Today, Ecotrust is pleased to announce the publication of our first issue of Commonplace , a new online and mobile magazine focused on stories of home. Led by our founder Spencer Beebe, Commonplace is as much an exploration of new digital landscapes as it is of real communities and geographies on the ground.
Our first issue is set in northern British Columbia’s Skeena River basin, in the same region where Ecotrust first set to work in 1991. Our efforts then to protect 800,000 acres of coastal temperate rainforest in the adjacent Kitlope River Valley were a harbinger of what author Ian Gill has called an “industrial march of folly” that continues to parade through one of the richest landscapes in North America.
While the Northern Gateway Project—a double pipeline slated to cross more than 1,000 salmon-bearing streams on its way from the Alberta tar sands to Kitimat on the BC coast—is looking increasingly doubtful, any number of liquefied natural gas (LNG) and other pipeline proposals are lining up behind it. But so are the voices of countless creative, entrepreneurial people like you who know there is a more natural model of development we can aspire to.
Listen to the voices of the Skeena >>
We hope you enjoy this first issue, and will join the conversation and share stories about the places you live, along with your ideas about how Commonplace might evolve in future issues. An important note: if you haven’t recently updated your internet browser, you may need to do so to view the full issue. (Chrome is free and automatically updated!) We hope to support versions for phones and older browsers in coming issues. We welcome your feedback and comments at info@commonplacemagazine.org .