I have a strong intuition that the public benefit model of incorporation could be a powerful catalyst toward rebuilding the commons. Most people, if given a choice, would vastly prefer to work for the public benefit rather than for the private profiteers. If the public benefit model of doing business gains traction it could lead to a rapid shift toward an economy that puts people and the planet before profit.
Good point. I should bring that in. Class B corporations allow a more diverse set of goals than the bottom line. I think worker coops should be incorporated this way. Whereas the entirely bottom-line-driven corporation cannot under corporate law, as Joel Balkan has documented in his work. He notes that a corporate person must act totally in its own self-interest. A human individual acting that way would be called a sociopath.
Agree. People might want to check out the book Small is Beautiful, economics as if people mattered first published in the seventies and profoundly relevant today.
One of my original inspirations, as was “Human Scale” by Kirkpatrick Sale, who was inspired by it. Leopold Kohr in turn inspired book author E.F. Schumacher with his writings including “The Breakdown of Nations.”
In agreement, but see little to none of this happening in the world.
Example: I recently ended my Skoolie road life and moved to Philadelphia. I have a puppy, so am up at 5am in the dark taking him for a walk. Sometimes, seemingly on random days of the week, I see this dude on a cargo bike picking up 5 gallon compost buckets people place on the doorstep (consider it a reverse Amazon model). Yet the project is virtually invisible. The buckets disappear in darkness and seems to be no "advertising" so I have no idea who is doing the program or how to join. A young black man knocked on my doo the other day selling "local fresh food". It was too expensive and required digital participation (phone app etc), which I don't do. But in talking to this young man, I learned that the cargo bike compost program provides inputs to local community gardens. There are 2 such gardens within a quarter mile of my house, but my Daugherty told me there is a 5 plus year waiting list.
So even when good things are happening, they seem either invisible, underfunded, expensive, technocratic, or microscopic in scope. Hate to be a whiner, but just my observations after a fe months of city life.
Now, if there were ONE state law that mandated such local programs in all municipalities and levied a dedicated corporate tax to fund the program, that might be significant.
So, does it make more sense for me to work on figuring out how to participate in my local programs, or to try to get the State environmental groups off their neoliberal asses and do some real policy and program work?
The most likely form of public action would be what we have in Seattle, which is curbside compost pickup processed by a massive industrial installation. Good as far as it goes. But community composting such as you describe is better. See https://ilsr.org/composting/.
The Common Good is what we need to elevate, I agree, Patrick.
How do we capture those dollars going to the very rich and the military industrial complex, and as subsidies to the fossil fuel industry? Those dollars need to be redirected to the common good, so we all have enough, so our ailing planet can be restored and that we have institutions that keep us well and keep all of us, including our politicians, honest. I wish we had more people to vote for who were on the same page as we are.
And building in the shell of the old is what I think we need to do too. Re: banking, credit unions don't support the military industrial complex, so they're a good place to start.
I am going to try to connect this vision to building a peace economy in my next post. How we can build a locally and regionally rooted peace movements, and how that ramifies to the national level. Taking money back from the 1% requires progressive taxation. Easier to do with corporations that need to operate in specific geographies than with individuals. We have had some success in Seattle passing progressive taxation on Amazon, but as my Bezos vignette shows, it’s easier for individuals to flee. In terms of credit unions, better than private banks, but some still put money into stuff like derivatives. I keep my money in a credit union but would prefer a public bank with a specific investment mission.
Strongly agree with the need to revitalise the commons at the neighbourhood level, Patrick. Are there projects/seeds of hope you'd point to in Seattle? Based just across the border from you, so curious about PNW initiatives.
Some groups I find inspiring are Africatown Community Land Trust working for economic development in the Black Community. https://www.africatownlandtrust.org/; Seattle Neighborhood Greenways working for better bike and pedestrian environments, http://www.seattlegreenways.org/; 350 Seattle working on a broad Seattle Green New Deal agenda, https://350seattle.org/green-new-deal/; House Our Neighbors working to create a social housing developer in Seattle, https://www.houseourneighbors.org/; Capitol Hill Ecodistrict working to transform one of our densest neighborhoods, https://www.capitolhillecodistrict.org/; and Rainier Valley Community Development Fund working to capitalize projects in one of our more diverse neighborhoods, https://rvcdf.org/. Not encyclopedic, but just some of the projects that have impressed me, and helped me believe a broader and unifying agenda is possible.
Fantastic, I'll take a look. Appreciate you taking the time to note a few. One of the paradoxes of commoning, it seems to me, is that commoming projects are happening and appreciated absolutely everywhere, and yet the language of commoning isn't really mainstream. On the one hand there are lots of similar terms to describe it, but it also speaks to the stifling ideology you describe.
of course will credit and link to your substack. I appreciate your comment and would like to know why you are not sure what we mean. In essence we are providing the know how and methodology to turn our society around and towards a course of sustainability and prosperity. Does require some intelligent players and raising our educational systems a bit. If I can be of any way of help in explaining further, please let me know. I thank you again for allowing us to repost your article as it spells out very well what our problems are that we need to solve.
Your article goes hand in hand what we have been saying for the last twenty years. I would like your permission to republish your article on our pages at https://www.terrs.ngo
I have a strong intuition that the public benefit model of incorporation could be a powerful catalyst toward rebuilding the commons. Most people, if given a choice, would vastly prefer to work for the public benefit rather than for the private profiteers. If the public benefit model of doing business gains traction it could lead to a rapid shift toward an economy that puts people and the planet before profit.
Good point. I should bring that in. Class B corporations allow a more diverse set of goals than the bottom line. I think worker coops should be incorporated this way. Whereas the entirely bottom-line-driven corporation cannot under corporate law, as Joel Balkan has documented in his work. He notes that a corporate person must act totally in its own self-interest. A human individual acting that way would be called a sociopath.
Agree. People might want to check out the book Small is Beautiful, economics as if people mattered first published in the seventies and profoundly relevant today.
One of my original inspirations, as was “Human Scale” by Kirkpatrick Sale, who was inspired by it. Leopold Kohr in turn inspired book author E.F. Schumacher with his writings including “The Breakdown of Nations.”
In agreement, but see little to none of this happening in the world.
Example: I recently ended my Skoolie road life and moved to Philadelphia. I have a puppy, so am up at 5am in the dark taking him for a walk. Sometimes, seemingly on random days of the week, I see this dude on a cargo bike picking up 5 gallon compost buckets people place on the doorstep (consider it a reverse Amazon model). Yet the project is virtually invisible. The buckets disappear in darkness and seems to be no "advertising" so I have no idea who is doing the program or how to join. A young black man knocked on my doo the other day selling "local fresh food". It was too expensive and required digital participation (phone app etc), which I don't do. But in talking to this young man, I learned that the cargo bike compost program provides inputs to local community gardens. There are 2 such gardens within a quarter mile of my house, but my Daugherty told me there is a 5 plus year waiting list.
So even when good things are happening, they seem either invisible, underfunded, expensive, technocratic, or microscopic in scope. Hate to be a whiner, but just my observations after a fe months of city life.
Now, if there were ONE state law that mandated such local programs in all municipalities and levied a dedicated corporate tax to fund the program, that might be significant.
So, does it make more sense for me to work on figuring out how to participate in my local programs, or to try to get the State environmental groups off their neoliberal asses and do some real policy and program work?
The most likely form of public action would be what we have in Seattle, which is curbside compost pickup processed by a massive industrial installation. Good as far as it goes. But community composting such as you describe is better. See https://ilsr.org/composting/.
The Common Good is what we need to elevate, I agree, Patrick.
How do we capture those dollars going to the very rich and the military industrial complex, and as subsidies to the fossil fuel industry? Those dollars need to be redirected to the common good, so we all have enough, so our ailing planet can be restored and that we have institutions that keep us well and keep all of us, including our politicians, honest. I wish we had more people to vote for who were on the same page as we are.
And building in the shell of the old is what I think we need to do too. Re: banking, credit unions don't support the military industrial complex, so they're a good place to start.
I am going to try to connect this vision to building a peace economy in my next post. How we can build a locally and regionally rooted peace movements, and how that ramifies to the national level. Taking money back from the 1% requires progressive taxation. Easier to do with corporations that need to operate in specific geographies than with individuals. We have had some success in Seattle passing progressive taxation on Amazon, but as my Bezos vignette shows, it’s easier for individuals to flee. In terms of credit unions, better than private banks, but some still put money into stuff like derivatives. I keep my money in a credit union but would prefer a public bank with a specific investment mission.
Strongly agree with the need to revitalise the commons at the neighbourhood level, Patrick. Are there projects/seeds of hope you'd point to in Seattle? Based just across the border from you, so curious about PNW initiatives.
Some groups I find inspiring are Africatown Community Land Trust working for economic development in the Black Community. https://www.africatownlandtrust.org/; Seattle Neighborhood Greenways working for better bike and pedestrian environments, http://www.seattlegreenways.org/; 350 Seattle working on a broad Seattle Green New Deal agenda, https://350seattle.org/green-new-deal/; House Our Neighbors working to create a social housing developer in Seattle, https://www.houseourneighbors.org/; Capitol Hill Ecodistrict working to transform one of our densest neighborhoods, https://www.capitolhillecodistrict.org/; and Rainier Valley Community Development Fund working to capitalize projects in one of our more diverse neighborhoods, https://rvcdf.org/. Not encyclopedic, but just some of the projects that have impressed me, and helped me believe a broader and unifying agenda is possible.
Fantastic, I'll take a look. Appreciate you taking the time to note a few. One of the paradoxes of commoning, it seems to me, is that commoming projects are happening and appreciated absolutely everywhere, and yet the language of commoning isn't really mainstream. On the one hand there are lots of similar terms to describe it, but it also speaks to the stifling ideology you describe.
The level of bottom-up community initiatives happening all over isn’t well recognized, but it provides a lot of hope.
The main thing I want to say is that I read an essay on Resilience yesterday, which led me to the manifesto on this guy's website, occupythehearth.org , along similar lines but more radical. I recommend everyone check it out, starting with the piece on Resilience https://www.resilience.org/stories/2024-04-03/leo-infrastructure/
Thanks Patrick.
Just sent you the reply. Have a great weekend.
Hello Patrick,
just finished reposting your article @ https://terra.ngo/a-world-in-crisis-requires-we-recover-the-common-good-beginning-in-the-places-where-we-live/
Wishing you a relaxing good Friday,
Nils
Great! And looking forward to learning more about your effort. Email sent earlier.
ok. thanks. will do. would love to have you onboard as a member/author at terra.ngo
It looks like an interesting project. But not sure what that means. p.s. Please credit and link The Raven in your post.
of course will credit and link to your substack. I appreciate your comment and would like to know why you are not sure what we mean. In essence we are providing the know how and methodology to turn our society around and towards a course of sustainability and prosperity. Does require some intelligent players and raising our educational systems a bit. If I can be of any way of help in explaining further, please let me know. I thank you again for allowing us to repost your article as it spells out very well what our problems are that we need to solve.
I was referring to being a member/author. What does that entail?
It would be our pleasure to welcome you as a member/author. I would be happy to provide more details via email. nils.semmler(at)terra.ngo
terra.ngo
Your article goes hand in hand what we have been saying for the last twenty years. I would like your permission to republish your article on our pages at https://www.terrs.ngo
Permission granted. Please send link to repub.