Society

Taking Practical Action Toward Resilience

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Dreaming, organizing, and awareness raising are all important parts of the work we do, but there is something to be said for bringing people together, getting your hands dirty, and creating something beautiful. As we heard in last month’s teleseminar with Rob Hopkins, practical projects are one of the most fun and effective ways to energize and strengthen your existing Transition groups and reach out to inspire and engage your community.

Social justice and solar equity

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What is the relationship between social justice and resource sustainability? Many authors have tackled this subject from many directions, including Illich (1973), and O’Riordan (1976). In the developed world, freedom includes emancipation from nature, where freedom does not occur until we escape our limits. The spiritual is separate from the material, and energetic limits are not a consideration. Adequate society means that everyone else attains the first world countries’ level of development (Mies and Shiva, 1993).

Learning to Look at the Sky Again

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“Because you gave names to everything you found, and came up with logos for bad ideas, and woke up early for conference calls, and changed your car every two years, and it was no progress at all/just a shadow festival/because of that you will have to learn to look at the sky again, you will have to learn to eat food that grows where you live again, you will have to learn to touch what you make.”

Commons Has Expanded, Not Shrunk, Over Past 200 Years

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It took more than a century for public schools systems to be established everywhere, from 1779 when they were unsuccessfully proposed by Thomas Jefferson as governor, to universal education by the early 20th century. If you had asked the person next to you in New York or virtually any other city for a drink of water in 1825,they would have had a predictable response: go buy your own. It would be like today asking the person next to you for a Coke.

An Aside to my Readers

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I’ve commented several times in these essays about the way that Americans in particular, and people throughout the industrial world more generally, like to pretend that history has nothing to teach them. It’s a remarkably odd habit, not least because the lessons of history keep whacking them upside the head with an assortment of well-aged and sturdy timbers, without ever breaking through the trance.

Turkey Puts DIY Twist on Clothing Swap

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Giysi Takası, which means clothing swap in Turkish, celebrated its 1st anniversary with a day-long swap, skillshares, and performances on Saturday, April 6th at Mixer Art Gallery in Tophane, Istanbul. The swap was referred to as a maker’s party, because 400 young adults not only enjoyed the event’s offerings but also actively participated in its creation, along with the 13 volunteer staff. Shareable helped support this event through its seed grant contest this year.