Visible Commons

A space to brainstorm ideas and consider real-world initiatives already underway: efforts to infuse fresh life into our fraying market economy by creating jobs on two connected fronts: restoring the land and ecosystems we depend on, and imagining, or expanding on, types of paid work in the arts and humanities.

Plus a look at the large-scale programs being proposed to support everyday citizens as AI upends the job market.

Six actions to begin

(posted June 1, 2026)

small actions over time ↓
ecology
1

Rewild Your Lawn

Action leaders: homeowners with lawns

Turn your lawn into a maze of paths and flourishing gardens: grow flowers, vegetables, and fruit. Some tips from Less Lawn More Life: start with a 5 ft × 5 ft area. Watch Plan it Wild, a landscaping firm, share a brief tutorial on The Today Show.

Do it yourself, or if you can afford it, help the local economy and hire a local landscaper to help you. Make it fun and join the free Less Lawn More Life 12-week challenge.

Noted botanist and author Robin Wall Kimmerer launched the Less Lawn More Life 12-week challenge:

"Imagine the impact if that 67 million acres became pollinator sanctuaries, if it became a source of pure water, of soil building and carbon storage." — Robin Wall Kimmerer (video, 30:00 mark)
Economies grown

Seeds, fertilizer, garden tools, maintenance gardeners, landscapers. Imagine this multiplied by 50 million lawns.

Economies reduced

Lawn mowers, pesticides.

Building bonds

Beyond your own lawn: cities and nonprofits can scale this up by hiring and training young adults to identify government-owned grassy areas suitable for rewilding, and get planting.

Less Lawn More Life → Plan it Wild → Watch the tutorial →
arts
2

Rent Art in Your Office, Store, or Home

Action leaders: companies with offices, store and restaurant owners

Renting art is a fun and affordable action large and small companies can take to support contemporary artists as well as make their offices more enjoyable to work in. Search the internet for art rental companies in your area.

NYC-based Curina operates as a for-profit company, renting original work nationwide for roughly $38 to $348 a month.

Check out as well the Cambridge Art Association for a comprehensive nonprofit business model focused on a local community (Cambridge, MA).

For artists outside major art-rental markets: Wondering how to get your work into a corporate collection? Artquest's guide to corporate art collections lays out the contacts worth pursuing — HR, facilities, the architects and designers planning new spaces, and the art consultants companies hire to curate.

Economies grown

Artists, art supplies, art installation, rental companies.

Building bonds

No art-rental program in your area? Organize with local artists to build a rental operation in your community.

See Curina → Cambridge Art Assoc. → Artquest guide →
music
3

Hire Musicians to Play at Your Restaurant, Store, or Event

Action leaders: restaurant & store owners, event planners

Live music draws customers, provides musicians with work, and brings people together.

Examples of organizations with music for hire programs:

An historical night hearing jazz out on the town: Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, Tommy Potter, Duke Jordan, and Max Roach at the Three Deuces, August 1947.

Economies grown

Working musicians, music educators, instrument shops, sound technicians.

Building bonds

No music collectives in your area? Organize your own collective, build a simple website, promote online, and stop by restaurants and stores to ask if they'd like to host live music.

UNT music → Jazz Foundation → Boston Music Project → Three Deuces, 1947 →
arts
4

Hire a Muralist to Paint Your Storefront

Action leaders: store owners

Commission a mural to get your store noticed and show love to your community. Turn a wall into an art piece and a working artist gets paid.

Get inspired by PaintCare and the Albany Parking Authority's partnership to paint a large-scale mural across a parking garage using recycled paint.

For visual inspiration, browse Architectural Digest's gallery of the world's best-designed street murals.

Economies grown

Muralists, paint and materials suppliers, scaffolding rental, local foot traffic.

Building bonds

Business districts can pool funds for a mural trail; cities can streamline permits for public art.

PaintCare mural → AD mural gallery →
artscivic
5

Buy Art or Fund Exhibits in Vacant Storefronts and Lots

Action leaders: local residents

Art displays in vacant storefronts and empty lots, going on now:

Chehalis Storefront Art Project places art exhibits and pop-up galleries around Chehalis, WA in empty storefronts until they are rented. The initiative keeps empty sites active to draw people to areas that experience less foot traffic.

The Chehalis Storefront Art Project is modeled after the Eugene Storefront Art Project (Windowfront Exhibitions) in Eugene, OR. Browse beautiful exhibits photographed in A Brief History of Windowfront Exhibitions.

LVL3's Art Lot is, from LVL3's website, "a 16′×81′, empty, gravel lot in Red Hook, Brooklyn, which has been functioning as an outdoor artist-run space for three decades."

Economies grown

Local artists, curators, art supplies, installers.

Building bonds

Cities provide financial grants and commission public works; residents organize fundraisers to sustain and expand these programs.

Chehalis project → LVL3 Art Lot →
ecologycivic
6

Build a Green Roof

Action leaders: owners of buildings that have flat, load-bearing roofs

Green roofs have vegetation that absorbs rainwater, provides insulation, and combats the urban heat-island effect. NYC.gov offers tax abatements for property owners who build them.

Visit Brooklyn Grange Farm's website for ideas on how to begin a rooftop garden operation.

Economies grown

Green-roof installers, structural engineers, native-plant nurseries, ongoing maintenance crews.

Building bonds

Cities and states can expand tax abatements and offer technical guidance for first-time builders.

Costs of installing and maintaining a green roof vary by type. The EPA's guide to using green roofs to reduce heat islands outlines green roof types, costs, and social and environmental benefits (retrieved May 19, 2026). (archived version)

NYC tax abatement → Brooklyn Grange Farm →

Brainstorming Jobs Development

Invasive Species Removal

How do we put local young adults to paid work removing invasive species and restoring native habitat? Steps to consider.

Read the full proposal Hide the full proposal

This is a working template, prepared with the design and research assistance of Claude.ai, that you can adapt to start a program in your own community. Figures are drawn from public cost studies and existing grant programs and are approximate. Double-check the facts, and that the linked websites still work, before sharing. Promoting Visible Commons as a source of inspiration, and sharing the site on your social media to expand our traffic, would be appreciated but is not necessary.

Proposal

Put local young adults to paid work removing invasive species and restoring native habitat.

Why this is worth doing

  • Invasive species are a large, growing, and ongoing problem. Reliably documented U.S. costs have averaged around $20 billion per year, and have risen decade over decade.

Source: Crystal-Ornelas et al., “Economic costs of biological invasions in the United States,” Science of the Total Environment (InvaCost). pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34743879

  • The vast majority of that burden is damage, not management spending: clearing clogged water intakes, felling dead trees, repairing termite-damaged buildings, absorbing lost crop yields, and losing native fish and wildlife as invaders crowd them out of food and spawning grounds. Society already pays far more to absorb this harm than it would cost to do the removal work.

Source: Crystal-Ornelas et al. (InvaCost). pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34743879 | “Invasive species in the United States,” Wikipedia. en.wikipedia.org | “Economic and Social Impacts,” National Invasive Species Information Center (USDA). invasivespeciesinfo.gov

  • The work is a strong fit for entry-level employment: hands-on, trainable, and located in nearly every community.
  • It doubles as workforce development, offering a career on-ramp into conservation, land management, and skilled outdoor trades.

Source: The Corps Network (2025 habitat-restoration data) and Great Outdoors Colorado. corpsnetwork.org

How the program would work

  • Crews of young adults do the on-the-ground work: invasive plant removal, native replanting, and basic habitat restoration at local public sites.
  • Rather than building a crew from scratch, partner with an existing accredited conservation corps (or the AmeriCorps model), so members earn a stipend plus an education award, and the partner provides supervision, training, insurance, and certifications.

Source: The Corps Network (2025 habitat-restoration data) and Great Outdoors Colorado. corpsnetwork.org

  • Start with one visible pilot site to prove the model, then scale.

Phase 0: Scoping (a paid first job)

Before the crews, the program’s first role is researching the local landscape, and that research can itself be a paid youth job, doubling as workforce development (research, outreach, and grant literacy):

  • The work: mapping local invasive-species sites, identifying the right funders and partners, and producing a site map and funding plan for the pilot.
  • Who pays for it:
    • Planning grants: many community foundation and conservation-district grants fund a planning/assessment phase, so the research becomes the grant’s deliverable rather than a separate cost.
    • AmeriCorps VISTA: designed for exactly this kind of capacity-building work; the federal program covers most of the member’s living allowance, with the host paying only a modest share. (Pitch must be framed around economic opportunity; subject to appropriations.)

Source: AmeriCorps VISTA program and FY2026 Request for Concept Papers. americorps.gov

  • Workforce development (WIOA youth) funds: local workforce boards pay young people for supervised work experience, which a research/planning placement can qualify as.
  • Note: a small amount of initial groundwork (identifying your local conservation district and a few likely funders) typically has to be done by a founder or volunteer before the first paid dollar arrives.

How it gets funded: the phased plan

The plan doesn’t rely on any single source. It stacks funding from fastest/smallest to largest/most durable:

  • Phase 1: Seed money (start here). A mix of small, fast, low-barrier sources to fund equipment, one site, and a first season. (Covers: low-thousands up to ~$25K.) Options include:
    • Local conservation-district grants: Soil & Water Conservation Districts and watershed districts often fund invasive removal plus native replanting (typically $10K to $25K, sometimes as cost-share). Usually the best-fit local source.

Source: “Local Grants for Native Plantings (2026),” Blue Thumb. bluethumb.org

  • Regional land trust & county programs: community restoration grants from regional conservation nonprofits and county conservation/heritage grant programs.

Source: Forterra Community Restoration Grants (Washington). forterra.org

  • Native plant societies & garden clubs: smaller grants (often under $2K) that also bring plants and expertise.

Source: Washington Native Plant Society Conservation Grants. wnps.org/conservation-grants

  • Community foundations: most regions have one with small responsive grant cycles.
  • Participatory budgeting: where a local government runs it; good for equipment and a one-time push.
  • Local business sponsorship & in-kind: nurseries donating native plants, hardware stores donating tools, employers sponsoring a crew week.
  • Service clubs: Rotary, Lions, Kiwanis fund local youth and civic projects.
  • Crowdfunding: most effective tied to one specific site with a before/after story.
  • Individual major donors & benefit events: for example, a charity golf tournament or gala at a local club; most effective with a well-connected member or supporter championing the cause.
  • Corporate / outdoor-industry giving: outdoor brands and local corporate programs run annual environmental grant cycles.
  • Note: most grants and tax-deductible gifts require 501(c)(3) status or a fiscal sponsor. A corps or local nonprofit partner can often fill this role, unlocking the sources above.
  • Phase 2: Labor engine. Partner with an accredited conservation corps / AmeriCorps to supply trained crews at stipend-plus-education-award cost. (Covers: the actual workforce, at far below market wage cost.)

Source: The Corps Network (2025 habitat-restoration data) and Great Outdoors Colorado. corpsnetwork.org

  • Phase 3: Operating grants. State environmental and invasive-species grant programs, typically accessed through a county Soil & Water Conservation District. (Covers: a full crew season, roughly $25K to $200K depending on program.)

Source: NY State DEC, “More than $5.1 Million Awarded to Control Invasive Species” (2026). dec.ny.gov | Minnesota DNR Invasive Aquatic Plant Management Grant Program. dnr.state.mn.us

  • Phase 4: Large landscape grants (later). Federal/private programs like the America the Beautiful Challenge and Forest Service restoration grants, once you have a track record and a local match. (Covers: multi-site, multi-year scale-up.)

Source: “Grants and Funding,” National Invasive Species Information Center. invasivespeciesinfo.gov

  • Phase 5: Sustaining source (the goal). Convert pilot success into a recurring municipal/county budget line or a dedicated revenue stream, so the program becomes permanent rather than project-by-project.

Source: Minnesota DNR Invasive Aquatic Plant Management Grant Program. dnr.state.mn.us | “After one year of Trump, is anything left of the American Climate Corps?” Grist (2026). grist.org

Fast track: Phase 1 → Phase 5

To keep this program going regardless of which politicians are in office, the most stable route is to secure funding as a recurring budget line. Governments are understandably resistant to permanent commitments, so it’s best to come in with at least one solid demonstration season behind you, along with evidence for why invasive species management is a lasting community priority, not a passing one.

That evidence is strong: a 2023 IPBES global assessment of more than 13,000 studies projects the number of invasive species to rise by over a third by 2050, with climate change and trade expected to drive further spread, making this a recurring obligation, not a one-time cleanup.

Source: IPBES Assessment Report on Invasive Alien Species and Their Control (2023), summarized by Carbon Brief. carbonbrief.org

How to get onto the budget line:
  • Lead with cost-avoidance, not new spending. The city already pays reactively to fell dead trees, clear intakes, and contract out invasive removal. Frame the crew line as the cheaper, proactive version of money they already spend, while also employing local young people.
  • Work the budget calendar early. Insert the request at the department-request stage (months before final hearings), not at the adoption vote. Find your fiscal-year cycle and work backward.
  • Find a department home and a staff champion. The line lives inside a department (parks, public works, natural resources, urban forestry). Win over the staff who build the proposed budget by helping them meet an obligation they already have.
  • Recruit an elected champion. Get at least one council member or commissioner to sponsor and advocate for the ask; bring them to the pilot site.
  • Ask small and structural. A small line that grows beats a big new program. The cleanest version converts part of an existing invasive-removal contract into a youth-crew line: reallocation, not addition.
  • Bring proof and a visible constituency. Before/after photos, acres cleared, youth employed, partner letters, and residents testifying at the budget hearing.
  • Two easier variants: ask for a two- to three-year funded pilot with a review clause rather than permanence; or pursue a dedicated revenue source (for example, a stormwater fee allocation or small surcharge), which is often more durable because it doesn’t compete with other priorities each year.

Questions to keep in mind for proposal development:

Tips for questions to put to an accredited conservation corps or potential partner as you develop a pilot:

  • Is the crew partnership model above realistic? Or what does a typical crew look like (size, season length, cost) so you can size the pilot accurately?
  • Would the organization be open to providing crews for a pilot? If yes, what needs to change in the proposal?
  • Do you know of funding sources or grant programs already used successfully for invasive-removal work?
  • What needs to be in place for a pilot program (a committed site, a fiscal sponsor, a local match, permits) to be feasible?

Get in touch

Help build a solid development plan for interested communities to adapt.Send general feedback or ideas for developing/revising this proposal below.

Optional, stays private. We’ll only use it to follow up if needed.

Thanks — your comments have been sent.

Notes on sourcing

A few honest caveats from Claude for anyone fact-checking the figures above:

  • Sourced vs. strategic. The inline “Source” lines mark claims drawn from external sources. The program-design and Fast track sections have no source lines because they are strategic guidance synthesized for this proposal, not facts drawn from a citation.
  • Illustrative ranges. Some dollar figures (for example, the $25K to $200K operating-grant range) are reasoned from example awards in the cited sources rather than stated verbatim. Treat them as illustrative, not exact.
  • Verify before relying publicly. Figures are approximate and current as of mid-2026; grant cycles and amounts change, so confirm program details directly. One source is Wikipedia (the termite, fish, and rat figures), which is fine as a pointer, but trace it to its underlying source before citing it publicly.

The Bigger Picture

Last updated June 20, 2026

Elected officials, tech leaders, and industry experts are increasingly calling for large-scale programs to support Americans through AI-driven job loss and transition. Here’s a sampling:

On who will pay the bill for AI data centers

The Trump administration’s Ratepayer Protection Pledge, signed in March 2026, highlights White House concern that American consumers not take on the burden of data-center infrastructure costs. It frames its recommendations as voluntary actions companies should take to protect Americans from price hikes and to lower electricity costs over the long term.

When new data centers are being developed, the utility or grid operator responsible for the region has to study what upgrades are needed to handle the new load. With the surge in AI data center development, grids must meet the demands of expensive upgrades driven by these large loads in a compressed timeframe, which compounds the expense. The question being debated is who should pay for these upgrades? The data centers? Or should the utility pay a share, which leads to higher costs paid by ratepayers (residential customers)? Would nearby or complementary projects, such as nuclear, solar, gas, or wind farms, share the costs if they benefit from the upgrade?

The Searchlight Institute has proposed a plan for grid modernization called the American Grid Infrastructure Fund. Searchlight’s proposal is that large load facilities, such as AI data centers, would pay a premium for the grid infrastructure instead of socializing these costs across the region’s residential customers. The benefits for participants would include interconnection priority, protection against regulatory risk through participation in an insurance pool, and lower financing costs. Participants would be expected to invest in job training through registered apprenticeship programs and community-college electrical-training pipelines.

Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) published an opinion piece in TIME proposing that data centers be taxed as part of a rebalancing of the U.S. tax code. She argues the tax code should move away from prioritizing corporate profit and toward paying for universal health care, education, and the creation of new jobs as AI transforms the job market.

“Building an economy that works for all of us will require multiple policy responses.”…“Taxing AI is one way we make sure the winnings from AI benefit all Americans, rather than channeling them only to the wealthy few.”— Sen. Elizabeth Warren, in TIME

Please note: the proposals discussed here sidestep discussion of an underlying problem: clean, firm power that can match AI’s growth doesn’t yet exist at the scale required. Also, the environmental toll of data centers, a major issue in its own right, is not addressed in this section.

Industry and White House weigh in

Tech industry leaders show their support for sharing AI profits with the general public.

Sam Altman, the head of OpenAI, wrote a 13-page essay in which he proposed a public wealth fund:

“Policymakers and AI companies should work together to determine how to best seed the Fund, which could invest in diversified, long-term assets that capture growth in both AI companies and the broader set of firms adopting and deploying AI.”(April 2026)

Dario Amodei, the head of Anthropic, wrote on his blog:

“If AI-driven labor displacement ends up being large in magnitude and permanently drives down the demand for labor, it will likely be necessary to go beyond mere incentive programs to long-term income support for a significant fraction of the labor force.”(June 2026)

On June 5, President Donald Trump told reporters he’s been talking with AI executives about the public taking a stake, and previewed convening “the top 12 or 15 executives” to discuss the industry “giving back something to the public.”

Bernie Sanders’ American A.I. Sovereign Wealth Fund Act

Sen. Bernie Sanders, via New York Times op-ed · June 2026

Sanders announced the American A.I. Sovereign Wealth Fund Act, which would require AI companies with over $200 million in annual AI sales to pay a one-time tax equal to 50% of their stock to the fund. The sovereign wealth fund would then pay out an annual dividend of 5% of its value as direct payments to the American people. Sanders wants to create this fund to give the American public a direct role in determining the future of AI technology and be in a position to block corporate decisions that hurt the public interest. The Act, if passed, would create an Independent Commission for Democratic AI to manage the fund. The Commission would be bipartisan, with its seven members nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate.

Source: Bill summary, https://www.sanders.senate.gov/wp-content/uploads/AmericanAISovereignWealthFundActSummary.pdf

“A.I. is built on our collective intelligence: our books, songs, artwork, journalism, computer code, scientific research, videos, conversations, images and ideas spanning generations.”— Sen. Bernie Sanders, in the New York Times

Sam Altman asked to meet with Sanders after Sanders made his proposal public. Both parties acknowledged disagreements on specifics but agreed that a plan is needed to share profits with the public. Altman thought 50% was too high a share. Sanders voiced concern about the AI industry’s growing election spending, and said the public must keep “the ability to stand up and say no” to AI development.

Developing AI for the public good

Nathan E. Sanders & Bruce Schneier, in The Guardian · June 2026

Also in response to Sanders’ proposed wealth fund, Nathan E. Sanders (no relation to the senator) and Bruce Schneier share his concern that AI needs to be democratized, but warn that giving the government a financial stake creates a conflict of interest: a government that profits from AI companies has reason to shield them rather than regulate them in the public’s interest. Instead, they favor energy taxes and developing AI projects that prioritize the public good, not profit. In a companion piece, they call this approach “public AI” — a concept and a movement — and they point to the Swiss AI Initiative and its fully open model, Apertus, as an example of AI trained on public infrastructure powered by renewable energy.

Public models can be “built using renewable energy at a scale optimized to balance cost and usefulness.”— Nathan E. Sanders & Bruce Schneier, in the Renovator

Fixing the Social Security deficit

Martin O’Malley, former Social Security commissioner, goes on MarketWatch · June 11, 2026

Martin O’Malley, who led the Social Security Administration from December 20, 2023, to November 29, 2024, went on MarketWatch to revive the discussion that the looming insolvency crisis is solvable by eliminating the cap on income subject to Social Security taxes. A bill that has yet to pass, the Social Security 2100 Act from Rep. John Larson (D-CT), would apply the payroll tax to earnings above $400,000 a year. Under current law, workers stop contributing the standard 6.2% of gross wages (matched by another 6.2% from employers) once their salary reaches $184,500 in 2026. And per a November 2024 ADP Research analysis, more than one million American workers earn over $500,000 a year.

Programs in progress: city-level guaranteed-income pilots

Stanford Basic Income Lab, CGIR & Mayors for a Guaranteed Income · data updated Apr 2026

The Stanford Basic Income Lab and Center for Guaranteed Income Research created a tracker of 30+ city-level guaranteed income pilot programs across the U.S. They list the location of the pilot, the amount provided, the duration, as well as provide evaluation reports to study and learn from.

Stanford also houses a global map of basic income experiments on its website.

Contribute to Action Ideas and Share Videos

Are there jobs happening in your area in theater, art, philosophy, gardening?

add to the commons ↓

We're excited to share as many actions and videos as we can that fit the site.

1) Share an action

Tips on how to format your action for this site:

  • Focus on the action itself and its economic or community impact, not political or religious viewpoints — an action easily replicated, riffed on, or scaled.
  • Clear on first read. The action shared should make sense to a stranger with no background: no insider terms, no need to follow a link to understand it.
  • Backed by checkable resources. Include at least one working link, but two or three is best (three max): organizations already doing it, a demo, a city program, a how-to. Real examples, not theory.
  • Under 500 words. If it can't be explained in 500 words, it isn't ready yet (then consider submitting a video).

Use the form below

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Your idea has been submitted for review. If it's a good fit, you'll see it on the site before long. The commons grows from contributions like yours.

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A short, plain headline. "Rewild Your Lawn." Not "A Paradigm Shift in Suburban Land Use."
Who actually does this? Homeowners, store owners, city officials, neighbors…
Explain the action, the economies it grows, the economies it might reduce, and how someone starts. Must stand on its own, under 500 words.
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Half-Formed Ideas - Envisioning the Future ↓

Share an idea you are ruminating on that has potential to create jobs but you are still filling in some blanks on how to implement. Get creative with the format: a short play, art, animation, music, or just you talking. Experimental or straightforward. We are celebrating the arts here after all!

Some topic examples:

  • "How adding more musical instrument libraries will help my local economy"
  • "Turning the audience into paid participants in theater"

Ideas that propose, reframe, design, or invent beyond complaints or critiques of current systems.

Video length: 1 to 5 minutes.

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About Visible Commons

Hi, I'm Heather Waters. I built Visible Commons because I want to be part of a conversation shift I wish I was seeing more of: strengthening local economies by creating jobs on two connected fronts, restoring the land and ecosystems we depend on, and imagining, or expanding on, types of paid work in the arts and humanities, for people whose work is being displaced by AI.

By day, I work as an accounting consultant for nonprofits. Here is my profile on LinkedIn. I also write occasionally about culture and the economy. My essay Theater: A Major Job Sector in The Theatre Times argues for taking arts-sector job creation more seriously — a thread that runs through this site as well.

I built this site using Claude.ai (Anthropic). The submission form is the best way to reach me about the site itself.

Businesses linked on Visible Commons are included because their websites do an inspiring job of modeling the actions being discussed. Visible Commons has no personal or professional connection to them at date of posting (unless noted).

Visible Commons is focused on creating paid jobs, but regenerative economies also rely on volunteer efforts that don't involve the exchange of money. Ideally, our efforts will join a larger movement of mutual aid that restores and sustains the living social and ecological systems we share.

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