

Loans 

At this point, banks don’t feel that Tiny Houses are a viable option because they don’t have a good resale value. 

There are loans available for recreational vehicles and trailers, but the interest rate is high and you have to provide personal security. If you can plop it on the ground that you own, then you might be able to get a traditional mortgage, but don't bet on it. 

Laws 

This one is the real killer; many municipalities have minimum square footage requirements because they like the higher tax assessments. Even where I am now deep in the middle of nowhere, they have them. They insist on full water and sewer systems that can cost more than the house. They don't allow trailers so you can't just leave it on the chassis. They don't want tiny houses, period. 

Social Pressures 

In our society today, bigger is better, more is better, we are conditioned to want more and more stuff. These cultural norms are a very strong current in maintaining the status quo. Tiny Houses fly in the face of such things, questioning much of what people hold dear. 

This is fundamentally where I think Ryan, and much of the movement, goes wrong. Lots of people all over the world live in tiny houses; they are called apartments. Families all over Europe and Asia are raised in a couple of hundred square feet, and single people have no problem with it. In cities like Vancouver, tiny houses are popping up in back lanes everywhere. But much of the Tiny House movement seems to be about replacing a conventional suburban or exurban model with... a tiny house. 

Fear 

When faced with the prospect of bucking the system, initiating a radical lifestyle change, and spending a good chunk of money to do it, it can be scary.

Encinitas has not found any substantive solutions to housing for working class, underemployed residents who represent the largest labor pool in the community. We all know that Density Bonus Laws are a sham for real solutions. Public land trusts as an investment for citizens and the city are worth exploring along with micro-loans, a thorough review of existing building code constraints and green building grants. These all represent steps towards considering solutions.

All it takes is will. There are individuals and families who have taken on these obstacles individually. But, there is a segment of the community most vulnerable and most in need of assistance from community activists, community groups and the many citizens aware of land use inequities. Greater numbers and cooperative strategies would give Encinitas a chance to venture into this new housing approach. It just needs our humanity to kick in to mobilize such a movement.

For me the great appeal beyond conscious living is the end run around developers we have grown to abhor, the big bankers, large building industry firms and the affordable housing giants who all act as paracites in the process.  Who then would be forcing Density Bonus? If we can get our city government, city planners to work as advocates for the citizenry rather than handmaidens to the Bigs, we can begin our ventures into something altogether new. First and foremost we need to get the rigid (broken) State (and/or Federal) Housing Authorities to certify tiny homes and then get city building codes to recognize exceptions.

Inspiration Boost

Check out Craigslist Joe on Netflix Streaming, iTunes or DVD (to name several) to recharge your sense of community, faith in humanity and sense of hope. It is also a real adventure.

Joe writes in his first blog post on Craigslistjoe.com:

This is my very first blog post. My brother Michael suggested I start one, which was suggested by two of his friends Dan and Alex. 

My name is Joseph Garner. I’m the director and “Joe” of “Craigslist Joe“. 

The response to our documentary has been overwhelming. The film premiered on August 2, 2012, and has screened in over 20 cities in the U.S., Canada, and soon in many more countries around the world. The film is also on iTunes, Amazon, Vudu, Hulu, Netflix, and more. 

We live in a very interesting time right now where we have access to film, music, art, science, history, and pretty much anything else we could want to look up, with the simple click of a button. We have more ways to communicate and connect with each other than ever before. 

I have been blown away by the incredible support our film has received via email, facebook messages, tweets, instagram photos, and more. Your stories are so inspiring. I will do my very best to respond to all of your messages, so keep ‘em coming. 

Here’s a few links you may find useful…
www.craigslistjoe.com
www.facebook.com/craigslistjoe
twitter: @craigslistjoe
instagram: @craigslistjoe 

much love.
joe.

350.org Co-Founder Sides with the Commons

                            COMMONER                             

Boeve encourages us all to step up as a global community to fight climate change

With equal parts poise and resolution, May Boeve fights climate change. Alongside author Bill McKibben and a group of college friends, she spearheaded a campaign called Step It Up in 2007 that organized creative actions across the U.S. and urged political leaders to cut carbon 80% by 2050. The campaign then went international under the name 350.org.

350.org “works hard to organize in a new way—everywhere at once, using online tools to facilitate strategic offline action.” You may have seen aerial shots of the human-made 350’s (the number that stands for the safe level of carbon in the atmosphere), or the climate street art, just two of the many ways 350.org’s organizing efforts have united individuals from around the globe in common cause.

Boeve emphasizes that the climate crisis requires us all to step up as a global community, and, today, 350.org’s initiatives are led by thousands of volunteer organizers in over 188 countries.

I recently had the opportunity to catch up with Boeve about how the commons connects to the growing global movement against climate change, 350.org’s stance against the fossil fuel industry, and the importance of the commons in her own life.

Boeve calls herself a commoner because she wants “to be part of a movement that’s trying to create something different than what we stand to inherit right now.”
How does the commons influence your work at 350.org?

The way we try to organize at 350.org has been a commons exercise, specifically through the distributed days of action we’ve held five different times. These days are all about bringing communities together on a particular day, with a particular theme, to deliver a message about preserving the climate, which is a global commons. People participate because they understand that their actions link them in a very direct way to thousands of individuals around the world. It’s an experiment in demonstrating how the sum is greater than its individual parts.

When I read Bill McKibben’s piece in Rolling Stone called Global Warming’s Terrifying New Math, I was intrigued by his belief that moral outrage might be what sparks a transformative challenge to fossil fuel. How does 350.org help people see the immorality of the fossil-fuel industry’s actions?

We all know that burning fossil fuels drives the climate to change and warm. That’s not news. It’s not news that the public attitude toward oil industry executives is largely negative. And we all know that those execs are the characters behind the drilling—that’s not news either. But what is new is the link: we have to make it clear that these executives are knowingly taking actions that will make it impossible for the rest of us, including future generations, to live on a healthy planet.

How do we connect the moral aspect? Our particular style of work is to influence public perception through action and global organizing. We find stories and examples of people who are challenging the system, who are seeing things in a new way, and in doing so, are changing the way the public at large understands this problem. Not as a problem about your individual actions and the car you drive and where you buy your food—which all still matters—but that this problem involves a set of actors who are making bad choices and are not being held account- able by our political system.

We must fundamentally change the way the public views the oil industry. Take the apartheid struggle: at a certain point, you had to choose which side you were on, whether you agreed that racial segregation was immoral, or whether you did not. That’s where we are right now with the oil industry.

What do you see as the biggest obstacle to fighting for, and protecting, the climate as a commons?

I think a huge obstacle to building this movement, second only to our opposition, is the ability for any one person to see that he or she can do something about the problem—because it’s really big. Another obstacle is the inspiration factor. How do we inspire people to spend their most valuable resource (their time) working to bring about a solution to climate change? It’s a challenge in an era when there are so many problems, many of which stem from undervaluing the commons. But there are many people doing impressive work for the greater good. In their work I see incredible promise, and that’s what keeps me inspired to work on climate change issues.

At 350.org, specifically, we’ve embraced social media tools as mass storytelling platforms from the beginning, and we’ve had a lot of incredible experiences. When we receive stories via email, we often write back and say, “Hey, we’re inspired by this, and we bet our Facebook followers will be too. Can we post this on our page?” Hundreds of thousands of people “Like” and “Share” the stories we post about individuals from all over the globe who are tackling seemingly insurmountable challenges for their communities.

There’s one specific example that comes to mind. A young woman from Baghdad participated in our first day of action all by herself, because her friends were afraid to cross a security checkpoint. The image of this woman standing alone with her 350 banner rose above the rest, and she wrote us a few months later to report that she had formed a local climate organizing group. The following year we hosted another day of action, and lo and behold, there she was with a group of ten. To me, and I think to many people, these stories show why it’s imperative that we work on climate change as a global community. There’s something special about knowing you’re taking the same action as someone else on the opposite side of the globe. Together we can stand as a peaceful army fighting for a different future.

—JESSICA CONRAD

Editor: Another chapter in Celebrating the Commons: People Stories and Ideas for the New Year from Commons Magazine being presented each Sunday at EYNU.

Obedience Alternative

Small Spaces etc. - Recycle, Reclaim, Reimagine Home

Quote of the Day

"What can men do? Men do not just need to stop being violent. The vast majority of men are not violent. But men do need to stop being silent. Calling violence against women, whether street harassment or sexual harassment or rape or murder, a 'women's issue' allows men to ignore it as if we have no responsibility for it or stake in ending it. We all have grandmothers, mothers, sisters, daughters and female friends and colleagues. Our lives are inextricably interwoven; women's issues of safety and equality directly affect our lives as men. Beyond that, women are humans, with the same rights to safety and freedom as men. It is therefore our moral responsibility to not remain silent or passively on the sidelines, but to be actively engaged in confronting this problem in every corner of homes, communities, and societies."

—Former NFL quarterback and current feminist Don McPherson

Read the whole op ed, where CNN invited men to join in anti-violence advocacy. Avoid the comments - a sewer. 

Via Shakesville

And An Observation from the  blogmistress of Shakesville:

The difference between "all men are rapists" and "a woman cannot tell by looking at a man whether he is a rapist" is vast and readily discerned. And I am really tired of reading rape apologists conflate the two, as if they are easily confused. Failing to distinguish between the two is not a mistake; it's an agenda.

Be a Commoner

Five ways to boost the commons all around you

Photo by Project for Public Spaces (www.pps.org).

1. Challenge the prevailing myth that all problems have private, individualized solutions. Collaborating with others is more likely to meet your needs for security and happiness than extra money or further possessions.
2. Notice how many of life’s pleasures exist outside the market- place—playing ball, exploring online, watching a sunset, cooking a favorite recipe, carrying on a tradition, playing music, hanging out with friends.
3. Conduct an inventory of commons in your community.These are places, resources and social practices open to everyone. Publicize your findings, and offer suggestions for celebrating and improving these community assets at the same time as making sure they’re available to everyone.
4. Watch where your money goes. How do the stores, companies and financial institutions you patronize help or hinder the commons? Buy from local, independent businesses or cooperatives that share your values whenever possible. Investigate how stuff you now pay for could be acquired in cooperative ways, ranging from barter to carsharing to community gardens to the public library.
5. Think of yourself as a commoner and share your enthusiasm. Raise the subject in conversation, classes, church, on-line and the other networks you are involved in. Support causes and movements to protect what we share together.

—JAY WALLJASPER

Editor: Another chapter in Celebrating the Commons: People Stories and Ideas for the New Year from Commons Magazine being presented each Sunday at EYNU.

Seeds

It is planting time all over Encinitas. There is so much in the world of seeds that has changed dramatically within this last decade.  Did you know that Monsanto has bought most every single seed company?  It is a horror story and growing more frightening each spring.  

Speaking of women and growing things, the following interview with Vandana Shiva is an opportunity to hear one of the world authorities on growing food and healthy biodiversity. Shiva founded Navdanya (meaning 9 seeds) in 1984. From the website:

"Navdanya is actively involved in the rejuvenation of indigenous knowledge and culture. It has created awareness on the hazards of genetic engineering, defended people's knowledge from biopiracy and food rights in the face of globalisation and climate change. 

Navdanya is a women centred movement for the protection of biological and cultural diversity."

Two Options from The Perennial Plate on Vimeo. (This is also a plug for the Perennial Plate videos from a fan.)

If you know of someone who saves their own seeds in Encinitas, you have a good chance with vegetables that grow well in our coastal microclimate.

It is so difficult for we who are up against these gigantic companies. But, there are seed companies you can trust for heirloom quality, including Baker Creek and Territorial Seed Company. And their catalogs are gorgeous!  Here is some background from a highly successful and passionate Seattle gardener.

Women Feed the World

In honor of the women who feed the world . . .

From Katherine Gustafson of Sustainable Food Blog: 

Women grow more than half of the world's food and the lion's share (as much as 80 percent) of the food in developing countries, reports the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

Despite their majority contribution, however, women only own 2 percent of the world's land, according to UN WomenWatch. Around the world, women are deprived of legal rights to the land they toil over day after day.

Zainab Salbi, founder and CEO of Women for Women International, pointed out to me that this is a bigger problem than simple unfairness. "We cannot address environmental issues, sustainable farming issues, industrial agriculture issues, food crisis, if we are going to ignore [the fact that women are over 80 percent of the world's farmers and they own about 2 percent of land in the world]," she said. "How can you have a policy that ignores the people that are doing the work on a daily basis?"

Afghanistan

Albania

Australia

Austria

Benin

Bolivia

Bosnia

Brazil

Burundi

California

Cambodia

Chad

Chile

China

Dominican Republic

Equador

Egypt

England

Ethiopia

France

German

Ghana

Greece

Guatemala

Idaho

India

India

Indonesia

Iraq

Ireland

Israel

Italy

Jamaica

Japan

Jordan

Kashmir

Kazakhstan

Kenya

Laos

Malawi

Maryland

Massachusetts

Mauritania

Mexico

Mongolia

Morocco

Mozambique

Myanmar

Myanmar

Nambia

Nepal

Panama

Peru

Phiippines

Poland

Portugal

Puerto Rico

Romania

Russia

Rwanda

Scotland

Slovakia

Somaliland

South Korea

Spain

Srilanka

Sudan

Switzerland

Taiwan

Tibet

Turkey

Uganda

Ukraine

Uzbekistan

Viet Nam

Viet Nam

Wales

Yemen

Zambia

Zanzibar

Zimbabwe

How absurd is it to name one day International Women's Day when half the world is women?

Shakesville images and links from 2009. Conditions world wide have gotten tougher since then for most of the world's non-corporate farms.