Does anyone know of any historical efforts to do Usufruct (like libraries of things), but disguised as a private business with suspiciously low prices?

For example, a tool library, but it appears as a tool rental business, though only runs on a very low subscription to break even with maintenance, and "incidentally" (by enforced design) makes no profit while having a horizontal ownership structure.

I was inspired by the srslywrong episode about usufruct, and know a lot of my (red state) neighbors would actually love the concept, but are brainwashed to avoid things with certain terms attached. It might be a good gateway to get to some people who already agree on what some of life's problems are, but are brainwashed to avoid certain solutions.

#solarpunk #usufruct

A quotation from Wendell Berry

Wendell Berry (b. 1934) American farmer, educator, poet, conservationist
Essay (1988), “God and Country,” What Are People For? (1990)

More info about this quote: wist.info/berry-wendell/17399/

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #wendellberry #ecology #Genesis #creation #creator #divinegift #divinepurpose #earth #environment #God #humancondition #nature #stewardship #usufruct #world

Thinking about the distance between #usury - taking of unsustainable monetary interest, or perhaps any at all - and #usufruct - enjoying the fruits of ownership without the right to damage or destroy.

Prompted while #reading Poverty By America by Matthew Desmond, and also thinking of The Dawn of Everything by The Davids, who all highlight the way in which our society views usufruct rights as diminished or useless, to own something is instead to be able to destroy it.

The latest episode of Srsly Wrong outlines two big ideas from Library Socialism: the universal library and the usufruct system.

https://srslywrong.com/podcast/unlocked-platforms-of-freedom-prefiguring-library-socialism/

#LibrarySocialism #UniversalLibrary #Usufruct #SrslyWrong

Murray #Bookchin had was a radical ecologist, political thinker, and philosopher who had a pretty significant effect on my outlook. We don't idolize him or anyone; but i think his overall analysis of the ecological-social crisis and his vision of a society based on #usufruct #complementarity and the #irreducibleminimum is very worth reading.

his writing can be dense, so consider Janet Biehl's contribution: https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/murray-bookchin-janet-biehl-the-murray-bookchin-reader

#socialecology #communalism #ecology #municipalism