Create!

Along with direct action and other forms of resistance, a transformational movement must also have a constructive program that builds new institutions based on the values that the movement aspires to achieve. These may eventually replace the old systems. From small, worker-owned cooperatives to national advocacy groups, hundreds of thousands of people around the country are working to create democratic and sustainable systems that meet the basic needs of all people.

Detroit: $1,700 Duplex Is Now One Of The City’s Most Energy-Efficient Homes

May 12, 2024 Tom Perkins, Next City. Create! Detroit, Energy, green housing, Housing, Michigan

In 2016, the home Kendal Kuneman’s grandmother grew up in sat abandoned in Detroit like so many others. Its doors and windows were gone, the roof was failing, part of a stairwell was missing, and scrappers had stripped the home of its metal. But the family connection drove Kuneman to buy the duplex for $1,700 from the Detroit Land Bank with the notion of transforming it into a green home. Seven years later, the Faust Street house is something else entirely: It is among the most energy-efficient homes in Detroit, fully electrified, and on the path to becoming net zero.

Vermont Could Become First State To Make Emitters Pay For Climate Damages

May 10, 2024 Paige Bennett, EcoWatch. Create! Accountability, Big Oil, climate crisis, State legislature, Vermont

Vermont’s House of Representatives has passed S.259, a state bill aimed at collecting recovery costs for climate-related damages from the biggest emitters, such as fossil fuel companies. The bill, called the Climate Superfund Act, was introduced to create a Climate Superfund Cost Recovery Program, in which fossil fuel businesses would undergo an assessment to determine their share of costs for fossil fuel extraction or refinement actions that led to increased greenhouse gases and related costs in the state. As reported by NBC News, the agency would measure extreme weather linked to climate change in the state and the cost of damages from extreme weather events through attribution science.

The Refillery Is Coming For Your Grocery Store Routine

May 7, 2024 Kate Ray, Portside. Create! Food and Agriculture, Grocery Stores, Packaging, Refilleries, Sustainability

“This is slow shopping,” says Roque Rodriguez about his refillery grocery store, Seed and Oil, in Woodside, Queens. “It’s about slowing down, being more present, being more aware: What’s the impact of the choice I just made? We educate folks when they come in, we talk to them, and you see people getting into the rhythm of it.” I don’t think it’s that much slower to shop at package-free stores like Seed and Oil—you bring your own container and weigh it, then you fill it up with the amount of rice or walnuts or Peanut M&Ms that you want to take home. But I get what he means.

What Cities Can Learn From Seattle’s Racial And Social Justice Law

May 6, 2024 Serin Houston and Dan Trudeau, Next City. Create! Race, Racial Justice, Racism, Seattle, Social Justice, Washington

The right-wing political campaign against diversity, equity and inclusion policies taking place in several states across the U.S. has called into question the nation’s commitment to achieving racial equality. In this landscape, Seattle is marking a milestone of sorts – the first anniversary of adopting its Race and Social Justice Initiative ordinance. This ordinance, signed into law in April 2023, places the Race and Social Justice Initiative under the Seattle Office of Civil Rights and states that all departments in city government are responsible for “implementing change toward ending institutional racism,” which is defined in Seattle as “policies, practices, procedures, and culture of an institution or system that work better for white people and cause harm to people of color, often inadvertently or unintentionally.”

Sustainable Food Systems: Feeding Ourselves Across Europe

May 6, 2024 Louise Kelleher, Resilience. Create! European Union (EU), Food and Agriculture, rural communities, Sustainability

Brussels is currently not the most hopeful place for those wishing to see EU food systems in a fair, ecological transition. But hope is on the ground. Not waiting for the impetus to come from above, many communities, food policy councils, solidarity farming initiatives, food cooperatives, as well as rural and urban municipalities have already established their own democratic, economic and social frameworks in order to create sustainable food systems. At Feeding Ourselves 2024, a roundtable on Bottom-Up Approaches to Sustainable Food Systems was a chance to connect partners of two ARC2020 projects, Rural Resilience in France and Rural Europe Takes Action – Germany* with kindred spirits in Ireland.

How To Unite Local Initiatives For A More Sustainable Global Future

May 5, 2024 Vasilis Kostakis and Nikiforos Tsiouris, Resilience. Create! Local Economies, Sustainability, The Commons, wealth inequality

This article challenges the belief in high-tech solutions to solve socio-environmental crises, proposing a political vision beyond “green growth” and “ecomodernism.”. It advocates for a commons-based technology framework, promoting collective resource management for sustainability. We thus introduce “cosmolocal” production, a configuration that strives to connect communities around shared resources and serve their needs while minimizing ecological impact. Despite acknowledged tensions, we contend that the cosmolocal framework could foster institutional and social change, aiming to address environmental degradation and wealth inequality.

Chicago Black Church Creating A New Village On The South Side

May 5, 2024 Cinnamon Janzer, Next City. Create! Black America, Chicago, Community, Ecocommunity

It will take a village to build a new future for Chicago’s South Side. And building that village is going to take a few decades. But the Black-led church behind the fledgling Imani Village is playing the long game. Anchored in the city’s Pullman neighborhood, Imani Village is a social enterprise owned and operated by the nearby Trinity United Church of Christ. It’s dedicated to empowering the traditionally underserved community and those surrounding it through the creation of an eco-friendly, intergenerational, mixed-use development.

Eco-Collapse Hasn’t Happened Yet, But You Can See It Coming

April 30, 2024 Stan Cox, Resilience. Create! climate crisis, Degrowth, Ecological Collapse, Environment

Something must be up. Otherwise, why would scientists keep sending us those scary warnings? There has been a steady stream of them in the past few years, including “World Scientists’ Warning of a Climate Emergency” (signed by 15,000 of them), “Scientists’ Warning Against the Society of Waste,” “Scientists’ Warning of an Imperiled Ocean,” “Scientists’ Warning on Technology,” “Scientists’ Warning on Affluence,” “Climate Change and the Threat to Civilization,” and even “The Challenges of Avoiding a Ghastly Future.” Clearly, there’s big trouble ahead and we won’t be able to say that no one saw it coming. In fact, a warning of ecological calamity that made headlines more than 50 years ago is looking all too frighteningly prescient right now.

Energy Descent: Public Letter

April 26, 2024 Energy Descent Collective, Resilience. Create! Clean Energy, climate crisis, Energy, Fossil Fuels

Energy transition is essential. But it’s not enough. We also need to prepare to live with less energy in the future. It is not enough to adopt clean technology. We also need to prepare to live with less energy. This preparation includes new cultural norms, new institutions, and new infrastructure – not just new technology. And it’s a collective preparation. It’s something we need to do together. We can’t do it alone. Scientists say we have less than two decades to avoid the worst effects of climate change. We therefore must transition away from fossil fuels as quickly as possible.

Philly Is Giving Free SEPTA Rides To 25,000 Low-Income Residents

April 26, 2024 Maylin Tu, Next City. Create! Philadelphia, Poverty, Public transportation, Transportation

Getting to where you need to go is a matter of economic and social justice. Now, low-income Philadelphia residents are getting a boost. In August, the city began a two-year Zero Fare pilot program, distributing 25,000 SEPTA Key cards (valued at $204 each) for unlimited free rides — and the majority of participants don’t need to take any action to enroll. “Transportation has been identified as a barrier for folks seeking employment, especially in Philadelphia, because of the high poverty rate,” says Nicola Mammes, Zero Fare program director. Over 20% of Philadelphians live below the poverty line, and 50% of those households don’t own a car.

FCC Reasserts Its Authority To Protect The Open Internet

April 25, 2024 Timothy Karr, FreePress.net. Create! FCC, Internet Freedom, Net Neutrality, Telecoms

Washington, DC - On Thursday, in a 3–2 vote, the Federal Communications Commission voted to restore Net Neutrality protections and reclassify high-speed-internet access services as telecom services subject to Title II of the Communications Act. The decision is a major victory for the public interest: Title II authority empowers the FCC to hold companies like AT&T, Comcast, Spectrum and Verizon accountable for a wide range of harms to internet users across the United States. Prior to the historic vote, FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said: “[We] take this action today to help ensure that broadband is fast, open and fair for all of us.”

New Documentary Film Urges Us To Rethink Our Relationship With Soil

April 23, 2024 Siri Chilukuri, In These Times. Create! Earth Day, Environment, Food and Agriculture, Regenerative Farming

Comment on industrial agriculture mostly appears in the mainstream only when something has gone awry. The current avian flu epidemic comes to mind, but it’s rare for the general public to step back from the alarm of novel threats to take a more comprehensive look at why our current system doesn’t work for its supposed purpose of feeding people. Common Ground, a new documentary now screening in AMC theaters across the country (and 2023 Tribeca Film Award winner), isn’t afraid to point its finger at Big Ag for the problems with industrial agriculture.

Letting Your Grass Grow Wild Boosts Butterfly Numbers

April 23, 2024 Cristen Hemingway Jaynes, EcoWatch. Create! Butterflies, Environment, Rewilding, United Kingdom (UK)

Have you ever noticed that meadows of long grass seem to be teeming with butterflies, bumble bees, beetles, crickets and other insects? Meanwhile, short-cropped, bright green lawns appear devoid of critters in comparison. A six-year study of butterfly sightings in 600 gardens in the United Kingdom has confirmed that letting your lawn grow wild can significantly increase butterfly and moth numbers. “Nature is in crisis; 80% of butterflies have declined since the 1970s, so we need to take action now to protect them. We wanted to be able to give tried and tested gardening advice that will benefit butterflies as we know lots of people want to help.

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