Info, news & debate
Recent Posts
Step-by-step guides to growing 20 different herbs
Here’s a list of very easy beginners’ guides to growing a range of herbs, by John Harrison of Allotment Garden.
How the commons, unlike other movements for change, can reach working-class communities
We’ll need to produce and distribute food and other essentials, and maintain houses, energy and water infrastructure outside of the corporate system – and that requires working people to do it.
Step-by-step guides to growing 50 different vegetables
I guess an article about growing 50 of the same vegetable wouldn’t have been as interesting! So instead, here’s a list of very easy beginners’ guides to growing a range of vegetables, by John Harrison of Allotment Garden.
The fundamentals of Commoning, Part 1: Introduction
I’m interviewing Dil Green about the fundamentals of commoning. Dil is part of Mutual Credit Services (MCS) – designing models for the commons economy, that groups in Stroud and Liverpool in the UK are using in several sectors of the economy, including housing and finance.
Making local food production and land commons more viable with procurement hubs
small, local food producers are having a hard time making ends meet, because small farm incomes are falling, due to supermarkets constantly squeezing farmers/growers, to make food prices cheaper and cheaper. Here’s a potential solution.
Laying a Hedge with ‘dead hedge’ and woodchips rather than a bonfire
The first time I watched a hedge being laid was way back in the day. I vividly remember the enormous bonfire that followed, as the contractors burnt all the brash – with a little help from a can of diesel and some pallets. I saw it from Castle Cary, a good three miles away, and I thought the house had gone up. Yikes.
Green light for the UK’s first commons-owned climbing centre
Some exciting news to start the year for climbers and commoners. The UK’s first climbing commons, in Stroud, has finalised a deal with a location in Stroud, and if all goes well, there should be a commons/community-owned climbing centre opening in the summer.
How to track deer and find them in all seasons
Nature Mentoring is a North American site containing a wealth of information on how to discover simple methods for exploring the plants, birds, trees & wildlife of your natural landscape. Deer tracking is one of the great thrills of exploring the outdoors for many nature lovers like myself. The ability to find deer on a …
Commoning the flax/textile industry: Dil Green of Mutual Credit Services
I’m talking with Dil Green of Mutual Credit Services, who design models for building the commons in all sectors of the economy. Today we’re talking about building a textile commons around the flax / linen industry.
Darren Allen on civilisational collapse
There’s a debate about whether humans are in a ‘collapse era’. Here’s one of our favourite authors, Darren Allen’s take.
An amateur winemaker’s calendar
Amateur winemakers are not a uniform bunch. We are diverse and unconstrained by market forces or labeling laws, or much of any legal prohibition except good common sense.
Feb 2025 news from the commons movement in Stroud & Liverpool
This is the first monthly news update for what’s happening in the budding commons movement in Stroud and Liverpool, plus Mutual Credit Services and our partners and friends around the UK and the world.
Grow your own flowers to avoid the environmental horrors of the global flower industry
See our flower growing topic for tips on growing your own flowers; and see below for the problems associated with the flower industry, that you’ll avoid. The global flower production industry (the floricultural industry) is worth approximately €64.5 billion and is typically limited to socioeconomically developed countries such as the US and European countries. The …
Does foraging damage the countryside?
Andy Hamilton – ex of Self-sufficientish has written books on foraging, and his new book New Wild Order is out now. Here’s his take on whether foraging is bad for the countryside and wildlife:
Stroud Housing Commons looking for tenants for its first house
At Stroud Housing Commons, we’re looking for a tenant for our first house – and you can add yourself to the waiting list for future commons houses.
A governance commons to support the commons economy? Conversation with Dr Sonia Bussu
Liberal democracy supports capitalism. What kind of governance system would support the commons economy? Dave Darby of Lowimpact.org and Stroud Commons in conversation with Sonia Bussu, Associate Professor in Public Policy at the University of Birmingham and project lead for INSPIRE (looking at democratic innovations and their limitations.
Friends in high places: billionaire-free, collapse-proof communications with LoRa and Meshtastic
Building and strengthening networks is crucial to improving our resilience to the changes and social upheaval heading our way. Our social networks buffer us against possible insults to our circumstances. Everything that improves our connections increases our resilience.
Affordable climbing as a commons: Chik Shimasaki of Climbing Commons
Today I’m talking with Chikara Shimasaki, who’s building a climbing commons in Stroud, and will provide information for anyone wanting to do it in their own towns. Here are a few links: Dave: before we talk about what you’re doing – what’s the problem you’re trying to solve? What’s your motivation? Chik: the climbing commons …
12 economic growth myths and how to counter them
It’s essential that we stabilise the global economy. More people understand this every year, but corporations and governments don’t, and so we continue to destroy nature for profit. They’ve built up a bank of myths around the necessity of perpetual growth. Here are 12 common ones, and how to respond to them.
Should electric vehicles be a Lowimpact.org topic?
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.