• Public interest groups, activist groups and associations working to define and advance local projects that related to The Commons agenda(including those who are concerned with poverty and exclusion)

• Mayors, town councils, local and regional government - who, in our book, are among the most likely to emerge as champions of new concept projects and implementations... including not least in distressed areas that really have no alternative but to innovate radically or slowly and fatally decline (particularly important in New Mobility and Rethinking Work initiatives).

• The isolated, unemployed, marginalized and poor themselves, who, if only they can find ways to group their forces, can do a great deal to bring into being the new Sustainability Renaissance that is now so desperately required.

• Downtown business organizations and others interested in restoring the central economic and social functions of traditional town and communities

• Small businesses, though from their perspective this is a much harder row to hoe, as much as anything because of a paucity of resources and limited support for anything other than economic survival according to all the old formulas, at best, or gradual aging and decline, in all too many cases.

• Organized labor, who are here and there gradually pushing ahead in new thinking in many of these areas, often against considerable internal opposition. Still, they are emerging as among the major players in the rethinking process that is now going on (in altogether insufficient intensity and quality, however).

• The cooperative and volunteer movement, who now have an opportunity to come out of the wings and on to center stage.

• The research and academic community in all its many parts, which thus far has by and large been securely niched within the ranks of respectable thinking and policy, rather than making a vigorous contribution to the new thinking that is required and which many of them are so well equipped to support.

• The media, old and new - Sustainability does not have to be boring, abstract, academic, and, worse of all, unlikely and far-fetched. It is not (only) the stuff of specialists and experts. Sustainable development is news, it's a story, it is full of human interest. We need the media to participate in the move to sustainability, but this is going to require new approaches on all sides.

• Foundations, as sources of financial support, counsel, contacts and guidance to make sure that we are putting our energies into directions which are going to be concretely useful to real people and places.

• Large corporations, and especially those who are shedding labor and who, instead of just casting aside this important human infrastructure should be working with all these people and resources to find new directions and new kinds of organization to increase wealth and well being within their communities. This of course is a huge challenge, not because it would be so hard for them to do some very interesting and creative things when it comes to reconcatenating and energizing these "excess" resources, but rather what has to happen first in the minds and hearts of the senior managers and the stockholders behind them. but there too, perhaps the greatest challenge is to break the mold and provide models of success in these alternative approaches.

• Ministries and government departments with a variety of mandates (work, social affairs, technology, education, quality of life, economic and regional development, etc. at different levels of government, seeking new approaches for defining their mandates and translating them into meaningful action

• The European Commission, and in particular the new Office of the President of the Commission, the Forward Studies Unit, and the many related programs and activities of the various DG's -- all of whom we think are exceptionally well placed to put some fire to the debate and to lay the base for far more experimentation and better exchanges across Europe of information on successful, alternative experiences and approaches in the world of work. They have the resources and the mandate, but need, however, to make a major pattern break first.

• The European Parliament, whose approach thus far has been one of rather sleepy periodic interest and debate, with little concrete accomplishment. But whose potential to emerge as a major force not only at the Europe level but on the world stage is very great indeed.

• The Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development in Paris -- despite the fact that they have consistently and insistently remained within the box on the work issues which, by definition, require out-of-box thinking. The OECD could develop into an important carrier of the new messages, but it must first of course come to understand them (and to practice them, themselves).

• The World Bank and UN Family - whose main job it is to find new ways to deal with the challenges of sustainable development, but who are going to need radically transformed working habits and values if they are finally to get to the core of the challenges.

• And, of course and above, you! You, the concerned and often baffled citizen who knows that if we do not join forces and minds to do far better, that the best we can hope for is a miserable, flat, passive existence in an ever more dangerous and divided world.

Back to top

Who May Be Interested in The Commons...

Not to try to make up you mind for you, but here are the sorts of people and groups with whom we know from experience that we can collaborate successfully in these matters: Private sector groups who are beginning to understand that perhaps sustainability (real sustainability, not just rhetoric) can be a good business strategy Schools or universities seeking to extend the educational experience into daily life issues of importance, as well as to redefine and refocus their relationships with their local communities Media and Internet groups seeking content… and a more meaningful social role Other programs with Web site who share our interests and our agenda and might be interested in exploring how collaboration and interaction might help everybody concerned Conference organizers seeking both content and better ways of making their chosen topic stick and succeed Existing institutions and agencies who would like to consider some sort of redefinition of their missions and working procedures that might benefit from our experience Foundations wishing to make an impact with a multiplier effect on their hard-earned money Individuals and groups with capabilities and resources who wish to support, enhance and extend these activities The idea behind all this is to plug in to the two dominant characteristics of the Commons as it exists today, namely: The firm belief that the market (economics) is an enormously powerful form of organization for production and distribution of goods and services, but that it does not function at all well as a method for governing people and bringing out the best in our post-industrial societies The hardly less firm belief that we are sitting on the cusp of a major technology and organizational revolution that are fast transforming the economy -- and which can be turned into a powerful instrument for crating a more just, convivial and sustainable society That's what we say at least. For yourself, you will have not difficulty in cutting through all this to find your own truth, starting with a critical tour of this site and then, if you wish, by taking direct contact with us. Amazing how much you can learn when you look someone in the eye. Both ways.     Home   About Site map   Latest Translate   Contact   Top Le Frene, 8/10 rue Joseph Bara 75006 Paris, France, Europe. T: +331 4326 1323 Copyright © 1994-2005 The Commons ® All rights reserved. Last updated on 8 August 2005