The Abbey Is a Metaphor to Me

Our 43rd episode of Doomer Optimism sees Ashley Colby (@RizomaSchool) having a one on one chat with Rich Bartlett (@RichDecibels), writer, intellectual, and founder of Loomio and The Hum. Conversation ranges from what constitutes a "cult," how to organize effective organizations, and the intersection of community and governance.

About Rich Bartlett
Richard D. Bartlett is one of those people with a lot of websites. He's the co-founder of Loomio, a platform for small-scale digital democracy inspired by the 2011 Occupy Movement. He's also co-leader of The Hum, a training & consulting company that supports decentralised organisations to work without domination hierarchies. He's also the co-director of the Enspiral Foundation, which is a professional network of friends supporting each other to do more meaningful work in the world. And he's the author of a community-building methodology called Microsolidarity.

About Ashley Colby
Ashley is an Environmental Sociologist who studied at Washington State University, the department that founded the subdiscipline. She's interested in and passionate about the myriad creative ways in which people are forming new social worlds in resistance to the failures of late capitalism and resultant climate disasters. I am a qualitative researcher so I tend to focus on the informal spaces of innovation. She's the founder of Rizoma Field School and Rizoma Foundation.