The Flood Washes over us
Can a “never-seen-before ” weather event that happens every few years really be called “never-seen-before”? Does a “1 in a 1,000 year” event that happens twice in two years become a warning of something different happening?
building resilient societies
Human Predators, Human Prey – Part 3
Perhaps seeing the class and power dynamics of society through the lens of “predation” can highlight the machinery of inequality and exploitation, helping us avoid being “preyed upon” and “preying upon” others.
What Barcelona’s Social and Solidarity Economy Means for NYC
At the end of June, activists from Mexico, the United States, and Canada gathered at the Fearless Cities Conference—North America’s first ever municipalist summit—to discuss local strategies to build a more just, democratic, and inclusive economy…
A More Inclusive Global Climate Action Summit can Stop us From ‘Losing Earth’
What Rich left out is that the mainstream environmental movement – the ecosystem of big green organizations and funders – consistently excluded and failed to provide resources to organizations representing those most vulnerable to climate change: communities of color and low-income communities.
Everything for Everyone
Cooperatives are a way of introducing people to a radical vision of the commons that also includes familiar stuff like Visa, Associated Press, and the credit union down the street. But I wouldn’t claim cooperatives are sufficient. They’re a starting point, a gateway to more diverse and widespread commoning.
Equality: A Beneficial Alternative to Collapse
What future shall we choose? Equality or inequality? Deep democracy or more limited forms? Sustainability and wise stewardship of resources, or exploitation for profit?
The Changing Narrative – A New Ontology for the Progressive Movement?
An ontology is basically a set of principles or assumption about how the world works; about the fundamental ‘nature of reality’.
When Imagination Meets Brexit: the Story of the Totnes Passport
One of the highlights of my summer was collecting my Totnes Passport. The whole Brexit debacle from inception to its current state of woeful ineptitude and brazen jingoism has been one entirely bereft of imagination.
Weaving the Path to Planetary Health
It is essential that as many local/regional “hubs” as possible be set up for regeneration of ecosystem functions that address the most critical planetary boundaries… namely geochemical cycles of nitrogen/phosphorous, land-use practices, and climate change.
Eco-Civ 101
If you want to put meaning into meaningless slogans, he said, think about an eco-civilization that means local resource sovereignty, multidiversity solidarity, and sustainable ecological safety.
Re-engaging Imagination
If we’re making political decisions around how we want to exist in the world, then we need to think about the impossible. And to think about the impossible we need to connect to this place that does not exist within your current state of mind. This is why play should be a political – to open us up to unknowability.
Pulling the Magical Lever
A critical approach to utopian imaginaries is essential for any rethinking of political futures; without it, we risk being trapped in the same old stories even as we see ourselves as thinking outside the old story box.
