Cooperation Eugene

The Cooperation Eugene Study Circle learns about the theory and practice of systems change for the regenerative economy. We organize monthly conversations about books, articles, movies, podcasts, videos, etc. that address “What’s next?” more than “What’s wrong?”

We meet the first Tuesday of the month at 7 pm. For the duration of the period where we are all being called upon to practice social distancing we will be having the meetings online using Zoom. See the description below for the meeting room link.

Membership consists of an email list that will be notified of upcoming titles. To get on the Study Circle mailing list you can visit our mailing list subscription page to add yourself. If you have any questions send email to: StudyCircle [at] CooperationEugene [dot] org or call Alberta at 818-903-6125. Members can choose to attend only the meetings with topics of interest to them.

Join us for an educational discussion!

Upcoming Meetings

August 4th – We will be reading and discussing the Introduction and the first 4 chapters of “How to Be an Anti-Racist”, by Ibram X. Kendi at 7pm.

Black Lives Matter has posited that it is not their job to educate White people on racism.  “You have to do the work.”  And, if you have started, you know that it is challenging work.  For that reason, we have limited the reading to the first three chapters and the introduction for next time. 

For the rest of the book, you are welcome to join a self-selected group who will read and discuss three chapters a week for the next 5 weeks on Thursdays from 7:15pm – 8:45pm in Sladden Park starting on August 13.  Tree Bressen, Juliet Thompson, and Alberta Pedroja have agreed to facilitate these discussions.  Because this work is likely to be very personal, we are soliciting members who are willing to read the selections and attend each time.  Unlike the Study Circle, we won’t be encouraging drop-ins given the very personal and somewhat emotional content of the reading.

Click this link at 7pm on August 4th to join the Zoom meeting.

Previous Readings

• “Democracy May Not Exist, But We’ll Miss It When It’s Gone”, by Astra Taylor
• “Think like a Commoner, A Short Introduction to the Life of the Commons”, by David Bollier
• Cooperatives – The Working World (Video), TESA Collective (Video), Worker Cooperative People Skills (ebook)
• People’s Economy housing policy section: How We Build Our Neighborhoods
• “Reinventing Organizations: An Illustrated Invitation to Join the Conversation on Next-Stage Organizations”, by Frederic Laloux
• Just Transitions strategy for moving to a regenerative economy – we read these three PDF files and we watched this YouTube video.
• “Sparking the conversation in your community: A DIY guide to planning your own community wealth building summit“, by Justine Porter
• “The Making of a Democratic Economy: How to Build Prosperity for the Many, Not the Few”, by Marjorie Kelly and Ted Howard
• “Sacred Economics”, by Charles Eisenstein
• “The Approaching Great Transformation: Toward a Livable Post Carbon Economy”, by Joel Magnuson
• “Community: The structure of belonging”, by Peter Block
• “The Fifth Sacred Thing”, by Starhawk
• “Blessed Unrest: How the Largest Social Movement in History Is Restoring Grace, Justice, and Beauty to the World”, by Paul Hawken
• “Emergent Strategy: Shaping Change, Changing Worlds”, by Adrienne Maree Brown

Cooperation Eugene wants to facilitate collaboration among activists working toward solutions. Our Zoom event hosting service has evolved organically as the pandemic has changed the way we all meet so dramatically and quickly, and is helping us achieve our mission to get people and groups working together for more economic democracy.

If you are planning an online event that falls under the banner of the regenerative economy in our area, and would like someone to provide a Zoom account and the technical expertise to help you run the event smoothly and securely, get in touch with us to discuss the possibility of our involvement. If it seems like a good fit we’ll help out, and at no charge! We can also record the session and make it available to the general public on YouTube so it will be available as a training tool, or to folks who were unable to attend.

Great examples are people working on issues related to housing affordability, houselessness, racial justice, cooperatives, economic localization and resiliency, and community economic development. You can visit our new YouTube channel as well where we’ll be posting videos of online events going forward.

If you are interested send us a message.

The Lane Service Sharing Network (LSSN) is a concrete manifestation of caring community for Eugene, Springfield, and all of Lane County, Oregon. It’s a way for people to give and receive valuable skills outside the monetary economy along the model of a “neighbors helping neighbors” Time Bank or Hours Exchange.

In this type of system 1 hour always equals 1 hour, no matter the service being exchanged. You give your time and skills to someone in the network and receive time credits which you can then use with anyone else in the network for a service they provide.

LSSN allows us to ask the questions, “How can I serve?” and “What do I need?” rather than “Can I afford it?” and “Does it pay enough?”. It gives us a structure to get our needs met through community, even if the mainstream economic system were to collapse.

If you are 18 years of age or older and live in Eugene, Springfield, or anywhere in Lane County you are eligible to join! See the “How Do I Become a Participant” page of the LSSN time banking website for more details.