The Commons

We belong to the world. The world does not belong to us. We must understand our relationships with the land and water, the air and sky, medicine, knowledge, and all non-human life as ones of stewardship, not ownership. This means we must take care of our shared resources. The commons will only survive if we nourish it. We are led by Indigenous communities who have been fighting for many generations to defend and extend the commons, creating relationships rooted in cooperating with the earth, rather than exploiting it. Even though capitalism tells us that competition is the fundamental way of life, human history is also a history of cooperation. To survive we must relearn this lesson and tear down the walls that have been raised to hoard resources, so that we can share and contribute to the earth’s abundance.