October 21, 2026
Jeremy Lent’s ambitious new book, Ecocivilization: Making a World that Works for All, serves an important dual purpose: it diagnoses the deep flaws in our current economic and cultural paradigms while offering an inspiring roadmap for a different kind of civilization. Here’s what others are saying about Ecocivilization: “We need to think big—the crisis … Continued
October 16, 2026
On Wednesday, October 14th Brent Ranalli delivered the 2nd Annual Common Wealth Lecture, titled “Sharing Income from Common Wealth: Thomas Paine’s Perfect Policy Proposal.” Drawing on fundamental economic thinking of Thomas Paine, the talk makes clear distinctions between what are appropriately private assets.produced by individual labor, and what belong to our collective inheritance including land, natural resources, and the … Continued
October 6, 2026
What would it take to build a world that works for all, and where do we begin? Join us in Great Barrington, MA on October 24th at 3PM for the 46th Annual E.F. Schumacher Lecture with Jeremy Lent. Lent’s lecture will explore the concepts outlined in his recent book, Ecocivilization: Making a World that Works for All. … Continued
September 17, 2026
On Wednesday, October 14th at 3PM EDT, Brent Ranalli will deliver the 2nd Annual Common Wealth Lecture, titled “Sharing Income from Common Wealth: Thomas Paine’s Perfect Policy Proposal.” The event will take place online via Zoom and is free to join. WATCH THE RECORDING About the lecture: In 1797, Thomas Paine, hero of the American … Continued
September 3, 2026
Our world is careening at an accelerating pace toward a precipice of climate breakdown, ecological devastation, and gaping inequality. These are the results of a civilization based on exploitation, extraction, and separation. What would it take to replace it with a world system that set the conditions for all beings to thrive on a regenerated … Continued
September 1, 2026
We were deeply saddened to learn yesterday of Wendell Berry’s passing. Wendell was a close friend of the Schumacher Center from its founding. In October 1981, he and Wes Jackson delivered the inaugural E.F. Schumacher Lecture. It feels fitting to honor Wendell by returning to his words and hearing him in his own … Continued
August 19, 2026
You are warmly invited to an evening of unhurried trouble. On Thursday, September 24, the Schumacher Center for a New Economics will host a public conversation between Báyò Akómoláfé and David Abram, brothers in thought and cosmic mischief, as part of the W.E.B. Du Bois Fellowship Series: “Now at the End of Things, A Plea for Magic.“ It … Continued
August 12, 2026
On August 16, we celebrated the 115th birthday of E.F. Schumacher, whose visionary yet grounded approach to economics continues to guide the work of the Schumacher Center. Schumacher had a unique ability to bring economics back to its most fundamental questions. What is work for? What makes a society prosperous? And how might economic life … Continued
August 6, 2026
Assumptions about human nature have long shaped the way we think about economics and, in turn, how we structure our economic systems. Among these assumptions, competition has repeatedly been presented as the defining law of both nature and human society. Consider a few examples: the rational, self-interested actor remains central to conventional economic theory; … Continued
July 30, 2026
We were deeply saddened to learn of the death of Richard Heinberg last week. Over the course of his life, Richard became one of the clearest and steadiest voices addressing fossil-fuel dependence, ecological limits, and the cultural changes required to build a more resilient world. In remembrance, we are returning to a lecture Richard delivered for the Schumacher Center … Continued
July 22, 2026
Earlier this year, Michael Shuman interviewed our Executive Director, Susan Witt, for the January issue of Main Street Journal. Together, they traced the impact of the Schumacher Center’s 46-year history and explored the next chapter of our work. We are pleased to share the full interview below. When I began my undergraduate education at Stanford in 1974, … Continued
July 13, 2026
In 1994, Wendell Berry delivered a talk at the 23rd annual meeting of the Northern Plains Resource Council. Included in his remarks was a list of enduring principles for communities seeking “to cohere, to flourish, and to last.” Rooted in care for the land, our neighbors, local culture, and common wealth, these seventeen tenets paint a picture of … Continued