In June, our celebration of Small is Beautiful turns to the theme of Creating a Global Renewable Energy Commons. Our participants for this online conversation are introduced below.
Join us Thursday the 15th at 2PM (EST). As with each of our 2023 Schumacher Conversations, registration is free.
Register here.
“What matters… is the direction of research, that the direction should be towards non-violence rather than violence; towards an harmonious cooperation with nature rather than a warfare against nature; towards the noiseless, low-energy, elegant and economical solutions normally applied in nature rather than the noisy, high-energy, brutal, wasteful, and clumsy solutions of our present-day…”
— E.F. Schumacher, Small is Beautiful
Small is Beautiful advocated a reorientation of economic activity toward the health and flourishing of humans and our natural environment. Today, with the climate and biodiversity crises reaching new levels of urgency, the need to shift out of our unsustainable energy system is clearer than ever. Yet, top-down approaches to a green transition risk perpetuating old harms and further ratcheting geopolitical tensions.
Beyond a zero-sum paradigm that would pit decarbonization and prosperity against one another, creative approaches emerge which affirm justice and unlock human potential.
June’s panelists are those uncovering novel solutions to renewable energy in uncertain times. Thinking globally and acting locally, their work affirms community, global cooperation and right livelihood. Together, they point toward a phase-shift from the prevailing, market-competitive approach to energy, toward a global commons rooted in biospheric stewardship and mutual interdependence.
JUNE PARTICIPANTS
- Stuart Cowen is Executive Director of the Buckminster Fuller Institute, drawing on 25 years of experience in regenerative design, finance, and systems and is a skilled systems thinker, transition designer, researcher, and leader of transdisciplinary initiatives.
- Naomi Davis is Founder and C.E.O. of Blacks in Green (BIG) and the visionary of BIG’s Sustainable Square Mile initiative, which encourages Black communities to thrive through the recreation of walkable, Great Migration-era neighborhoods, and by embracing the transition to a renewable energy economy.
- David Sturmes-Verbeek is Director of Fundraising & Innovation at The Impact Facility, which mobilizes investment into artisanal and small-scale gold and cobalt mining across East and Central Africa. David has helped launch of the Fair Cobalt Alliance (FCA), a platform uplifting artisanal mining communities in the D.R. Congo.
- Greg Watson (host) is Director of Policy and Systems Design at the Schumacher Center for a New Economics, where he focuses on the dynamics between local and geo-economic systems, including an interest in Buckminster Fuller’s “World Grid” proposal.
Each panelist is invited to reflect on how Small Is Beautiful connects with their own thinking and activism, opening up a broader conversation on renewable energy and a global energy commons. An audience Q&A follows moderated by our host, Greg Watson.
Register here.
A reminder that May’s Conversation, Activating Stagnant Capital to Catalyze Local Transformation, may be viewed here.