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Article: Rethinking the commons. (common lands)
- Article from:
- Whole Earth
- Article date:
- September 22, 1998
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1998 Point Foundation. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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As a species, we have two special attributes. We have speech or, more accurately, conversation that is unequaled by any other known species on the planet. With conversation, we make willful and elaborate decision about how to jointly utilize and share the biosphere. These two traits of our collective enterprise -- conversation and shared landscape -- enkindle as if alchemically the commons.
While working outside Tucson with the Tohono O'odham, a group of Pima/Papago speakers, I learned just how complex and cantankerous collective decision-making, shared landscape, and private property could become. Austin Nunez, Julie Ramon Pierson, Joanne and Danny Preston, ...