A Cultural Environmentalist Movement and Beyond?

The environmental movement has been suggested as a model for change in thinking about the public domain. The movement is defined broadly as having a few key elements: first, using a unifying concepts (”the environment”) to integrate a host of disparate issues, and second to define that unifying concept as something that is not only useful, but perhaps essential.The global commons movement has grown into the comparison in the years since the suggested model. We use the unifying concepts of the commons and the public domain, we use the common tools of free culture and free software licenses. But we also self-select along “otherwise disconnected issues” - some caring most about remix culture, others most about global IP reform, others most about science. This can lead to friction within the movement as different issues frequently require different solutions, different themes, different paces, and different people.This session will explore the original comparison of the environmental movement to the public domain / commons movement in the present day, take a look at other movements - ubuntu, temperance, and more - and see what lessons we can draw from past experience in our policy, law, and activism work withing the global commons.