This is the curse of IP – excessive restrictions upheld by laws used to protect the “economic rights” of authors. Instead of promoting scientific progress we are instead beholden to copyright. Instead of allowing human innovation to flourish, we are told ideas should be owned. IP reserves itself the monopoly of coercion. It does not exist to ease, facilitate and grant social innovation – it prevents such progress. IP is a hurdle to self-direction and thus the inclined labor of human beings. The solution is to question and dismantle this authority, furthering our progress towards a free society.

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This is the very basis of the scientific method. We are encouraged to doubt and question the existing order, to follow self-direction and formulate our own hypotheses to work toward possible conclusions. In fact, an old academic motto notes that learners are not empty vessels waiting to be filled, but instead respond in different ways to the stream of knowledge and its current.

Under self-direction, peer-to-peer learning is incredibly important. Focusing specifically on Higher Education, particularly graduate academics, there is a need and reliance on empirical data. The goal of graduate research is to add to a body of knowledge that seeks understanding of a system or concept. In order to conduct such research, one must not only understand the relevant field, but also be granted access to data, information and the methods used to obtain such data. In today’s academic institutions this is championed, but there do exist barriers to achieving this goal — one of the greatest is perhaps Intellectual Property (IP).

Take the case of Diego Gomez, a 26-year-old Colombian student whose research interest is biodiversity conservation. Throughout his academic career, access to peer reviewed journals on global research databases was extremely limited due to lack of institutional resources. Because of this, Gomez became dependent on the Internet. The web allowed him to research, share documents and talk with colleagues. To further collaboration, when he and others came across relevant papers they shared them together over the net.

One such paper landed him in legal trouble when the author filed a lawsuit over the “violation of [his] economic and related rights.” Under the allegations of this lawsuit, reports EFF, Gomez could be sent to prison for up to eight years and face crippling monetary fines. His crime is violation of “intellectual property” law — patents, copyright and trademarks that restrict human labor and innovation.

This is the curse of IP — excessive restrictions upheld by laws used to protect the “economic rights” of authors. Instead of promoting scientific progress we are instead beholden to copyright. Instead of allowing human innovation to flourish, we are told ideas should be owned. IP reserves itself the monopoly of coercion. It does not exist to ease, facilitate and grant social innovation — it prevents such progress. IP is a hurdle to self-direction and thus the inclined labor of human beings. The solution is to question and dismantle this authority, furthering our progress towards a free society.

Luckily, we are well on our way in the age of network mutualism. Falling communication costs are allowing us to build anew within the shell of the old. The open access movement occurring on the Internet is creating global markets for free association among social networks that educate and inspire — totally void of traditional power structures. The creative, innovative potential for human labor in the Internet age is astounding.

In a free society ideas will not be owned. Ideas are powerful and fundamental to human flourishing — they should not be caged by legal activism. Instead, imagine a different order – one crafted by creative expression, innate interests and the ingenuity of a free society. To achieve greatness we must continue to advance today’s emerging, beautiful anarchic order. Open source content is fundamental to our success.

Liberty can be described, rather simply, as the state of being free from domination and oppression, imposed by an authority, on one’s way of life, behavior or worldview. This idea means many different things to different people, but the fundamental idea of liberty is individual agency. This libertarian tradition notes that all human beings deserve to be free and equal in dignity and rights. Slavery, on the other hand, can be understood as the absolute domination of the individual — it is the end of agency. Slavery bucks the trend of human progress, it cages liberty. Slavery is unjustifiable and thus illegitimate — it has no place in a democratic society.

To obtain and protect liberty, all illegitimate authority must be abolished. When we tear down systems of domination and oppression, when we liberate humanity from illegitimate power structures, we find the true beauty of human nature. Liberty, then, requires active participation from the populace. Liberty is the product of labor. If a population is passive or apathetic, then systems of power and domination can spread like a cancer throughout society.

Because of this, those dedicated to the principles of liberty and democracy should be very concerned about a recent report, from the United Nations International Labor Organization (ILO), that says forced labor (read slavery) generates a $150 billion annual worldwide profit. Even worse, $99 billion, (two-thirds) of this total profit, is generated through the sexual exploitation of men, women and children. The rest of the revenue comes from forced economic labor in agriculture, construction, mining and domestic work.

This fundamental evil, forced labor, the unwilling utility and exploitation of another must be abolished. To accomplish this abolition, it is necessary to look at the pre-existing conditions that give rise to such authoritarian systems — poverty, violence, poor education, class struggle, racism, sexism, etc – and confront the mechanisms through which these social forces subjugate human beings. This begs the questions: Where does power come from? Who should posses it? Who is responsible for our lives? These questions should lead to inquiry into our social organization and how to better the rights and welfare of all individuals — the common good.

Our collective libertarian tradition can answer these questions and progress the common good by dismantling power structures from above and building, only when needed, from below. When accomplished, labor will be inclined and liberated. In absolute liberty society will change, as America philosopher John Dewey notes, “from a feudalistic to a democratic social order,” respecting all workers as genuine human beings as opposed to resources for economic exploitation.

Luckily, folks continue to labor for liberty so that all may labor in liberty. The emerging open source, networked order, of autonomous individuals and civic sector groups, is advancing Mutualism and working for emancipation in ways traditional command and control governance is incapable of. This new order is stigmergic – decentralized in the freed market. Groups such as Women at Risk International, International Justice Mission and many more are liberating enslaved individuals in both local and global campaigns.

The New Mutualism is coming. May every individual one day live in liberty — until then, and ever after, let’s labor for the common good.

This study calls for pause and careful reflection. Rising sea level is a particularly dangerous aspect of global change which may eventually produce millions of climate refugees. Eustatic change could displace entire island nations, swallow coastal cities, increase flood damage and reduce the availability of important ecosystem services offered to our societies from coastal wetlands. Following such reflection, the natural question to ask is what exactly is human civilization to do about climate change?

Most discourse over climate change from the body politic simply asks after the role of the nation, or state, in addressing the problem.  There are many problems with this type of debate, not least of which is that actually existing capitalism is incredibly reluctant to change its ideology and abandon practices which perpetuate environmental degradation and social injustice. Take for instance the Obama administration’s National Climate Assessment, which warns that the effects of climate change are “immediate and widespread.” Obama himself touts the new assessment (in a solar paneled Wal-Mart surrounded by socks, gaudy flip-flops and other items produced for mass consumption) by announcing a series of corporate pledges to increase renewable energy use and boost solar generation. In his speech Obama declares: “Together, the commitments we are announcing today prove that there are cost-effective ways to tackle climate change and create jobs at the same time.”

There you have it: “Growth at any cost” economics and the corporate state championed as an answer to the anthropogenic influence on climate change. Obama’s speech was nothing but an endorsement of the status quo. Of course the administration also advocates cuts in greenhouse gas emissions and other regulations to slow anthropogenic change, but this rhetoric serves the sole purpose of green-washing the inherit reluctance of the current political economy to embrace real change.

As seas change there is an emerging necessity for a corresponding sea change in politics — enter the market left.

The market, or libertarian, left, largely endorses the idea that human-kind strives for the free, unhindered unfolding of the individual and social forces of life (to borrow from Rudolf Rocker) — and institutions that contain such development are illegitimate unless democratically (small d) justified. If any authority is illegitimate, which is usually the case, it is to be dismantled and only reestablished, if need be, from the grassroots. Under such a socio-economic order society would be freed from political guardianship, liberating individual labor from concentrated private capital.

The market left simply seeks the true market form — an alliance of liberated individuals based on co-operative, inclined labor and community interests. Such an order can only exist in a massively decentralized society. The market left envisions a society where political boundaries are dissolved thus leaving only natural boundaries — watersheds, landscapes and ecosystems. Here, the individuals relationship to community and the environment will be much more understood. Only in liberty will the body politic be empowered enough to manage a changing global climate.

The answer to the aforementioned climate question is the stateless society.

L’ambientalismo moderno, alimentato dai movimenti anti-bellici, diede origine alla prima Giornata della Terra a livello nazionale il 22 aprile 1970. Quel giorno, venti milioni di americani occuparono strade, parchi, college e piazze per fondare un movimento sociale a favore della sostenibilità.

Il risultato è che la base della gabbia si è allargata. Il movimento a favore della sostenibilità ha dato origine all’Epa (l’ente americano per la protezione dell’ambiente) con le leggi sull’inquinamento dell’aria e dell’acqua e la protezione delle specie a rischio. Anche se è stato fatto del progresso e la base si è allargata, la gabbia è rimasta tale.

Il progresso può essere indifferentemente buono o cattivo. In natura come tra gli uomini è inevitabile. Dall’avvento del capitalismo industriale all’era neo-liberale reaganiana, il “progresso” è stato misurato in termini di una crescita della gabbia: Più strade e più auto, stato più grande e imprese più grandi, uno stato nazione più arrogante e un settore finanziario troppo grande per fallire. Le stesse istituzioni che l’ambientalismo ha aiutato a creare sono parte di questa gabbia. Non fraintendetemi: ci sono persone molto preoccupate, dedicate e intelligenti che lottano la buona lotta all’interno della struttura di potere ma, ahimè, i loro sforzi sono limitati dalla gabbia. Nonostante i passi fatti in direzione della salute pubblica e ambientale, gli stati nazione restano i più grandi distruttori del clima, dell’aria, la terra, le rocce, l’acqua, la flora e la fauna di tutti i tempi.

Come specie, però, sentiamo il bisogno di fare domande. In questa Giornata della Terra, e dopo, vorrei che la nostra natura inquisitiva fosse rivolta verso i finti confini politici. Perché la più grande minaccia all’ambiente è rappresentata dai grandi stati nazione militarizzati? Se siamo orgogliosi dei valori democratici, perché non riconosciamo che sono l’antitesi dell’autorità concentrata? Il concetto di crescita continua nel nome del “progresso” è sostenibile? O forse dobbiamo liberarci di questa gabbia e ridefinire il progresso?

Gli umani, come specie, hanno un’incredibile capacità di adattamento. Data la possibilità possiamo gettare, e getteremo, il seme della società futura che renderà la Terra degna di essere abitata per i nostri posteri. Possiamo liberare il lavoro dall’attuale sistema economico, decentrare le istituzioni, rispettare i confini naturali come le bio-regioni, e coltivare una società in cui ogni individuo potrà dire la sua genuinamente sulle decisioni che influenzano la sua vita. Questa è la lotta del ventunesimo secolo: liberarci della gabbia è reclamare il controllo democratico della società.

La prassi libertaria ultima è l’azione individuale esercitata sulle nostre istituzioni, sulla società, il lavoro, la proprietà e la persona. In una tale società noi saremmo liberi di proteggere le nostre tradizioni culturali e naturali, porre connessioni, imporre svolte, scegliere orizzonti e generare biodiversità. Le nostre abilità lavorative e la nostra disposizione alla libertà libereranno la società dall’economia centralizzata e dallo stato egemonico.

In questa Giornata della Terra mi auguro che possiamo capire che tutti i problemi complessi che l’umanità si trova di fronte – cambiamenti climatici, fame, guerra, colonialismo corporativo, estinzione, deprezzamento dell’ecosistema, eccetera – sono legati all’attuale esistenza dello stato. Mi auguro anche che possiamo trovare una risposta a questi problemi. E la risposta, come sempre, è libertà.

Traduzione di Enrico Sanna.

Esse ambientalismo moderno, movido pelo crescente movimento anti-guerras, deu origem ao primeiro Dia da Terra que foi reconhecido nacionalmente, em 22 de abril de 1970. Nesse dia, 20 milhões de americanos ocuparam as ruas, parques, campi de universidades e praças públicas para construir um movimento social em prol da sustentabilidade.

Com isso, o “espaço dentro da jaula” foi aumentado. O movimento pela sustentabilidade fez com que fosse criada a Agência de Proteção Ambiental e as leis do ar limpo, da água limpa e das espécies animais ameaçadas. Embora tenha havido progresso, permanecemos dentro da jaula.

O progresso pode ser bom ou mau, é inevitável nas dinâmicas naturais e sociais. Desde o advento do capitalismo industrial e do neoliberalismo de Reagan, o progresso tem sido medido pelo crescimento — a jaula: mais ruas, mais carros, mais governo, maiores corporações, estados-nação mais agressivos e setores financeiros grandes demais para quebrar. As próprias instituições criadas pelo movimento ambientalista moderno são partes da jaula. É claro que há pessoas muito preocupadas, dedicadas e inteligentes envolvidas na luta dentro da atual estrutura de poder, mas seus esforços são limitados pela jaula em que estão presos. Não importam quais sejam as ações tomadas em nome do público e do meio ambiente, o estado-nação continua sendo o maior agressor de todos os tempos do meio ambiente, do ar, do solo, das rochas, da água, da flora e da fauna.

Nossa espécie, contudo, é levada a fazer perguntas. Neste Dia da Terra e de agora em diante, eu peço que nossa natureza intrinsecamente inquisitora se volte para as fronteiras políticas. Por que as maiores ameaças ao meio ambiente são os estados-nação militarizados? Se devemos nos orgulhar de valores democráticos, esses valores não são a antítese da autoridade centralizada? O conceito de crescimento contínuo em nome do “progresso” dá espaço para a sustentabilidade? Não deveríamos, talvez, nos livrar da jaula em que vivemos e redefinir o conceito de progresso?

Como humanos, somos incrivelmente adaptáveis. Quando temos a chance, plantamos as sementes de uma sociedade futura que farão com que a vida na Terra valha a pena ser vivida na posteridade. Podemos liberar nosso trabalho do atual sistema econômico, descentralizar nossas instituições, respeitar fronteiras naturais como as das bio-regiões e cultivar uma sociedade na qual todo indivíduo tenha uma voz genuína nas decisões que afetam suas vidas. Essa é a luta do século 21 — a luta para nos livrarmos da jaula e tomar o controle democrático da sociedade.

A agência individual sobre nossas instituições, sociedade, trabalho, propriedade e pessoas é a práxis final dos libertários. Nessa sociedade, nós estaríamos livres para proteger nossas heranças culturais e naturais, nossas relações locais, nossas águas, paisagens e biodiversidade. O trabalho e a inclinação à liberdade libertarão a sociedade das economias centralizadas e de governos hegemônicos.

Neste Dia da Terra, que nos lembremos que os problemas complexos com que a humanidade se depara — mudança climática, fome, guerra, colonialismo corporativo, extinção animal, depreciação de ecossistemas etc — estão ligados ao sistema atual. Também nos lembremos de que temos uma resposta a todos esses problemas — essa resposta, como sempre, é a liberdade.

Traduzido do inglês para o português por Erick Vasconcelos.

This modern environmentalism, fueled by the energy of a growing anti-war movement, bore the first nationally recognized Earth Day – April 22, 1970. On this day, 20 million Americans occupied streets, parks, college campuses and public squares to build a social movement for sustainability.

As a result, the floor of the cage expanded. The sustainability movement yielded the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency along with the Clean Air, Clean Water and Endangered Species Acts. Though progress was made and the floor expanded, the cage still remained.

Progress can be good or bad, regardless, it is unavoidable in nature and human society. Since the rise of industrial capitalism and then Reagan era neo-liberalism, “progress” has been gauged by growth – the cage: More roads, more cars, bigger government, bigger corporations, bolder nation-states and a too big to fail financial sector. The very institutions that the modern environmental movement helped craft are part of this cage. Don’t get me wrong, there are very concerned, dedicated and intelligent people fighting the good fight within the current power structure, but alas, their efforts are bounded by the cage. Regardless of the moves made on behalf of public and environmental health, the nation-state remains the largest wrecker of climate, air, soil, rock, water, flora and fauna of all time.

Our species, however, is driven to ask questions. On this Earth Day, and ever afterward, I ask that our intrinsic, inquisitive nature be turned to manufactured political boundaries. Why is the greatest threat to the environment great militarized nation states? If we are to take pride in democratic values, are these values not the anti-thesis of concentrated authority? Does the concept of continual growth in the name of “progress” allow for sustainability? Or should we perhaps rid ourselves of this cage and redefine progress?

As a species humans are incredibly adaptive. If given the chance we can and will plant the seeds of a future society that will make life on Earth worth living for our posterity. We can liberate our labor from the current economic system, decentralize our institutions, respect natural boundaries such as bio-regions and cultivate a society in which every individual will have a genuine say in the decisions that impact their lives. This is the fight of the 21st century — to rid ourselves of the cage and claim democratic control of society.

Individual agency over our institutions, society, labor, property and person is the ultimate libertarian praxis. In such a society we would be freed to protect our cultural and natural heritage, place connections, watersheds, landscapes and biodiversity. Our inclined labor and disposition to liberty will free society from centralized economies and hegemonic governments.

On this Earth Day may we realize that all the complex problems facing humanity – climate change, hunger, war, corporate colonialism, extinction, depreciating ecosystem services, etc. – are tied to the current state system. May we also realize that we have an answer to these problems – that answer, as always, is liberty.

Translations for this article:

• Portuguese, Um Dia da Terra libertário.
• Italian, Una Giornata della Terra Libertaria.

I had of course labored before this day, but this experience sticks out because I was fortunate enough during my time on the mountain to wake up every day and enjoy my labor. I enjoyed the manual exercise, crafting trail, working lightly on the land and exploring the forest. These activities were required of the job, but they did not feel like work. I viewed these tasks favorably, I was disposed towards these activities – to labor with the rock and soil of Earth. The job felt different from anything I had done before, it fit with my belief system and attitude towards life. I was practicing conservation and further developing a sense of wildness.

During this service year I befriended a fellow corps member by the name of Nicholas Wooten. We would talk science and philosophy, argue politics, talk about how things could/should be and would sometimes just get wild and drunk. Most of the time, however, Nick and I talked philosophy (and still do). During one of our conversations, Nick shared with me a quote that is rather important to him – it is now rather important to me. It is from the work of Marcus Aurelius in his piece The Meditations:

In the morning when thou risest unwillingly, let this thought be present- I am rising to the work of a human being. Why then am I dissatisfied if I am going to do the things for which I exist and for which I was brought into the world? Or have I been made for this, to lie in the bed-clothes and keep myself warm?- But this is more pleasant.- Dost thou exist then to take thy pleasure, and not at all for action or exertion? Dost thou not see the little plants, the little birds, the ants, the spiders, the bees working together to put in order their several parts of the universe? And art thou unwilling to do the work of a human being, and dost thou not make haste to do that which is according to thy nature?- But it is necessary to take rest also.- It is necessary: however nature has fixed bounds to this too: she has fixed bounds both to eating and drinking, and yet thou goest beyond these bounds, beyond what is sufficient; yet in thy acts it is not so, but thou stoppest short of what thou canst do. So thou lovest not thyself, for if thou didst, thou wouldst love thy nature and her will. But those who love their several arts exhaust themselves in working at them unwashed and without food; but thou valuest thy own own nature less than the turner values the turning art, or the dancer the dancing art, or the lover of money values his money, or the vainglorious man his little glory. And such men, when they have a violent affection to a thing, choose neither to eat nor to sleep rather than to perfect the things which they care for. But are the acts which concern society more vile in thy eyes and less worthy of thy labour?

How easy it is to repel and to wipe away every impression which is troublesome or unsuitable, and immediately to be in all tranquility

There is much to say about this quote. Personally, it has helped me mold together an idea that I call inclined labor. I write about inclined labor often but I have never defined the concept. It is my wish to do so in this blog post.

To be inclined is to feel a willing to accomplish, or a drawing toward, a particular action belief or attitude. Labor is physical or mental exertion – but it is very different from work. Work is a series of tasks that must be completed to achieve a certain goal – be it to gain a wage or to see that something functions properly. Labor is categorically different. Individual labor happens on its own terms, willed by the desire to complete a task. Work must be done, it is an intended activity. Inclined labor, however, is the physical and mental exertion that human beings are drawn to.

Inclined labor, then, is directly tied to the opening of Marcus Aurelius’s passage:

In the morning when thou risest unwillingly, let this thought be present- I am rising to the work of a human being. Why then am I dissatisfied if I am going to do the things for which I exist and for which I was brought into the world?

Inclined labor is the true work of a human being – and it can only be actualized in liberty.

Today we work plenty but struggle to find time and energy to award ourselves the opportunity to truly labor. Work for economical means is a relatively new activity of human beings. Every civilization has had to work – chores need to be carried out for society to function. For the vast majority of our 200,000 year history as a modern species, however, our societies were much more egalitarian. In our early history there was much more labor – individuals knew their interests and carried out their functions and roles within their communities. It was not until the rise of power structures in the age of the ancients that human labor was viewed as something to command and control. Such authority has only exacerbated under the rise and fall of nation-states. Work as we know it today has only been dominant across the whole of society since the advent of industrial capitalism. Work is no longer something that is shared cooperatively for the functioning of society – work now defines a controlled economic system.

But we are a vigilant species. Over the millenia, and ever persistent today, human beings have continued to labor. How could we not when labor is inclined?

Imagine an economic system crafted by liberated human beings. What are the possibilities of humanity? How would the products of self directed labor progress and build society? What can we craft together during our time in the sun? What will liberated labor gift to future generations as we progress for millenia to come? How wondrous our civilizations and progress will be!

Inclined labor, whether a physical or mental exercise, is the creative expression of our interests and ingenuity – it is what we are driven to do. Our labor deserves to be liberated for it is ours and solely ours. Inclined labor is the true calling of human beings.