Ed Mayo: In a sparsely populated country with a short summer and long, hard winter, the idea of people working together for a common interest comes naturally. As a result there are more member-owners of co-operative enterprises in Finland than there are people. The average adult is a member of two co-operatives; those in a… Continue reading
This text follows my recent keynote at Seoul Smart Mobility International Conference. The author thanks Seoul Design Foundation and @Seoul_gov for their invitation. I also thank XuanZheng Wang, professor, China Central Academy of Fine Arts (CAFA), for alerting me to the @Mobike developments. Two hundred people per second now climb onto a dockless bike somewhere… Continue reading
Secretly held and designed algorithms have a large power over our lives and work opportunities and are becoming a form of nefarious power that big corporations hold over us. Moreover, as Cathy O’Neil shows in this presentation, they often incorporate human biases. What can we do to resist ? Find out here. From the shownotes… Continue reading
Jason W. Moore & Raj Patel: Settled agriculture, cities, nation-states, information technology and every other facet of the modern world have unfolded within a long era of climatic good fortune. Those days are gone. Sea levels are rising; climate is becoming less stable; average temperatures are increasing. Civilization emerged in a geological era known as the… Continue reading
Levente Polyak: Spacehive is a civic crowdfunding platform based in London. The platform, established in 2012, supports projects aimed at improving local civic and community spaces. Besides collecting donations from individuals, Spacehive also connects initiatives with funding sources including city councils, companies and grant-makers. Furthermore, the organisation and its partners help people with project ideas… Continue reading
The distributive concept of the 21st century is not about redistribution, but about sharing the sources of wealth from the start. An interview with Kate Raworth, by Triodos bank. Kate Raworth recognises that a dramatic new mindset is needed if we’re going to address the economic challenges of the 21st century. Her iconic book, Doughnut… Continue reading
Playing for Team Human today are Frances Moore Lappé and Adam Eichen from the Small Planet Institute. Lappé and Eichen are out on the road with a mission to reinvigorate “civic courage” and inclusive participation in democracy. Their latest book Daring Democracy Igniting Power, Meaning, and Connection for the America We Want offers a diagnosis… Continue reading
Cross-posted from Shareable. Kevin Stark: The Great Lakes Commons is a regional grassroots initiative advocating for the freshwater chain of lakes in the upper Midwest and Mideast parts of the U.S. and Canada. As part of that mission, the group has released a new toolkit designed to help communities and residents protect the lakes, which its members… Continue reading
The following article, written by Patrick Noble and published in Feasta’s website is a very good summary of the ecological indictment of our current societies, I highly recommend it. Patrick Noble: What spoils economies? Firstly, their size – do they exceed the limits of their ecological supply. That is – is the mass and diversity… Continue reading
I have this idea for a while now and after my first interaction with the sustainability startup accelerator Climate KIC in Milan yesterday I decided to use the time on the train back to Berlin to finally share it. It starts with the question: How to make quicker progress with sustainability in the world of Startups? Here is an… Continue reading
Hannelore Hollinetz and Martin Hollinetz: The development of the Otelos – the international network of open technology labs – is the story of a group bringing together creative people in rural areas and forging a new culture of innovation with them. The idea for Otelos began in 2009 as Martin Hollinetz, then Director of Regional… Continue reading
Reposted from Rosalux-nyc, check out Vicente Rubio-Pueyo‘s new study on Spain’s municipalist coalitions. In Spain’s municipal elections of May 2015, a constellation of new political forces emerged. For the first time in almost 40 years of Spanish democracy, the country’s major cities would no longer be ruled by either the Partido Popular (PP) or the… Continue reading
Reposted from Occupy.com (and originally sourced from TNI’s excellent recap), Nick Buxtom shares some positive news: Nick Buxtom: The bad news streaming through our media in 2017 has been relentless. However it doesn’t tell the full story. Beyond the headlines, there have been countless amazing social movement struggles in different regions of the world that deserve to… Continue reading
The three main types of insecure work, casual, zero‐hours and self‐employment, are all on the increase. Ongoing labour market deregulation, the impact of information technology and the new gig economy means income, hours, days or even work locations can no longer be guaranteed as employment rights are eroded. More and more workers are becoming socially… Continue reading
Index: # COPYRIGHT AND ACCESS TO KNOWLEDGE AND INFORMATION – Directive of the European Union on Copyright in the Digital Single Market – “Canon Digital” Private Copy Levy in the Spanish State – Copyright exceptions and limitations in Spain # FREEDOM OF INFORMATION AND PROTECTION OF LEAKERS / ALERTERS / WHISTLEBLOWERS – Anticorruption whistleblowing platforms… Continue reading
Aaron Bastani has written a fantastic, concise analysis of the current political economy vis a vis environmental realities. While I agree that we need attractive visions of the future (see our recent Commons Transition Primer for ours) and that, yes, States and unions are key components for any realist, short-term change, I found the article’s undertones… Continue reading