31 Comments
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BioHarmony's avatar

This is the way! We don’t have to dismantle the existing systems. Just build new ones that make them irrelevant! That’s what we’re all about!

For BioHarmony, that’s OpenSourcing Everything and building OpenSource SolarPunk Regenerative Communities.

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Mike Jones's avatar

And we are seeing a dismantling of many of our institutions right now, whether we like it or not. So, let’s take the opportunity to step in and build the world we want to see instead of hoping that others will build it for us!

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Rebecca Thompson Hitt's avatar

This is what southern Mexico does. We didn’t have the disruptions during the pandemic like happened in the US because the supply chains are decentralized and neighbors and villages are interdependent. Now to figure out how to do this in Florida…

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Mike Jones's avatar

That’s really interesting. I’ll look for sources on how they manage it. Can you provide additional details like which state?

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Rebecca Thompson Hitt's avatar

Oaxaca state. Each village has its own tiendas. Everything is grown regionally. We don’t have big warehouses for food. And people care about one another. That interdependent part is huge. They must work together for everyone to have water in their homes. It’s humbling and makes me feel like the US as a whole has lost its humanity down to these most basics of working together. That’s where we need to start working.

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Butch Laker's avatar

YES!! The communality I saw in Mexico makes me sad for US individualism. It’s one of my favorite aspects of Mexican culture.

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Angela Meyer's avatar

I just spread a bunch of arugula seeds around in my Florida patio jungle. I’ve heard it grows like weeds, and it is nutrient rich.

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John Bru's avatar

Absolutely agree that local connections are resilient connections. Something prescient that a speaker at an engagement that I went to said was that when it comes to community resilience, the key thing is to organize before you -need- to organize.

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Mike Jones's avatar

Absolutely! Start now if you haven’t already.

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Drew Ridama's avatar

This is about taking back control of the commons.

I like the ideas in this.

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Mike Jones's avatar

Can you say more about that? I understand what you mean by the "commons," but I would like to hear more about it.

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Drew Ridama's avatar

At the basic level, the 'commons' is the parts of nature, culture, and technology we use to provide for all our needs and wants. What capitalists call 'resources'. In capitalism it is about possession and extraction, in commoning it is about relationships, a sharing of the energy all species need. The power imbalances prevalent in the world now are because the commons has been stolen and enclosed, (and that includes the digital commons). The way forward, as this article highlights, is to set up our own systems, ones in which resources are shared. Which has the added benefit of making power imbalance less likely.

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Captain Mavis 23's avatar

Exactly, this is the way to go.

Building networks of resilience. Taking the power back.

There is a movement 315 organizing collective drop out after the Ides of March.

https://open.substack.com/pub/nolkaphanem/p/what-is-the-shutdown315-movement?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=237dzx

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Luiza B. Campos's avatar

This are very similar ideas to the one proposed on the book I just read: Slow Down: How Degrowth Communism can Save the Earth by Kohei Saito.

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Mike Jones's avatar

I’ll check it out. I’m currently reading “The Creature From Jekyll Island” about the Federal Reserve and it reinforces and renews my convictions about being stuck in a system of extraction.

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MIchael Tscheu's avatar

"You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.”

Bucky Fuller

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Dr. Catherine Darley's avatar

Excellent! Self-organizing and local systems is the way forward. I’m loving Mutual Aid neighborhood groups, and the idea of filling in the gaps with modern victory gardens

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Infinite Chronicles with Lyra's avatar

I love how people are sprouting out to build self reliant and regenerative communities, free from corporate governance. PMAs, DAOs, and faith based organizations are all rising up to this challenge at record speed.

Let's keep the momentum building! Welcome to the Regenerative Renaissance! A Regenaissance!

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ALLAO - All Life Lives As One's avatar

There are ways for the people to “own” the infrastructure they use. Utilities, roads, etc. These assets are “wealth” we can have on our balance sheet. It can be done using decentralized finance tools.

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Mike Jones's avatar

Can you say more about that? Are there examples that exist already or are being built?

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OopsICrappedMyDiaper's avatar

Slab City and Christiania 💁😌

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Maureen Drews ❌👑's avatar

Oh how this article speaks to me! Today we battle against the evil and tyrannical regime, but at same time we must envision and build our future. So empowering!

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Random Thought Generator's avatar

Plus having local systems in place would support the kind of society where an extended General Strike against the robber barons becomes possible.

https://generalstrikeus.com/

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Nina Telthorst's avatar

This is what we are doing with the Vision Train. All are welcome to hop on board. Visiontrain.org

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Heidi Cuppari's avatar

This is absolutely the way. About a month ago I started organizing for the exact reason with some friends and my community and now my nonprofit is offering a whole set of tools to do this and the centralize networks and your communities and connecting with regional networks and more

I’d love to invite you and anyone here to join us and do this together !!

https://wearedreamtank.org/the-rise-of-decentralized-learning/

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Angus Laird's avatar

A global movement to create tens of thousands of appropriate technology intentional communities, learning and cooperating together, creating economies of scale is a solution I have given much thought to. I know there are individual intentional communities across the globe that have sprung up to do this on their own. Anyone interested in joining me in thinking out loud about all this? Cooperation is an underutilized strategy…

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