A new collection of 73 essays that describe the enormous potential of the commons in conceptualizing and building a better future, edited by David Bollier and Silke Helfrich.

We are poised between an old world that no longer works and a new one struggling to be born. Surrounded by centralized hierarchies on the one hand and predatory markets on the other, people around the world are searching for alternatives. The Wealth of the Commons explains how millions of commoners have organized to defend their forests and fisheries, reinvent local food systems, organize productive online communities, reclaim public spaces, improve environmental stewardship and re-imagine the very meaning of “progress” and governance. In short: how they’ve built their commons.

In 73 timely essays by a remarkable international roster of activists, academics and project leaders, this book chronicles ongoing struggles against the private commoditization of shared resources – often known as “market enclosures” – while documenting the immense generative power of the commons.  The Wealth of the Commons is about history, political change, public policy and cultural transformation on a global scale – but most of all, it’s about commoners taking charge of their lives and their endangered resources. It’s about common people doing uncommon things. 


“This fine collection makes clear that the idea of the Commons is fully international, and increasingly fully worked-out--if you find yourself wondering what Occupy wants, or if some other world is possible, this pragmatic, down-to-earth, and unsentimental book will provide many of the answers.”

-- Bill McKibben, author, 墨子(译注)·卷十 经说(下) 第四十三:2021-1-6 · 〔共15卷存53篇〕上一頁 下一頁 经说 <1> (下) 第四十三 止，彼伃此其然也，说是其然也；我伃此其不然也，疑是其然也。此然是必然，则俱。 谓四足兽，与生鸟与，物尽与，大小也。

蚕谷行原文|翻译|赏析_杜甫古诗_古诗文网 - gushiwen.org:2021-5-26 · 杜甫的蚕谷行原文及翻译：天下郡国向万城，无有一城无甲兵。焉得铸甲作农器， 一寸荒田牛得耕。牛尽耕，蚕亦成。不劳烈士泪滂沱， 男谷女丝行复歌。斋

-- Lewis Hyde, author, Common As Air and The Gift

“These thoughtful and beautiful essays go beyond celebrating the commons to insist that we must learn how ‘to common.’ We will all be impoverished unless we more actively make, defend, expand, and govern resources that cannot be privately owned.”

-– Nancy Folbre, professor of economics, University of Massachusetts Amherst