Community Life

Locally-based commons build the “social wealth” of our communities. It is therefore important to create and maintain an independent business sector, inviting public spaces, local agricultural initiatives, and other vital community systems.

January 5, 2006

On the Value of Public Spaces

A new movement arises to champion public spaces, and it's about more than aesthetics. Without congenial places to gather, democracy withers, and our sense of community disappears.

December 31, 2005

Open Source Celebration

Open-source celebration: ringing in the new year as a commons.

December 25, 2005

How They Broke the Peace

A World War I Christmas truce called by the troops, not the generals, shows the magical power of cooperation and basic humanity.

December 5, 2005

Unpaid Work as a Form of Social Wealth

Unpaid work in the home and the community – often done by women – is an immense form of social wealth overlooked by economists.

November 25, 2005

The Season of Compulsive Consumption

A growing legion of creative dissenters challenges the season of materialist frenzy known as Christmas.

November 19, 2005

Clark, Texas Has A New Name

A student was expelled from a Georgia high school for wearing a Pepsi shirt on Coke day. Naming rights have extended from stadiums to public schools and even towns.

November 18, 2005

Is it Possible to “Rent a Mom”?

The next stage in outsourcing: our personal lives. We can pay someone to express our emotions.

November 13, 2005

Charles and the Commons

Prince Charles' visit to a farmers' market in his hometown gives Jonathan Rowe a chance to ponder the meaning of celebrity and community. People turned out not so much to see the prince but to be a part of an historic occasion.

November 5, 2005

Product Bias: The End Of The Romance?

From iPods to cell phones, new technology is drastically altering our lives. Yet the media only pays attention to what's good about it, ignoring the considerable cultural side effects.

October 24, 2005

Oxytocin, Reciprocity and Civil Society

Scientific research shows we are hard-wired for cooperation and empathy as much as for competition and aggression.