Commoning as a Transformative Social Paradigm by David Bollier
Commoning as a Transformative Social Paradigm By David Bollier
Buckminster Fuller anticipated the critical need to develop new modes of collaboration, foreshadowing many aspects of the contemporary commons and P2P movements. For instance, in Fuller’s Integrative Resource Utilization Planning Tool from World Game Series: Document 1, he wrote:
“All the beds and bedrooms around the world are empty two-thirds of the time. All the automobiles are empty and motionless five-sixth’s of the day. There are two main causes of this vast uselessness. Firstly, we try to do everything at peak loads. Secondly, we try to “own” too many objects that we use too infrequently to justify ‘ownership.'” (p. 19)
In Commoning as a Transformative Social Paradigm, David Bollier extends this logic even further. He contends that the commons paradigm fundamentally reorients perceptions and understanding about the realities of market ownership and the value of commoning. Citing land trusts, peer-to-peer production, buying clubs, cooperative guilds, and other practical examples, Bollier makes a compelling case that commons-based models are key to course-correcting the market “externalities” at the root of numerous social, economic, and ecological crises.