David Bollier: Drive an hour northeast from Cusco, Peru, and you will encounter some beautiful high mountain lakes, historic Inca ruins, and the richest diversity of potatoes on the planet. Approximately 2,300 of the 4,000 known potato varieties in the world are grown here, making it one of the most biodiverse regions on the planet…. Continue reading
“Reciproka facilitates the development of a co-owned network of open co-operatives through ownership transfer, network building and co-operative accumulation.” David Bollier and I (see David’s post from yesterday) had the pleasure of meeting Janosch Sbeih and Jérôme Birolini (“The Reciprokans”) at the Open 2017: Platform Cooperativism conference in London. We were very impressed with their overall… Continue reading
Though we often think the modern culture of consumerism is an export from United States and a product of capitalism, people long before today’s era were enjoying the benefit of soft shoes, beautiful cloth and exceptional goods. Acquisition has been an important part of community and identity, essential to societies even though only recently so… Continue reading
Can diverse social movements come together and find new synergies for building a new type of economy? Last week there were some significant conversations along those lines at Goldsmiths College in London, at the Open Co-op conference. The two-day event brought together leading voices from the co-operative, open source, and collaborative economy movements as well… Continue reading
We’ve seen a lot of panic on climate change issues, and understandably so, since Trump’s election. But let’s not overestimate what Trump can actually do to derail progress, or underestimate what we’ll continue to do despite him. First, whatever you think of government policies on such matters, the national and local governments of a major… Continue reading
Cross-posted from Shareable. Cat Johnson: We recently came across an inspiring video report by Agence France-Presse about a honey cooperative run by women in Afghanistan. It offers a glimpse into the life of an Afghan mother of seven who runs a beekeeping enterprise. She is just one of an estimated 200 women in the Bamiyan province working in honey production… Continue reading
“If our economy builds financial circulation into its DNA by continuing to adopt not-for-profit forms of business, we can ensure a fair distribution of our common wealth”. Video and text originally posted in Sustainable Brands. Donnie Maclurcan, Executive Director of the Post Growth Institute and co-author of How on Earth: The Future is Not for… Continue reading
By Pål Steigan A massive campaign to reduce freedom of speech is conducted all over Europe. It started out under the pretext of fighting “hate speech” on the Internet. In the aftermath of Hillary Clinton’s election defeat in the U.S., the concept of “fake news” has come into fashion, and is now being used as… Continue reading
However much we may dislike the practices of Facebook, it does partly correspond to a need for the creation of groups for meaningful exchange. However, by accepting to do this on a corporate owned platform, we also submit to the exploitation of our personal data, and the massive control and manipulation of our behaviours for… Continue reading
This article by the sustainability designer John Thackara is a must read since it shows the limits of any efforts, even the best ones, under the current growth paradigm. The article describes the extraordinary work of IKEA designers which over 2 decades have halved the material usage of the world largest furniture producer, BUT, and… Continue reading
The P2P Foundation is serializing video highlights from last year’s Platform Cooperativism conference. Click here to see all conference videos. Cities and Technological Sovereignty 6 – The Gig Economy Needs To Meet Its Responsibilities (13 mins) Wolfgang Kowalsky – The ‘gig economy’ may sound cool but in reality many of the jobs offer a fast… Continue reading
As a developed set of social practices, techniques and ethical norms, permaculture has a lot to say to the world of the commons. This is immediately clear from reading the twelve design principles of permaculture that David Holmgren enumerated in his 2002 book Permaculture: Principles and Practices Beyond Sustainability. It mentions such principles as “catch… Continue reading
This post originally appeared on European Alternatives Today’s challenges, from the flight from war-refugees to the management of the commons, and the environmental crisis, are being tackled at the local level from some City Councils across Europe. Some cities are proving to be spaces with an outstanding capacity to confront and face reality with reachable… Continue reading
The P2P Foundation is serializing video highlights from last year’s Platform Cooperativism conference. Click here to see all conference videos. (15 mins) Mayo Fuster Morell – Mayo Fuster Morell will provide a brief overview of public policy making approaches to the sharing economy. Using the example of Barcelona, Mayo will focus on what policymakers can… Continue reading
Energy as a Commons is a video produced during the first public meeting of the European Commons Assembly in Brussels, 15-17 November, 2016. Cecile Blanchet reflects on how the energy system is designed to please the needs of constant growth of the markets and opposes it to a community-managed paradigm that is inclusive and accessible… Continue reading
An article authored by Antonis Broumas. Originally published at TripleC: Abstract “Over the past twenty years theorizing about the intellectual commons has undeniably become a popular activity not only among scholars that deal with the dialectics between information/communication technologies and society but also among the wider scientific community. Yet, the discourse over intellectual commons and… Continue reading