Share the Commons | People Power  

Kosmos identifies the leading pioneers of The Commons and publishes the theoretical/philosophical foundations and practical applications on all scales from local to global. The Commons is a movement legitimized by the Nobel Peace Prize recipient Elinor Ostrom that identifies a third force of governance and resource management by the people as a compliment to the market and state. Unlike the market, the Commons is about cooperation, stewardship, equity, sustainability, and direct democracy from local to global.

Common Goods are resources that belong to everyone, whether natural (such as seas, land and air) or cultural (such as knowledge, culture and internet.) Today there is an increasing trend toward "enclosure" (privatization) of the commons by corporations resulting in such serious problems as pollution, land grabs, exclusivity of knowledge, growing inequality and exploitation of resources needed for survival. Kosmos is deeply involved in the Commons and will update you on how to participate and engage with the movement at the United Nations and in various global and local efforts. Join us at OWS (see flyer in NEWS section) for a teach-in about the Commons.

For OWS participants we recommend School of Commoning and The Future of Occupy.

Recommended Websites and Organizations:
Global Commons Trust; David Bollier; Commons Learning Alliance; P2P Foundation; On The Commons; Creative Commons; The Commoner (UK); Global Innovation Commons; IASC-COMMONS,
School of Commoning.
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	Toward a Common Theory of Value | Part One: Common Being by James Bernard Quilligan		Issue Article Type
	Riddle of the Commons: Does Property Have Properties? Thus begins an inquiry on the meaning of value in economic philosophy. This series of articles will attempt to reconceptualize the social and natural order of economics through an analysis of the commons—the natural, genetic, physical, social, cultural and intellectual resources which people manage by negotiating their own norms and rules. (For brevity’s sake, Part One uses the term ‘commons’ loosely to refer to both self-organized commons and unorganized common pool resources—a distinction which will be spelled out in subsequent articles.) The recurring theme in these writings is the creation of a commons-based economy which expresses a more inclusive type of value than in traditional economics. Read Article		Fall | Winter 2011 Kosmos

	Commons for Peace by James Bernard Quilligan		Issue Article Type
	Although the term ‘human security’ has various meanings, two have predominated. Following the Cold War, several major studies—including the UN Secretary-General’s 1992 report, Agenda for Peace; the 1994 World Development Report of the UN Development Program; and the 2003 report, Human Security Now, by the UN Commission on Human Security—proposed peaceful alternatives to military security. Read Article		Fall | Winter 2011 Kosmos

	Peacekeeping as a Commons Activity by Rolf C. Carriere		Issue Article Type
	All forms of military peacekeeping are quintessential interventions of the world’s nation-state system, and by definition none could therefore qualify as a commons activity, even if its aims were entirely humanitarian. Such actions produce public, not commons goods. Even unarmed civilian peacekeeping, the way it is currently carried out by a few dozen NGOs worldwide, cannot be regarded as a commons activity, although it has some features consistent with commons practice and values. Read Article		Fall | Winter 2011 Kosmos

	The Healing Logic of the Commons by David Bollier		Issue Article Type
	Economics is the science of generating wealth. The only problem is that it is interested only in a certain kind of wealth—wealth that comes encased in private property rights and has a price attached to it. This standard economic narrative doesn’t have much to say about the great stores of value that don’t have price tags. How much is the Earth’s atmosphere worth? What about the human genome? Fresh water supplies? Our inheritance of scientific knowledge and culture? Parks and open spaces? The Internet? Read Article		Fall | Winter 2011 Kosmos

	CAUN Submission for Rio+20 by Multiple Authors		Issue Article Type
	A Commons Based Approach to Creating a Sustainable "Green" Economy and Implementing Sustainable Development shall be developed at all levels of government so that all stakeholders can participate actively in developing, managing, and maintaining, and can then share equitably in the usage and benefits coming from resources that all need to survive and thrive and that must be held in common by the community at large, be it local, regional or global. Read Article		Other Articles Other

	Connecting Our Conversations | Becoming Wiser Together by George Pór		Issue Article Type
	Connecting our conversations is the best way to discover that the future is already here, but that the awareness of it is not evenly distributed. Why is this important? Because, the choice is between joining together to create a wisdom society or regressing into an extinct society. The complex, intertwining local and global crises will outpace our ‘response-ability if we don't wise up individually and collectively. Read Article		Spring | Summer 2008 Kosmos

	Building a Commons Across the Gulf by Jason Bender		Issue Article Type
	The recent BP oil spill was a huge disaster, yet the Gulf of Mexico has long been an abused ecosystem. For decades, the Mississippi River has drained pollutants into the Gulf from nitrogen rich cornfields, chemically-treated golf courses, oil-polluted parking lots and sewage runoff. The Gulf is home to a huge and aging oil/chemicals infrastructure, including nearly 4,000 drilling and production platforms. Critical habitat for shrimp and fish is jammed together with heavy industry. Believing they need both industry and habitat, the loyalties of the local people are often conflicted: their voices often silenced. To re-energize them, new ideas are needed. Read Article		Fall | Winter 2010 Kosmos

	Commoners Converge on Berlin by David Bollier		Issue Article Type
	What might the world look like if governments and public policy actively helped people create and maintain their own commons? A major international conference hopes to find some preliminary answers at an historic gathering in Berlin, Germany, from October 31 to November 2, 2010. Read Article		Fall | Winter 2010 Kosmos

	Reclaim the Commons Manifesto by Multiple Authors		Issue Article Type
	Humankind is suffering from an unprecedented campaign of privatization and commodification of the most basic elements of life: nature, culture, human work and knowledge itself. In countless arenas, businesses are claiming our shared inheritance— sciences, creative works, water, the atmosphere, health, education, genetic diversity, even living creatures—as private property. A compulsive quest for short-term financial gain is sacrificing the prosperity of all and the stability of the Earth itself. Read Article		Fall | Winter 2009 Kosmos

	Commons Action for the United Nations by Kosmos Journal		Issue Article Type
	All of us share sources of wealth that are beyond market goods and monetary prices but critical to our survival and quality of life.The global commons consists of these shared resources, as well as the committed people who work for the common good and serve as stewards of our collective resources. Neither today’s problems nor their solutions exist without people. Appreciating the valueof a commons is as old as humanity itself, yet as forward-looking as our most advanced technology. Read Article		Spring | Summer 2010 Kosmos

	A Journey to Sharing by Neal Gorenflo		Issue Article Type
	The latest chapter of my life began in the parking lot of a warehouse near Brussels Airport in Belgium one sunny Saturday afternoon in 2004. At the time, I was working for one of the largest global transportation companies in the world on a multi-billion dollar merger integration project. In a strange twist of fate, I was actually working indirectly for the German government who had bought the American company where I worked. I was commuting between San Francisco and Brussels spending an alternating three weeks in each. Read Article		Fall | Winter 2011 Kosmos

	A Common Matter by Leo Burke		Issue Article Type
	While the term 'commons' has been in used for centuries in one context or another, the 'global commons' is a recent construct signifying the total inheritance of humankind upon which life depends. This includes more than natural resources such as forests, oceans and air. It encompasses our intellectual and cultural heritage—for instance, literature, art and the Internet. Seen in this light, our participation in the global commons is fundamental to being human. Read Article		Fall | Winter 2010 Kosmos

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