Encinitas You Need Us

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.