Who Owns the River?
The property rights crowd just can’t seem to comprehend that ownership rights are not absolute. Property doesn’t exist in a vacuum, but in a social, ecological context. The latest installment of this...
View ArticleWater Flowing Underground
No one complains about the convenience of getting water from the tap, but there is something deep within us that loves drawing fresh water from the ground, the way generations of humans have done. Is...
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The Rural Commons of India
The Foundation for Ecological Security (FES) is a pioneering advocate of the commons in India, especially on behalf of the poor. At the recent conference of the International Association for the Study...
View ArticleThe Supreme Court of India Defends the Village Commons
While common lands and waters are being stolen by investors and developers the world over, the Supreme Court of India decided it was not going to look the other way. In a bold, surprising ruling, the...
View ArticleLessons from the Italian Votes that Resoundingly Support Water as a Commons
How does commons activism differ from conventional political action, and how might it transform the very practice of democracy and governance? In a must-read essay, Tommaso Fattori explains how...
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The Great Lakes Commons Map
A week or two ago, I blogged about the rise of new sorts of eco-digital commons that blend virtual spaces with environmental management. It's a bit of serendipity to learn this week about the a...
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Beyond Zombie-Environmentalism: The Great Lakes Commons
It’s been said that the fate of any great movement is to be cannibalized by the mainstream or to die. I’d like to suggest two others paths: zombiehood and courageous re-invention.Zombiehood is a mode...
View ArticleThe Remunicipalization of Water
After the binge of privatization of municipal water systems in the 1980s and 1990s, citizens and city governments are starting to realize what a big mistake they made. Privatization resulted in higher...
View Article“Love, Me, I’m a Liberal”
Maybe it’s time for the commons and liberalism to have a frank talk. Liberals would seem to be natural allies of the commons; they certainly often profess its values and goals, however superficially....
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The Farmers of Hoxie Inaugurate a Water Commons
Farmers in the small town of Hoxie, Kansas, have been pumping water out of the Ogallala Aquifer six times faster than rain can naturally recharge it. This is a big deal because most of the town...
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Water Cooperation and Political Security Go Hand in Hand
A fascinating report produced by the Strategic Foresight Group, a Mumbai-based think tank, shows that cooperation across political boundaries in the management of water correlates quite highly with...
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John Thackara’s Intimate Tour of the Emerging New Economy
In the burgeoning genre of books focused on building a new and benign world order – a challenge variously known as the “new economy,” “Great Transition,” and the “Great Turning” among other terms) –...
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