Recent News
July 2010 News
Kosmos as a Founding Member for Global Commons Action for the United Nations
The Commons movement is gaining ground and Kosmos is deeply engaged in making this happen as a founding organization for the commons approach at the UN. James B. Quilligan and Lisinka Ulatowska are spearheading a movement for the commons to be the theme of the Rio 2012 conference and a working group at the UN has been lobbying in person and through letters to make this happen. Kosmos just wrote a letter to the Department of Public Information at the UN to support the commons as a theme for the annual NGO conference in 2012 in Macau. Most importantly, the UN has published the Submission sent by our Commons Committee recommending the commons approach in sustainable development policies. Read the paper here.
In addition, an education committee is successfully working with universities and through UNITAR for international civil servants. Courses on the commons are now being taught at Amherst College and the University of Notre Dame.
Planetary Charter and Gulf Charter
Another commons committee is working on creating a Planetary Charter, declaring the rights of all people to natural and social resources. Meanwhile, others are working on a proposed Gulf Trust, which would have averted the oil disaster if the commons approach had emerged prior to the current disaster. A documentary on the needs arising from the Gulf disaster will be filmed at the end of the month, followed by meetings with local residents affected by the oil disaster. All of these efforts will lead to the introduction of People’s Charters and Trusts to protect our environment.
Catalyzing a Global Transition Conference
Another exciting development is an outgrowth of the 4Year.Go. initiative. This group consists of over 500 organizations committed to make a transformational difference in 4 years according to their capacities. A small group has been invited to meet to set the vision and path for the next steps and to catalyze the transition, or in the words of the invitation, “to launch a collective process of vision-making and path building”.
Kosmos was selected “as a leader whose vision, commitment and action in the world are clearly aimed at catalyzing a global transition”. This conference is not a public conference in the typical sense; instead, this will be an opportunity for key storytellers, thought leaders, activists and strategists to set a context within which to weave our work together for greater effect, giving rise to a new coherence that moves the world powerfully toward the transition to a sustainable, fulfilling and just global future.
International Commons Conference
Constructing a Commons-Based Policy Platform, Berlin, October 31-November 2, 2010, Heinrich-Boll-Stiftung
James B. Quilligan, Tara Stuart and Nancy Roof have been invited to participate in this international conference. Seizing this moment of opportunity, the Constructing a Commons-Based Policy Platform conference will bring together about 150 leading figures in commons-based studies and activism for a multidisciplinary, internationally focused conference. The event will explore the range of commons-based policy and social approaches that now exist and forge a new network of commoners who will collaborate on commons-based initiatives in the future. The gathering will also serve to incubate entirely new ideas and strategies, including new communications strategies, prototype commons, funding models and research needs.
Kosmos Co-Sponsors Thirtieth Annual E. F. Schumacher Society Lectures
Voices of the New Economics, November 20, 2010, Community Church of NY, 40 E 35th St, NYC
If you will be in New York City on November 20th save the date and meet us at this important event. The global financial system has failed us in its promise, resulting in an environment and society in crisis. A movement for a new economics, one that supports people and the planet, is emerging as an inevitable response. The Thirtieth Annual E. F. Schumacher Lectures will introduce three leading voices for a New Economics: Gus Speth, prominent environmentalist who has been at the forefront of rethinking the connection between health of the environment and the nature of our economic system; Neva Goodwin, pioneer of contextual economics education at the Global Development and Environment Institute at Tufts University; and Stewart Wallis, executive director of the influential New Economics Foundation of London.
Plus, you will also meet the members of the New Economics Institute including the fabulous Susan Witt (see below).
New Economics Institute
In late June, the Kosmos team met with Susan Witt, education director for the New Economics Institute that will be housed right in our own backyard in Great Barrington, MA with another office in New York City. It was a highlight of our month! Here is a woman that has almost single-handedly brought the work of the Schumacher society to our region and introduced a new currency, BerkShares, which has gained worldwide acclaim. Like most people who have a spiritual commitment to the new civilization, she is humble, easily accessible, welcoming and warm. You will learn more about her in the next issue of Kosmos.
