Our Common Wealth The Hidden Economy That Makes Everything Else Work [Paperback]

A huge part of our economy is invisible, invaluable, and under siege. This is “the commons,” a term that denotes everything we share. Some parts of the commons are gifts of nature: the air and oceans, the web of species, wilderness, and watersheds. Others are the product of human creativity and endeavor: sidewalks and public spaces, the Internet, our languages, cultures, and technologies. Jonathan Rowe illuminates the scale and value of the commons, its symbiotic relationship with the rest of our economy, its importance to our personal and planetary well-being, and how it is threatened by privatization and neglect. He unifies many seemingly disparate struggles—against pollution, excessive development, corporate marketing to children, and more—with the force of this powerful idea. And he calls for new institutions that create a durable balance between the commons and the profit-seeking side of our economy.Foreword by Bill McKibben
Introduction by Peter Barnes
Part One: Theory
1: Our hidden wealth
2: How tragic is the commons?
3: A new commons story
4: A parallel economy
5: Stop the invasions!
6: The myopia of money
7: Human nature and the commons
8: Common property
9: Takers and givers
10: The community of goods
11: Conservative commoners, once
Part Two: Practice
12: Accounting for common wealth
13: Tollbooths of the mind
14: Subsistence from the commons
15: Build it and they will sit
16: Sidewalks of the information age
17: Reallocating time
18: Service banking
19: Who owns the beach?
20: From alleys to commons
21: New institutions needed
22: Seeds of a commons movement
Afterword by David Bollier
Notes
Acknowledgments
Index
About the Author
About the Editor
About On The Commons
About West Marin Commons“This elegant book is a wonderful introduction to the originality of thought, clarity of expression, and humanity of vision that l³G