Building Autonomy

Everyday people must build social movements capable of creating a new society. These essays discuss the autonomy we’ll rely on to do so.

Limits and Liberation: The Next Steps of the Climate Movement

4 Comments / Building Autonomy, Ecological Literacy, Economic Literacy, Power Literacy, Technological and Energy Literacy

The recent youth organizing around national climate politics represents a serious step forward for the climate justice movement. Until now, there had not been a sustained, movement-driven push for federal climate legislation. These efforts have signaled activists’ desire for action at the scale of the crisis we face. But we should remain aware that the Green New Deal (GND) resolution is not legislation, and any climate policies discussed by political figures are just words until they are enacted and implemented. Whether we ultimately take action at the appropriate scale will be determined by how the movement continues to progress.

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Feminism and Revolution: Reflections on Identity Politics

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This is a response to an article by Julie Matthaei on the contributions of feminism to our understanding and practice of solidarity. We explore concerns activists have had about the nature of identity politics—does organizing around identity-linked oppression lead to more people working together or fewer, promoting cohesion or division?

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Vivir Bien (Buen Vivir): Defining “Progress,” Decolonization, and the Importance of Persistent Movements

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This is a response to an article by Pablo Solón on the meaning of Vivir Bien and the experience of trying to implement it in Bolivia. This attempt to develop an ecological culture offers many lessons, highlighting the need to decolonize our worldview and keep movements going even after electing sympathetic political officials.

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Welcome to Freedom and Survival

Building Autonomy

This site features a collection of writings that revolve around around the existential issues facing humanity—particularly climate change and other ecological crises resulting from overwhelming human demands on this finite planet—and how the public can mount a response at scale. These issues demand that we build an understanding of how a sustainable society would operate, but this is half the battle. The resulting vision will only be realized if we also develop the collective power to overcome corporate dominance and culture, which stand in the way. Ordinary citizens are not yet free enough to bring about a society that operates within ecological limits. To survive, we must gain the freedom to shape our own fate.

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