Web Resource Guide
Tomales Bay Institute
The best overall website for ideas and commentaries on the commons is sponsored by the Tomales Bay Institute (www.onthecommons.org).
Public Knowledge
Public Knowledge advocates for balance between the rights of artists, writers, and other creators of culture on the one hand, and the public’s right to the cultural commons on the other (www.publicknowledge.org).
Creative Commons
If you’ve written, filmed, photographed, or recorded something that you would like to publish, Creative Commons offers licenses that reserve some rights to you, the creator of the work, but share other rights with the public. The specific combination is up to you (http://creativecommons.org). Scientists might be interested in the companion site (http://sciencecommons.org), which tackles these issues for academics.
Land Trust Alliance and Pacific Forest Trust
The Land Trust Alliance can help you find a land trust operating in your area, and offers training to member trusts in how to be more effective at conserving land for future generations (www.lta.org). Readers looking to conserve working forests (those still subject to timber harvest) will find useful materials on stewardship forestry put out by Pacific Forest Trust (www.pacificforest.org).
American Community Gardening Association
Looking to find or start a community garden in your neighborhood? The American Community Gardening Association can help (http://communitygarden.org).
The City Repair Project specializes in creating convivial public spaces within the urban environment. Its website includes inspiring examples and links to groups across the country that do similar work (www.cityrepair.org).
Center for Digital Democracy
The Center for Digital Democracy fights to maintain and expand the diversity of freely available resources on the Internet (www.democraticmedia.org).
Time Dollars
The commons of community can manifest itself through the exchange of time spent helping neighbors. Time Dollars has developed a system to keep track of those contributions (www.timedollar.org).
Public Spaces
The Project for Public Spaces has been helping cities and communities create vibrant public spaces for over 30 years. Its website (www.pps.org) has an amazing collection of images that reflect the many ways public spaces help people connect.
Global Atmospheric Commons
The London-based Global Commons Institute is the leading advocate of per capita sharing of the global atmospheric commons. Its website (www.gci.org.uk) explains the ‘contract and converge’ concept elegantly.
A Note of Caution
Beware of imitations! Several groups that associate themselves with the commons have little to do with the forms of managed, protected commons described in this book. A leading example is the blog “The Commons: Free Markets Protecting the Environment,” which turns a blind eye to the excesses of unchecked corporations (www.commonsblog.org). For a slightly different approach see EcoEquity (www.ecoequity.org).