Declaration of Interdependence
Denizen
Mission
Accelerate a global awakening and galvanize collective action for comprehensive systemic change
We, the people of Denizen, declare that our wellbeing is bound to one another and to the living systems that hold us. We name our interdependence plainly: the Bay Area watershed and the redwoods where ravens roost, the Congaree and Saluda rivers of the Carolinas, the Tongva and Chumash lands of Los Angeles, the Thames flowing through London, the trails of Los Gatos where turtles sun and monarchs pass through, the air we share with the plants, the vast supply chains that bring us what we need, and the economies our daily choices set in motion. We belong to our families, our beloveds, our neighbors and apprentices, the elders who guide us, the friends who tell us the truth, the cats and pollinators and creatures who share our homes and gardens. We hold the generations behind us who gave their lives so ours could begin, and the generation ahead whose lives our choices will shape. They are not background but the ground itself.
We come from many places and one recognition: that we are not separate from other beings but woven into the interconnection of all life — affecting and affected by the world around us. Interdependence means mutual reciprocity and accountability, connection with all life known and unknown, the felt understanding that this connection is what sustains us and all things. When our bioregion is healthy, we are healthy. When the trees and plants flourish, there is room for the community to flourish.
To this web we commit presence and reciprocity: local and organic food, regular climbs to the watershed's high places and the summit of Mt Tamalpais, monthly family dinners, daily nature bathing, real talk with true friends, and the devotional rituals that keep us remembering who holds us. We commit to walking more carefully on the earth, to considering our steps, and to doing so together. We commit to love our people well, to lend courage where we can, to understand how our choices ripple across the world, and to act accordingly. We commit to expanding the field of cultural possibility in support of the vision and practice of interdependence — the beautiful, sacred, messy work of living together with deep intention, curiosity, and mutual care.
We hold a vision of distributed power and governance that catalyzes our co-creative force, of technology and capital in service to life, of a minimal standard of wellbeing guaranteed to everyone — food, shelter, education, health care, and community — and a ceiling on the concentration of power and wealth that would degrade our biosphere and capture our institutions. We envision a future rooted in love, where our needs are simple and met collectively, where we gain more from giving to others than from taking for ourselves, and where we share our gifts with each other in service. We dedicate ourselves to the systemic change that makes it so — change that begins from within.
We, the people of Denizen, declare that our wellbeing is bound to one another and to the living systems that hold us. We name our interdependence plainly: the Bay Area watershed and the redwoods where ravens roost, the Congaree and Saluda rivers of the Carolinas, the Tongva and Chumash lands of Los Angeles, the Thames flowing through London, the trails of Los Gatos where turtles sun and monarchs pass through, the air we share with the plants, the vast supply chains that bring us what we need, and the economies our daily choices set in motion. We belong to our families, our beloveds, our neighbors and apprentices, the elders who guide us, the friends who tell us the truth, the cats and pollinators and creatures who share our homes and gardens. We hold the generations behind us who gave their lives so ours could begin, and the generation ahead whose lives our choices will shape. They are not background but the ground itself.
We come from many places and one recognition: that we are not separate from other beings but woven into the interconnection of all life — affecting and affected by the world around us. Interdependence means mutual reciprocity and accountability, connection with all life known and unknown, the felt understanding that this connection is what sustains us and all things. When our bioregion is healthy, we are healthy. When the trees and plants flourish, there is room for the community to flourish.
To this web we commit presence and reciprocity: local and organic food, regular climbs to the watershed's high places and the summit of Mt Tamalpais, monthly family dinners, daily nature bathing, real talk with true friends, and the devotional rituals that keep us remembering who holds us. We commit to walking more carefully on the earth, to considering our steps, and to doing so together. We commit to love our people well, to lend courage where we can, to understand how our choices ripple across the world, and to act accordingly. We commit to expanding the field of cultural possibility in support of the vision and practice of interdependence — the beautiful, sacred, messy work of living together with deep intention, curiosity, and mutual care.
We hold a vision of distributed power and governance that catalyzes our co-creative force, of technology and capital in service to life, of a minimal standard of wellbeing guaranteed to everyone — food, shelter, education, health care, and community — and a ceiling on the concentration of power and wealth that would degrade our biosphere and capture our institutions. We envision a future rooted in love, where our needs are simple and met collectively, where we gain more from giving to others than from taking for ourselves, and where we share our gifts with each other in service. We dedicate ourselves to the systemic change that makes it so — change that begins from within.