Our celebration of Small is Beautiful continues in November with the theme of Expanding the Frontiers of Commoning. Our participants for this online conversation are introduced below.
Join us Thursday, November 16th at 2PM (EST). As with all 2023 Schumacher Conversations, registration is free.
“The really helpful things will not be done from the centre; they cannot be done by big organizations; but they can be done by the people themselves.”
— E.F. Schumacher, Small is Beautiful
November’s Conversation features three visionaries developing novel organizational forms and infrastructures to extend the enlivening, social dynamics of the commons. Our participants’ projects show how innovative associations and design can empower people while respecting planetary limits. From open source technologies for smallholder agriculture, to degrowth for conventional garment production, to local solar energy managed in trust for community benefit, these commons-based organizations are steering clear of the harmful dynamics of global capital and corporate capture to secure a future of shared prosperity.
November Participants
Dorn Cox is research director for the Wolfe’s Neck Center for Agriculture and the Environment in Freeport, Maine, and farms with his family in Lee, New Hampshire. He is a founder of the farmOS software platform and Farm Hack, and author of The Great Regeneration.
Kathryn Milun is a community-engaged Professor, writer, and energy democracy activist with the Solar Commons Project. Her work is rooted in how communities locally, sustainably, and equitably govern “commons” – shared gifts of nature and community.
Sandra Niessen, PhD (Leiden University), is a Canadian/ Dutch cultural anthropologist, and leader of Fashion Act Now (FAN). Her academic fieldwork has focused on the clothing culture of the Batak people in Sumatra, Indonesia.
David Bollier is the Schumacher Center’s Reinventing the Commons Program Director. An author, activist and independent scholar, David’s primary focus is on commoning as a new paradigm of economics, politics and culture.
Each panelist is invited to reflect on themes in Small Is Beautiful that connect with their own thinking and activism. These reflections then open up a broader conversation on the topic of expanding the commons. An audience Q&A will follow, moderated by our host, David Bollier.
Register for Nov 16
As a reminder, you can review our past 2023 Schumacher Conversations here.