When our colleague Greg Watson, Director of Policy and Systems Design, surfaced his original 2014 illustration of a cartoon Santa, his sleigh packed with locally produced goods, we simply had to share it with you all.
The spirit of Greg’s greeting card reminds us that this is also the season to highlight our extensive series of E.F. Schumacher Lecture pamphlets, many of which evoke the special magic that happens when communities make “local” a shared priority.
All of the lectures may be read online for free or purchased as ebooks; many can be listened to in podcast form or viewed as videos on YouTube. But there’s still the splendid option of enjoying these lectures by turning the printed pamphlet in your hands. E.F. Schumacher Lecture pamphlets make thoughtful year-end gifts – either as single items or as a group.
The lectures cover universal topics, presented by visionary speakers and activists whose voices resonate as powerfully today as when their lectures were first given. Here are just a few highlights that share the generous spirit of localism:
- Cathrine Sneed’s 1995 lecture, “Gardens That Build Hope and Healing”, tells her story of starting an organic farm within the walls of the San Francisco jail—offering inmates skills, hope, and healing—which became a model for reform.
- “Going Local: New Opportunities for Local Economies,“ by Michael H. Shuman in 2002, is rich with examples and practical steps anyone “can and should take here and now” for flourishing, human-scale economies.
- In her 2004 lecture “Good Morning Beautiful Business”, Judy Wicks recounts her decision to forego franchising her successful White Dog Café in Philadelphia, instead leaning into its unique character and sourcing more of the menu from local farmers.
- In our inaugural E.F. Schumacher Lecture from 1981, the renowned Wendell Berry speaks about what links us to a home place, and how that connection can result in a “husbandry” that benefits people, land, and community.
- Richard Heinberg’s “Fifty Million Farmers” from 2006 sets the urgent need for relocalization in the context of climate science and global systems, casting a positive vision of “planned de-industrialization…through intelligent management.”
- Leah Penniman’s 2018 lecture speaks of Black farmers’ deep roots in cooperative farming, and how Soul Fire Farm now helps feed hundreds in the greater Albany, NY area through a CSA priced on a sliding-scale.
And of course, there are many more. We invite you to explore the full list of printed Schumacher Lectures and choose carefully as gifts for friends at $5 each. A set of seventy lectures for a returning student or an institutional destination is available for $250, including shipping within the US. Our staff would be pleased to add gift cards as instructed.