Land is life, and therefore it is also power. Access to land shapes our abilities to sustain ourselves and our communities, to live secure and stable lives, to build cultures rooted in place, to grow and hold collective wealth, and to learn to live responsibly with the ecologies that make our lives possible. To lose the land, or to be blocked from access to it, is to lose these forms of power. “Land,” said Malcolm X, “is the basis of freedom, justice, and equality.” It is also, when held unequally and for the benefit of only the few, the basis of tyranny, oppression, and exploitation.

It doesn’t have to be this way. We can imagine and create new ways of holding, sharing, and caring for the places which sustain us. We can make land accessible to those who have been excluded from it, and we can place more and more land into the hands of people and organizations who are dedicated to growing just and sustainable forms of life and livelihood in our communities.

This is the project of Land in Common.

We seek to transform the relationship between people and the land. We see our work as part of a wider and deeper movement for liberation and transformation. We seek the intimate re-integration of humans with our more-than-human communities; the reparation and healing of injustices that have separated people from the land and privatized it for exclusive use and exploitation by a privileged minority; the cultivation of just and resilient forms of livelihood; and the creation and re-vitalization of resilient, inclusive cultures and communities of care, cooperation, and solidarity.

vision

Land in Common seeks a world in which land is shared and cared for in common, where humans and other species flourish in interdependence.

mission

Land in Common removes land from speculative markets and places it into a member-run trust, to be cared for over the long-term by its residents. We are creating a multi-generational land base for sustainable livelihoods that supports communities working for just, cooperative, and resilient futures.

values

  • We believe that land is a vital source of life and sustenance. It is not a commodity.
  • We believe that land access and security should not be tied to economic wealth.
  • We believe that a home is a fundamental right of all living beings.
  • We are committed to justice and anti-oppression in all of our work.
  • We are committed to bold experimentation and to learning with humility.
  • We are committed to cooperation, collaboration, mutual-aid, and direct democracy.
  • We value the true wealth of sufficiency and “enoughness.”
  • We honor the importance of spirituality, mindfulness, love, and joy.
  • We are committed for the long haul, in the service of future generations.
  • We strive to enact these values in the culture and structure of our organization.

our approach

Our mission is multi-faceted and holistic. We prioritize projects that:

  • Sustain local, community-based agriculture and subsistence
  • Integrate human communities and livelihoods with protected wild ecosystems
  • Create low-cost, limited-equity housing
  • Enact cooperative forms of living and working
  • Participate in collective efforts for social, economic, and ecological justice
  • Manifest direct participation and leadership by people most impacted by oppression