From an interesting overview of local initiatives by Daniel Lerch. Go to the original article for the links to the examples. Daniel Lerch: “Here are just a few examples of the ways that cities are building resilience holistically, whether in response to peak oil or simply as part of an ingrained sense of sustainability: Peak… Continue reading
Urban agriculture for food security in Cuba
Michel requested that I pass this link along: http://www.springerlink.com/content/q271877700x43578/ Urban agriculture in Cuba has rapidly become a significant source of fresh produce for the urban and suburban populations. A large number of urban gardens in Havana and other major cities have emerged as a grassroots movement in response to the crisis brought about by the… Continue reading
Every person should have one share of the atmospheric commons
From a proposal by ethical philosopher Peter Singer: “If we begin by asking, “Why should anyone have a greater claim to part of the global atmospheric sink than any other?” then the first, and simplest response is: “No reason at all.” Everyone has the same claim to part of the atmospheric sink as everyone else…. Continue reading
Sam Rose on plausible change strategies
From an interesting discussion about the realism of social change, on our p2p research list, we select the contribution of Sam Rose. It is followed by an interesting excerpt from the theorist of change theory (adaptive cycles, panarchy), C. Hollings. 1. Sam Rose: “Plausible” comes to me as a language construct from Richard Slaughter of… Continue reading
Bifo on how to prepare for the new barbarian age
Ten years after Seattle we have to invent a new strategy for the movement, starting from the consciousness that the prevailing form of the global power today is war, and that a military dictatorship is taking shape in the world. Neoliberal policy destroyed the very idea of a public sphere in the field of the… Continue reading
The three economies and their entropy
A good case against the magical belief that renewable energies will easily replace declining fossil fuels, but also a fundamental text about economics in general. In the second part, the author interprets inflation as an expression of entropy in the tertiary ‘money’ economy, arguing that Gesellian money reform may be unnecessary because of it. John… Continue reading
Kevin Kelly’s Information Metaphysics
The billion-years rise of extropy — as it flings up stable molecules, solar systems, a planetary atmosphere, life, mind and the technium — can be restated as the slow accumulation of ordered information. Or rather, the slow ordering of accumulated information. Information is its own force in the universe, which started with energy, became increasingly… Continue reading
Jeff Vail on the Diagonal Economy and the Rhizome Organisation
Jeff Vail is starting his long-awaited series on the next step for our post-meltdown political economies (see ToC for full project description): An excerpt on how this change may come about in the core country of the present system. Jeff Vail: “The diagonal economy might rise amidst the decline of our current system—the “Legacy System.”… Continue reading
DataSF
From the DataSF website: DataSF is a central clearinghouse for datasets published by the City & County of San Francisco. The site allows you to find datasets in several ways: general search, tags/keywords, categories, and rating. The goal is to improve access to city data through open machine-readable formats. While the number and quality of… Continue reading
The social history of the MP3 music revolution
Recommended blog essay by Eric Harvey: Summary: “A lot of forces would have to coalesce for any sort of revolution to happen. More likely, it will take a while, as it did with radio and the phonograph, for mp3s to stabilize and reach a point where the old ways of doing things learn from the… Continue reading
James Quilligan: 21st century commons, the new social charters, and the State
Very interesting, and crucial contribution, by James Quilligan: “In my view, many commons need a social contract negotiated between the commoners and the state. Each one should be negotiated on its own terms. There may be pure commons management on one hand, or perhaps state-commons hybrids on the other — but that’s up to the… Continue reading
Rural revolution in Colombia goes digital and p2p
“Latinamerica is particularly well equipped for these changes (peer production) by their cultural affinity with the values of P2P”, said Michel Bauwens on an interview for Pagina/12 the Argentinian journal. This statement seems to prove itself when one reads Elyssa Pachico;s article “Rural revolution in Colombia goes digital” (first published by CounterPunch, you can find… Continue reading
Explaining Greenxchange’s open innovation model
This is a great explanation of the cooperation logic behind Greenxchange, an initiative by Nike, BestBuy and the Creative Commons, to create collaborative open innovation pools for renewable energy research.
OPEN 2009 – Media Lab Doctor of Arts Symposium – Helsinki – November 5–6, 2009
The doctoral programme in Media Lab Helsinki will organize a symposium about openness in November 5–6, 2009, which is the second edition of the event. OPEN 2009 – Media Lab Doctor of Arts Symposium is an event for all interested parties who want to understand the ongoing shift from an industrially organized era to an… Continue reading
Peer to peer ‘unclasses’
Springwise reports on the LaidOffCamp initiative: “Unconferences have become increasingly common over the past decade or so, notable in particular for their low-key structure and participant-driven format. LaidOffCamp is one such example, and now—inspired, in fact, by that initiative—the concept has been applied to education with the launch of (un)classes. Aiming to provide a more… Continue reading
Metacasting and the new mixed media realities
Drax’s engaging, mixed-media report blends virtual and offline interviews and video clips to explore the way social media were used by Obama’s team to distribute Obama’s speech to Africans lacking direct access to the Internet. Below is what I consider a must-see video, not just because the interesting content, see the above blocquote, but mostly… Continue reading