A friend of mine went to the CommonBound conference recently and discovered there is a lot of work being done here in the US as well as in other parts of the world to create a new type of economy that serves everyone rather than just the 1%. The movement is known by a few different names such as “New Economy”, “Solidarity Economy”, and “Just Transition Economy”. She held an initial meeting to share information and get things rolling and the room was packed!
The basic gist is that people working together cooperatively can accomplish great things. The focal points of community action are often organizations such as worker and consumer cooperative corporations (co-ops) as well as other types of non-profits, land trusts, community finance, time banking, and more.
It’s about supporting the local economy and producing things locally. It’s about many small donations and investments joined together to create organizations with enough financial clout that they get a seat at the negotiating table when there are big decisions to be made in your neighborhood, city, or state.
It’s the power of the people being exercised in a very intelligent way. Rather than waiting for the changes we envision to come from within the existing economic system from the top down, we build the solutions we need from the grassroots up! Communities that have invested in themselves in this way over time end up more resilient during difficult economic times.
Here are a number of examples and resources to learn more. There is a group forming in town to look into connecting up with existing efforts and exploring how we might put some of these ideas into action in Eugene. If you are interested send me an email and I will get you more information.
Posted By: Joshua Kielas, 08.05.2018
had a chance to drop by the new Emerald Village development during a recent open house. Somehow the folks at the non-profit 
Residents of Emerald Village are members of a housing cooperative and buy a share in the village which enables them to create an asset that can be cashed out when they choose to move out. They have a community agreement which outlines the basic code of conduct that all residents agree to, and requires that each resident participate in helping to manage the village. Residents pay $250 – $350 per month, which covers all maintenance and operating costs. Very cool!
I don’t understand why there isn’t more public outcry to discourage people like Elon Musk and other Mars fantasizers who would like to see humanity spend billions or trillions of dollars over the next 50 years working to build a 
Even from a doomsday science fiction perspective, wouldn’t it make more sense to spend all that time and money on researching and building large underground cities with advanced air and water filtration systems? It seems like we would end up creating more jobs, spending less money, and saving more people that way. We at least have the right mix for breathable air and an abundance of water here, even if it became more poisoned down the road.
