The Cooperative and Solidarity Economy

Resource Hub

Welcome to the hub for resources related to the cooperative and solidarity economy!

Here, you are guided through our key terms and aims.

Following this foundational information, you will find a collection of readings, webinars, podcasts, blogs, and educational tools that explore the intersections of faith, economic justice, and community organizing. Whether you're just starting your journey or deepening your practice, these resources are designed to inspire, educate, and empower you in your journey, and to join us in ours.

We are building a cooperative future where faith and justice meet economic transformation. This is your one-stop page for all of our podcasts, webinars, blog posts, and reflections on the solidarity economy, economic democracy, and faith-driven justice work.

SOLIDARITY ECONOMY

The solidarity economy is a global movement to build a just and sustainable economy where we prioritize people and the planet over endless profit and growth. Growing out of social movements in Latin America and the Global South, the solidarity economy provides real alternatives to capitalism, where communities govern themselves through participatory democracy, cooperative and public ownership, and a culture of solidarity and respect for the earth. (credit)

COOPERATIVE ECONOMICS

Cooperative economics may encompass a variety of practices and projects such as communal land trusts, community education, mutual aid, alternative financial systems (of lending and currency), community housing, eco-villages and environmental circularity (e.g., zero-waste production), programs for unionizing and political advocacy, decentralized/platform business and management strategies, and the like. (credit)

 

DEEP SOLIDARITY

Deep solidarity describes a situation where the 99 percent of us who have to work for a living develop some understanding that we are in the same boat. However, deep solidarity cannot be built without deconstructing the deceptive solidarities of racism, sexism, nationalism, and conservative religion, which benefit from the confusion of privilege and power. Most importantly, deep solidarity not only appreciates differences along the lines of race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, nationality, and religion but thrives on them.

 

CAPITALOCENE

Capitalocene, a critique of the “Anthropocene,” signifies capitalism as a way of organizing nature—as a multispecies, situated, capitalist world-ecology. (credit)

The Age of the Capitalocene: where the economic interests of a small and privileged group of humans rule both people and the planet. The role neoliberal capitalism has played in climate change is hard to dispute. At present, 71 percent of CO2 emissions are linked to only one hundred fossil fuel producers.

The deep roots of solidarity in the lives of working people stand in striking contrast to a false sense of solidarity of the Right based on racism, sexism, and nationalism. While the solidarity of the Right protects the interests of the few (racism, for instance, creates a false sense of solidarity for white working people tricking them into believing that they have more in common with their white employers than with their non-white fellow workers), deep solidarity has the potential to serve the interests of the many. (credit)

 

By comparison, if all Americans eliminated meat from their diet, this would only reduce current US greenhouse gas emissions by 2.6 percent. A closer look at the relevance of capitalism to our topic suggests a change of terminologies: more appropriate than the term Anthropocene would be the term Capitalocene, given that in the current situation, capital, power, and nature are closely related. In other words, blaming humanity as a whole for climate change and ecological destruction misses the flows of power that determine our age. (credit)

Open Access Article (2025): Capitalocene versus Anthropocene

RESOURCES