Green Paper 05 — Commons, Trust, and Local Stewardship
Green Papers: Notes Toward Planetary Guardianship
Author’s note — AI co-creation. These papers are working notes authored by Lars A. Engberg. They were drafted and edited in conversation with an AI language model (GPT-5 Thinking mini). The AI assisted with phrasing, organization, and initial drafting; the author curated, edited, and is fully responsible for substantive claims, omissions, and interpretations. Where passages were substantially shaped by the AI, this is indicated in the editorial log. The work is offered as field notes and an experiment in collaborative composition rather than a finished, peer-reviewed product.
Abstract
This paper explores stewardship as a social and institutional capability. “Commons” are not only resources; they are relationships and governance forms: ways of holding shared value without collapsing into either privatization or neglect.
1. Why commons matter now
Planetary constraint forces renewed attention to shared goods: water, soil, air, housing, infrastructures of care, public space, and the conditions for local survival.
2. Trust as governance infrastructure
Trust is often treated as an emotion or a cultural trait. But it also functions as infrastructure: it reduces transaction costs, makes cooperation possible, and allows disagreement without collapse.
3. Stewardship: responsibility that can be carried
Stewardship is a form of responsibility that relates to continuity. It is less about control and more about maintenance, care, and guardianship.
4. Commons governance is not “no rules”
A common misunderstanding is that commons governance means openness without structure. In practice, commons require rules—often more subtle and relational than state law or market contracts.
5. The local scale: small enough to repair
Many governance failures happen because systems become too abstract to remain connected to lived reality.
6. Planetary guardianship as commons practice
Planetary guardianship is not only global governance. It also requires commons competence: the everyday ability to coordinate, maintain, and protect shared conditions of life.
Methods / Editorial note
These Green Papers are written as field notes and working reflections. The drafting process combined (1) authorial writing and revision, (2) iterative prompts to an AI language model for drafting and editing, and (3) conventional editorial revision. Key practices:
- AI assistance: The AI produced early drafts and suggested language; the author reviewed and revised every paragraph.
- Sourcing: The papers use a “working bibliography” as orientation rather than a formal literature review. Citations are selective; empirical claims should be verified before formal use.
- Verification: The author is responsible for verification of cited sources and accepts responsibility for errors. Prior to academic submission, each reference and empirical claim should be independently checked and expanded.
- Versioning: Each paper carries a version line (v0.1). Substantial revisions will be tracked in a change log at Planetary Guardians / Spiralweb.
Closing questions
- Which shared resources are becoming commons again under constraint?
- Where is trust being depleted faster than it can be repaired?
- What forms of local governance remain viable under pressure?
- How do we protect stewardship from burnout and moralization?
- What institutional designs support commons without crushing them?
References (Working bibliography — selected, APA 7)
- Bachelard, G. (1958). The Poetics of Space. Beacon Press.
- Bateson, G. (1972). Steps to an Ecology of Mind. University of Chicago Press.
- Durkheim, É. (1912). The Elementary Forms of Religious Life (English translations available).
- Illich, I. (1973). Tools for Conviviality. Calder & Boyars.
- Latour, B. (2005). Reassembling the Social. Oxford University Press.
- Lederach, J. P. (1997). Building Peace. USIP Press.
- Meadows, D. H., Meadows, D. L., Randers, J., & Behrens III, W. W. (1972). The Limits to Growth. Universe Books.
- Ostrom, E. (1990). Governing the Commons. Cambridge University Press.
- Putnam, R. D. (2000). Bowling Alone. Simon & Schuster.
- Raworth, K. (2017). Doughnut Economics. Chelsea Green Publishing.
- Rockström, J., & Steffen, W. (2009). A safe operating space for humanity. Science.
- Sennett, R. (2008). The Craftsman. Yale University Press.
- Simon, H. A. (1997). Administrative Behavior. Free Press.
- Steffen, W., et al. (2015). Planetary boundaries update. Science.
- Tronto, J. C. (1993). Moral Boundaries. Routledge.
- Turner, V. (1969). The Ritual Process. Aldine.
- Weick, K. E. (1995). Sensemaking in Organizations. Sage.
- Winnicott, D. W. (1971). Playing and Reality. Tavistock Publications.
License & archival recommendation
These working papers are released under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license (CC BY 4.0). You are free to share and adapt with attribution. Please cite the version line (v0.1, January 2026) when re-using this material. For archival stability and citation, consider depositing a revised version in an open repository (e.g., Zenodo or OSF) to obtain a DOI.