Ronald C. Israel

Ron Israel is co-founder and a Board member of The Global Citizens' Initiative (TGCI), a member based organization that seeks to strengthen the practice of global citizenship. (www.theglobalcitizensinitiative.org).  He is the author of a new book - Global Citizenship: A Path to Building Identity and Community in A Globalized World (available through the TGCI website or Amazon.com). He…

A Journey to Sharing

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…

Building a Commons Across the Gulf

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…

Commoners Converge on Berlin

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. Convened by the Heinrich Boell Foundation and the newly formed Commons Strategy Group, the event, “Building…

Commons Action for the United Nations-FW10

The commons is the main focus of a group of collaborators from around the world called Commons Action for the United Nations. We are bringing awareness of our shared ecological and social resources— our commons—to UN policy and programs. Our goal is to highlight the necessity of commoning processes, where people at local levels claim sovereignty over the resources they depend on for…

Knowledge Commons for the Global Commons

Common Course  Dr. Terri Homan: “Six months ago I had never heard of the commons. Perhaps the starting point for a world movement is spreading awareness, so there are more banner-carriers to work toward the change in consciousness that is required. Unless a critical mass of world citizens demand change, it is too easy for the rest to look away.” Terri is a physician in the Chicago area, one…

Kosmos Goes to Mustang: The Cutting Edge of a New Civilization Greets Ancient Buddhist Wisdom

The Kingdom of Mustang, one of the last remaining sanctuaries of ancient Tibetan Buddhist culture, is located on the north-central border of Nepal and Tibet. From September 15 to October 1, 2010, a small group of trekkers will follow the ancient trails of trade marked by mani walls, chortens and monasteries on our way to Lo Manthang, the walled capital of Mustang, where the King of Mustang…

Maine Activists Protect the Commons

Communities in Maine have been engaging in a struggle to protect their groundwater resources from the multinational corporation Nestlé Waters N.A., the largest food and beverage company in the world. Nestlé, which is in the business of mining water to fill plastic bottles for their labels such as Poland Springs, seeks to expand its business by increasing the number of wellheads…

The Rise of the Commons

We, the people of the world, own most of this planet in common. Our future depends on learning to use and develop this commons for the good of the total, and not just for the few. Here in the Far North we built a new state based on that concept. It’s the only place like it. The Alaskan people, through our state government, won ownership of much of our land and our natural resources. Using neither…

Jamilla El-Shafei

Jamilla El-Shafei is the co-founder and organizer for Save Our Water in Southern Maine.  SOH2O is dedicated to protecting fresh water supplies in the state of Maine. Our efforts are focused within our state and we work to prevent large scale water extraction, monitor our local water district, enact legislative protections for our water, and educate local communities to the importance of…