Some of the topics on our site are problematic – i.e. it’s questionable as to whether they’re truly low-impact or ‘convivial’ (a term coined by Ivan Illich, meaning controlled by and beneficial to communities) – and top of the list of problematic topics is electric vehicles. Read more

So, the first ‘Festival of Commoning’ happened in Stroud on Sep 13 & 14. This is a short report from one festival-goer, Dr Laura James. Read more

Doing agricultural or building work in an ever-hotter world will become more and more difficult and dangerous in future. Evaporative cooling vests exist to help people stay cool and safe whilst doing heavy, hot work. Here, Geoffroy Levy describes his ideas for a DIY evaporative vest made from natural materials. Read more

When I’ve had conversations about the commons with right-leaning people (and sometimes cynical people on the left too), a typical response might be something along the lines of: ‘don’t waste your time trying to build a more democratic, sustainable or peaceful society. It won’t work, because humans are inherently selfish, greedy and competitive’. Read more

Prior to industrialisation, all villages will have once had at least one well, before commercialisation of the water supply. In many villages, wells were communal, with residents perhaps sharing the costs of having it built, and then manually looking after its upkeep. Read more

At the Festival of Commoning (Sep 13-14, in Stroud), our Stroud Commons group has a one-hour slot on the Saturday morning. I’m going to give an overview of commons ideas, and there will be representatives of the housing, land, energy and climbing groups to talk about what’s happening in their groups. Then we’ll have around half an hour to answer questions. Read more

Dave Darby of Lowimpact.org and Stroud Commons talks with Tom Woodroof of Local Loop Merseyside and Mutual Credit Services about the Credit Commons – a way to federate different groups all over the world that are building the commons economy (because you can’t get everything you need from just your community) – but it does it without centralised control. Read more

This is Part 2 of a two-parter, about how the housing crisis causes debt-bondage and wage-slavery, and how the housing Commons can release people from debt and give them freedom to do what they know needs to be done. Read more

Tickets for the Festival of Commoning are now on sale. Stroud, Sep 13 & 14, 2024. Read more

This is Part 1 of a two-parter, about how the housing crisis causes debt-bondage and wage-slavery, and how the housing Commons can release people from debt and give them freedom to do what they know needs to be done. Read more

Will Ruddick of Grassroots Economics talks about the French mutual aid tradition of Corvées. Read more

How likely is financial collapse? Matthew Slater, blogger and co-author of the Credit Commons white paper, looks into it: Read more

Dave Darby of Stroud Commons and Lowimpact.org talks with Rosie Bristow and Nick Evans of Fantasy Fibre Mill, working to resurrect the flax / linen industry in the UK, as a commons. Read more

Permaculture teacher and forest gardener Tomas Remiarz reviews two of the best books that he’s read recently: Entangled Life and the Medicinal Forest Garden Handbook Read more

The catastrophic problems of privatised English water companies are well known. Sewerage function and drinking water supply are now more deficient than even before privatisation. Terminal failure was in-built from the start, within the cultural, operational, & regulatory processes applied. Correcting these foundational criteria can help inform the quickest resolution. Read more

We’re building a housing commons in Stroud, and recording everything so that it’s replicable in any town. We’re finalising our partnership agreement, after which we’ll put the first house in the commons. Read more

Hear about the building of, and ongoing use of, a compost toilet in Brazil. Read more

There’s huge overlap between the principles of agroecology and of commoning, and growth in the commons movement could mean a shift towards agroecology and away from damaging industrial agriculture. Read more

El Habib Ben Amara, an architect and urban designer from a tribal ksar (fortified oasis) in Algeria, who’s been working with a partner of ours. He’s an activist against desertification and one of the foremost authorities on sustainable water management in the Sahara. Read more

The commons is a movement to create a different world, not just the same system with a few tweaks to make it more bearable. If successful, obviously there will be entities out there that will try to undermine it, buy it and ultimately, to crush it. But there are aspects to the commons model that will, I think, make it more resistant to this than existing models. Read more