Commons Governance Work Group

Hey, Jay...

Besides doing poetry (Hey, Jay...) I´m interested in help building a net system capable to, in a descentralized and autogestioned way could lead to transformations in the way people relate one to each other helping them to see the importance (and the urgence) of things like sustainability, solidary economy, local production and consumption and so on.

It is very different of just "teach" students or peoples by conferences, symposiums or meetings. Is truly go where people live and get them involved in activities like organize a cooperative that will plant, grow and harvest fruits in urban areas to self consume and to distribute to schools in the neighborhood. Start little groups of 3 or 4 people that will get the mission to organize a communitary or even munnicipal system of car-sharing, etc

I called this innitiative Coolmeia (www.coolmeia.org) and we should start it next April 22nd. I´ve talked to people at Natural Capital Institute to see if they could tell me which software they use here in Wiser Earth, because it would be very nice to have something similar in brazilian portuguese. No answers until this moment.

We´are using a ning community (www.coolmeia.ning.org) to start gpeople, a list at googlegroups and we also will have a wiki (www.coolmeia.org/wiki) to produce colectively the guidelines  we should offer to individuals that want to start something in their communities.

We also will spot and announce good ideas that are popping all over the wold, as much as the same as Springwise.com, but only with ideas proned to altruistic and ecologic actions.

It´s kind a bit funny to express all those things in English, even before to have all this thoughts organized in portuguese...

Well. I´m open to learn about governance, nets and all distributed and bottom-to-top ways of organization. That´s why i´m here. And sorry for my bad English, hope I could make myself understood.

Raphael,

I agree that it is a far different thing to actually help people organize a 'commons' rather than to simply host a conference, symposium, or some other venue to just talk about what needs to be done.  I commend this type of approach, and it is exactly the type of thing that our group will eventually be doing as well.

Also, I took a look at your website.  I cannot read Portuguese, so it is hard for me to comment on the content of the site, but I think the graphics are really good and there seems to be a nice organizational structure.  I hope it servers your plans well.

One thing that our group is particularly interested in is how to organize and connect with people/organizations on a global scale.  To connect local groups in one country who are protecting and preserving a particular commons, with others local groups in other countries who are doing the same type of work.

We have found that in countries like Africa, it is virtually impossible to do this via the Internet, becuause of issues like unreliable electricity, slow internet connection, and lack of computer/internet technology.  What type of technological barriers do you find the people of Brazil face when they try to connect with other groups on the global level?  Have you found much activity, or interest, in local groups trying to make a global connection with regard to their specific commons (sustainable farming, human rights, reclaiming local land/resources)?

Also, we meet once a week using a video conference technology.  We would love for you to join us for a meeting, so we could meet you and let you know a bit more about our work.  If this interests you, please let me know, and I will walk you through the process, and help get you started.  It is really a great asset to know how to use this magnificent online tool, especially for decentralized organization and communication - I would highly recommend becoming familiar with it.

Jay