About

Bee In Flower

Sunnyside Articans

Cultivating Resilience and Livelihoods in Stewarding the Earth

“What does the Earth ask of us?” - Robin Wall Kimmerer

In a world grappling with ecological crises and social inequities, we are called upon to reimagine our relationship with the Earth and with one another. As local communities, we possess a wealth of knowledge and skills invaluable in stewarding our environment. The path forward demands a shift: moving away from exploitative, extractive systems toward a holistic approach where symbiotic relationships between our activities combine to eliminate waste and degradation, thus regenerating our environment while providing food, shelter, meaningful work, and natural prosperity. It is clear: the way forward is to provide for ourselves and future generations with systems that are in line with stewarding the Earth. The present consumer economic structure we now find ourselves in does not allow for this. The majority of us can identify with having jobs that, if not directly, then indirectly, destroy the ecosystems that support us. However, we feel stuck as we need to provide for ourselves and our families through the dominant economic system. Jobs are something someone else creates for us. Let us rethink what is needed. Fundamentally, what we need are livelihoods, not jobs.

Above all, this endeavor is a way to come together and experiment while working in parallel with the existing economic system to see if we can create livelihoods that don’t destroy the Earth but steward it. At present, this is a tall order. In the long run, there is no alternative. That said, nobody knows for sure what the future holds for us. Also, we have a great deal of agency to make the future. With our objectives as a guide, there are many benefits along the way, making our lives meaningful, fulfilling, and engaging.

Sunnyside Artisans, starting with principles of collaboration, shared ownership, and sharing the unique gifts of each other, will provide a powerful framework to strengthen local economic resilience. We foster a sense of place and belonging, and reinforce the ties that bind us together as a community. By coming together, we can share knowledge, resources, skills, and amplify our directed collective impact. We will work toward establishing a multi-stakeholder cooperative with the objective of participatory, decentralized governance.

An artisanal model is appropriate for the local scale within which our communities will work. Our productive capacities will be designed for this human scale. In the long term, if we grow, we will grow with regard to a “small is beautiful” ethos. With this in mind, we will try to keep any Sunnyside Artisan community within a range of 150 people (the Dunbar Number). This number of people seems to be around the limit of the number of people we can know in some in-depth way and have stable social relations. With this in mind, we will establish any number of Sunnyside Artisan communities if our numbers grow. In this way, an informed participatory decentralized governance can be maintained. More about this later.

Initially, smaller-scale projects serve as valuable stepping stones, allowing us to experiment, refine our approaches, and build confidence. These initial steps lay the foundation for more ambitious endeavors, empowering us to tackle the complex challenges we face.

At present, much of this is a dream, but a dream with action can become reality. While the path ahead is uncertain, the potential rewards of cultivating resilience and stewarding the Earth are immeasurable. We need and welcome people of diverse interests. We start by organizing a fab lab that will enable us to do many of our project-based activities. On a community level, this is about reciprocal benefits. On an individual level, this is about helping you help yourself. We’ll dream big and take it as far as we can. Are you interested in starting a type of cooperative that addresses how we provide for ourselves with a livelihood while stewarding the Earth? Do you want to develop these concepts further and take action? Get involved and help build this community. Who are you? Take a look at our projects. How do you want to contribute?