Posts Tagged ‘community’
Ecological Resistance and the Politics of Regeneration in Kurdistan
Across Kurdistan, the village has not been just a place of settlement; it has been a living ecological system, a web of deep interconnections among people, land, seeds, animals, water, and culture. Today, industrial agriculture drives urban expansion and centuries of political violence continue to weaken rural life. Yet a growing grassroots movement is regenerating…
Read MoreIs a Mass Revolt Against Technocracy Starting to Happen?
Ted Gioia has a popular Substack called “The Honest Broker.” Although, as an author, his books tend to focus on music and popular culture, he writes eloquently about a wide range of topics and offers insightful commentary about the global forced march toward technocratic lifestyle and governance that we’re now immersed in. In one posting,…
Read MoreWe Are in a Crisis – How to Build Communities that Can Respond
Oligarchies concentrating power The world is in a systemic crisis of historic proportions, in the sense that its political systems are increasingly failing to respond either to immediate challenges or more deeply rooted problems out of which those challenges rise. The immediate challenge is the rise of right-wing demagogues, and in the US from where…
Read MoreLiving Connected to Place and Why It Matters Now
Over time, I’ve come to realize that downturns in my mood are often related to feeling disconnected. Maybe I’ve been working hard and not paying as much attention to my family or not seeing friends. I may be talking with others on Zoom, but it’s not the same felt sense of connection as being together…
Read MoreHow Then Shall We Live?
How then shall we live? – a short story of old roots and new shoots in Transylvania “Find your place on the planet. Dig in, and take responsibility from there” – Gary Snyder “The place will tell us what to do.” Robyn made this prediction more than 20 years ago. Now we understand more what…
Read MoreJune 21 – World Localization Day
Ever since 2020, a global organization called Local Futures has been organizing events in dozens of countries on June 21, when the planet’s northern hemisphere enters the summer solstice. There are films, webinars, and local events happening everywhere around the globe. And it’s a moment when all of us who feel isolated in our localist…
Read MoreLocal, Vernacular, and Alive
Local landscapes were once powerful forces in their own right, shaping how people lived, farmed, traded, and made sense of the world. The land created people, and as people worked, they changed the land. Over time a shared identity and distinctive culture emerged. Again and again, people have made their patch of the earth feel…
Read MoreThe Caravan of Hope: Uncovering a Localising Japan
To many, Japan is a poster child of globalisation. With its commercial boom and bustling megacities, it’s a vision in neon, characterised by high technology, consumerism, and ruthless capitalist competition. But fissures in the country’s modernising dream run deep: rising poverty, environmental decline, food insecurity, and, infamously, an epidemic of youth suicide and depression that…
Read MoreA Localized Alternative to ‘Disaster Capitalism’
Like many disasters, Covid-19 shocked the world; like some disasters it changed the world economy in ways most of us did not predict. But let’s back up for moment. What if those post-disaster changes had indeed been predicted – planned even – by people long before the virus began its deadly spread? More than a…
Read MoreThe Abundance of Subsistence
One late-summer day, a day so hot the mosquitoes weren’t flying, my brother and his wife and I traveled nine miles up the Unalakleet River to seine for humpies, or pink salmon. We laughed and hollered while pulling the net to a flat, wide bar made of perfect skipping and throwing stones at the inside…
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