The Eco-Commoning Project
What is the Eco-commoning project?
The Eco-Commoning Project is a partnership project between Community Innovation Hub and Eco-Commons. The Project aims to shift the social, political, economic and spiritual mindset from an individualistic-capitalist system of thought to a relational; or eco-commons way-of-life . The Eco-Commoning Project lifts up the values of local, cooperative, equitable and sustainable in order to envision communities of faith as radical Changemakers and Innovators in this area.
The Eco-Commoning Project conference
June Eco-Commoning Conference Sessions A Hit!
Our June Eco-Commoning Project Conference Sessions finished up on June 25, and we couldn’t be happier with how the month went! Thank you so much to everyone who helped us to put the sessions together, and to everyone who attended.
The June sessions were part of a larger conference that we ran in 2020 on Eco-commoning. Eco-commoning stresses the importance of acting locally to think globally. To live this out for our conference we originally scheduled it to run 2 dates, each with a different regional focus, running exclusively online with local break-out rooms for various regions.
Our first Conference Day, April 24th, was a wonderful day of learning and discussion, and we thank everyone who joined us. Our local speakers for the day were:
- Western Ontario Waterways – Shelburne-Primrose Pastoral Charge, PASS kits (Panic, Anxiety and Stress Support) & Raw Carrot at Mount Forest United
- Northern Spirit – featuring: Kirk Centre & Bissell Centre
- Shining Waters – featuring: NewMakeIt (makerspace), 360Kids & Stone Soup
We’ve deviated from course from June plans, in that we split the Conference Day into 3, 1.5 hour sessions happening on June 11, June 18, and June 25.
Our June 11th session featured a talk from the Very Rev Bill Phipps and Rev Dr. Ted Reeve about how the social/economic theory of commoning applies to spirituality and communities of faith.
On June 18, we had a time of listening and learning as social innovators from across Western Canada shared their stories. Our speakers included
- Pacific Mountain – Celeste Wilder of Denman Island United Church, Mark Green of Cadboro Bay United Church, Paul Latour of Herowork,
- Living Skies – Carrie Frostad of Your Virtual Assistant, Cynthia Dyck of The Refinery, and Cam Fraser of Knox Metropolitan United Church
- Eastern Ontario Outaousis Region – Eric Lucak of Carleton Memorial United Church, Gina Babinec of Impact Hub Ottawa, Sunshine Tedasco of Pow Wow Pitch
- Nakonhaka – Sarah Clark of Saint Columba House, Samuel V Danoksho of the Plymouth-Trinity United Church, Stephane Vermette of the United Church of Canada
On June 25, Carla Langhorst took the group through the Design Jam to show them how they can use it to assess needs, take inventory of resources, and create partnerships to make their communities better places. How exciting, to use empathy, creativity, and a call to be radically hospitable and to remember our abundance, all in the service of changing the world for the better!
Watch for follow-up events on the topics addressed by the Conference. We’re very excited by the dialogue that’s been started!
If you have any questions, or if your region wasn’t represented and you would like to facilitate a local version of the conference please contact: info@communityinnovationhub.org
A special thank you to Kirk United Church Centre, Trinity United Newmarket and Shelburne-Primrose Pastoral Charge who were our April host sites until changing circumstances led us entirely online.
Eco-Commoning Resources
An Introduction to the Commons by Rev Dr Ted Reeve
Rev Dr Ted Reeve shares some background on the commons as a social, political, economic and spiritual framework – outlining myths, strengths and application to communities of faith. Find more information at: https://eco-commons.com
Watch his presentation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VC2bwgdhY10
See the powerpoint slides: https://eco-commons.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Commons-as-Church.pptx
Reclaiming a Down-To-Earth Way of Life
At a more grass-roots level, some of us have found the old idea of the commons to have relevance in the 21st century. The idea of being commoners and engaged in commoning gives fresh expression to a way-of-life that is down-to-earth, practical, cooperative, participatory, local and yet with global understanding. https://eco-commons.com/reclaiming-a-down-to-earth-way-of-life/
Reclaiming the Commons for the 21st Century
This pre-modern concept of the commons – people working and sharing together – has new relevance in the 21st century. We have come to articulate this life choice as seeking a common GOOD. Join us in exploring what this means. https://eco-commons.com/reclaiming-for-21st-century/
Lessons from the Social Gospel that support 21st century Eco-Commoning
The social gospel emerged in the early 20th century as a response to the abuses of capitalism and the need to understand how the church, and state, could be part of building God’s Kin(g)dom on earth. A hundred years later, we continue this struggle but with the added need to ensure the earth’s wellbeing as well. This article details some of the social gospel’s influence back then so that we might be inspired to carry it on now. https://eco-commons.com/lessons-from-the-social-gospel-that-support-21st-century-eco-commoning/
.