I. Our Why? Samantha What an honor to be here. Thank you so much to Susan and the Schumacher Center for inviting us and all the organizing you did to make this day happen. We also want to thank our colleague Felix who worked over time this week to get us some very cool slides.. … Continued
Thank you so much Natasha. What a lovely welcome. I’m delighted to be standing on the shoulders of giant renegade economists and saying things that have definitely been said before but since nobody was listening they have to be said again. Thank you so much to the Schumacher Center for inviting me. It means a … Continued
How is it possible to own land? I find it remarkable that this basic question is so seldom asked. The current pattern of ownership and control of land lies at the heart of many of our biggest dysfunctions: the collapse of wildlife and ecosystems, the exclusion and marginalization of so many people, the lack of … Continued
Thank you, David; I want to make sure you’re around to write my obituary. I’m going to talk about global perspective on the Green New Deal. I’m using the Green New Deal because a lot of the work I do, especially as I start to pursue the concept of World Games, seems to be a … Continued
Penniman tells us a story about race and the food system and how we can decolonize and re-indigenize our relationship to land and to food. She reminds us that the land we stand upon is stolen land and that the food system was built upon it with stolen labor. Today, the Black farming movement still faces racism and discrimination, but in spite of that, she says, “we’re trying to reclaim that inherent connection, that right to belong to the earth and to have agency in the food system.” In order to move toward Black agrarianism and toward new economies for Black and Brown people, repatriation and reparations need to take place. Penniman adds that we need to think seriously about our relationship to the earth, because we have the knowledge and means of indigenous and ancestral methods that can feed the planet without destroying it. She uses examples from Soul Fire Farm, which she co-founded in 2011, to show how it is helping to put an end to racism and injustice in the food system.
Penniman tells us a story about race and the food system and how we can decolonize and re-indigenize our relationship to land and to food. She reminds us that the land we stand upon is stolen land and that the food system was built upon it with stolen labor. Today, the Black farming movement still faces racism and discrimination, but in spite of that, she says, “we’re trying to reclaim that inherent connection, that right to belong to the earth and to have agency in the food system.” In order to move toward Black agrarianism and toward new economies for Black and Brown people, repatriation and reparations need to take place. Penniman adds that we need to think seriously about our relationship to the earth, because we have the knowledge and means of indigenous and ancestral methods that can feed the planet without destroying it. She uses examples from Soul Fire Farm, which she co-founded in 2011, to show how it is helping to put an end to racism and injustice in the food system.
In his lecture, Whitfield discusses the history of capitalism and its deep-seated ties with slavery. He grew up in the Black Freedom movement with the stories of courageous Black folks—from the Little Rock Nine, Garrison Frazier, and Harriet Tubman to his own father. Slavery, he explains, is when someone else gets the benefit of your labor. The contradiction that’s built into capitalism today is that production is booming, but there aren’t enough people who are able to afford to buy what is produced—oftentimes the same product that was made with their own hands. Whitfield urges us to keep our eyes on the goal of building a society in which all working people own the product of their own labor, and in doing so they will be truly free.
Many people around the world are suffering the consequences of what it means to live in an extractive, exploitative and polluting economic system, and are seeking to learn from other indigenous communities about what it takes for us to transition into a new way forward based on regeneration, resilience and restoration. If we can get to a place where we understand that first we must restore and regenerate the soul and the land, then we get to heal the planet, and when we heal the planet, we actually get to heal ourselves and each other. And that is part of the task that’s before us.
In the folklore of the Anishinaabe peoples of North America, the Prophecy of the Seventh Fire predicts that there will come a time when we must choose between two paths. LaDuke—member of the Ojibwe Nation of the Anishinaabe peoples—says now is that time. For more than twenty-five years she has been a leading advocate and organizer for Native American groups working to recover their ancestral lands, natural resources, and cultures. During last year’s Standing Rock protests against the Dakota Access Pipeline, LaDuke called for us to choose the path that is green. As a Water Protector, she believes that the times we are living in require us to take action and fight for environmental justice, indigenous rights, and a just transition. As a society we must let go of some of “the baggage” we’re used to and work together to understand and respect the natural world as well as the rights of Mother Earth. LaDuke instructs us to “Get someplace, stick there, and fight for it.”
At the 36th Annual E. F. Schumacher Lectures Mary Berry–Executive Director of The Berry Center–moderated a conversation between Wendell Berry and Wes Jackson, during which they discussed the urgent problems that farmers are facing and the deep cultural divide between the inhabitants of urban and rural places. They called for a different kind of education, one that encourages young people to return to the land, dig in, get to know the place, and develop an understanding and affection for the land and the people living on it. There must be a cultural transformation, or cycle, that encourages an unending conversation between old people and young people, thus assuring the survival of local memory, which is rapidly disappearing in the modern extractive economy.
While viewing the impending threat of climate change, Savory invites the audience to take a global view of the current situation of the world. Pointing out that more than twenty civilizations have failed in different regions of the world because of their agriculture practices over the centuries, he suggests a two-level solution to our problem: new policies and holistic management of ranches and farms. Savory finds it essential that public opinion comes to recognize that land management must be holistic while also acknowledging social, environmental, and economic complexity.
When the cod stocks crashed back home in Newfoundland, Smith, a fisherman working at the height of the period of industrialized food, found himself on the front lines of the world’s climate crisis. He soon began a search for sustainability, and in this lecture he shares his story of ecological redemption. Smith is the founder of the nonprofit GreenWave, which won the 2015 Buckminster Fuller Challenge for sustainability. Smith is creating a hub for the new 3D ocean-farming industry, which will act as an engine for job creation and food justice. He explains that ocean farming will address major issues such as overfishing and climate change while building the foundation for a new blue-green economy and transforming fishermen into restorative ocean farmers.
Woolard’s story begins with the decision that she would not put any money into paying rent but rather put every dollar she made into artwork for public places. It is a story of self and a search for places where voluntary reciprocal exchange can thrive. In describing the launch of the community skill-sharing network known as Trade School, her barter and solidarity-economies class at the New School, and the creation of the Exchange Café at the Museum of Modern Arts, Woolard shares her insight on what it means to turn a single initiative into a space of coalition building that supports the solidarity economy. She sees a place for artists in the community land trust movement, envisioning what the first community land trust in New York City would look like. The result: an emphasis on place-based organizing and stronger bonds as artists and policy-makers work together to move beyond creative enterprise.
The entrepreneurial spirit of the Internet in the late 1990s drew Stinchcomb into the Internet-business arena, the “maker movement,” and ultimately, the launch of Etsy in 2005. As co-creator of Etsy, he established a highly successful intersection of the market for handmade products and artists looking to sell on a wide-reaching platform. Deeply influenced by E. F. Schumacher’s Small Is Beautiful and Bill McKibben’s Deep Ecology, which emphasized the importance of human-scale and local community economies, Stinchcomb sees the rise of small businesses as paving the way for a new economy. He explores the sustainable-business lessons that can be learned by observing ecosystem dynamics, challenging the audience to view everything in our lives—including our businesses and our choices–as connected rather than fragmented.
The American dream is confronted with three “shadows” that threaten its fulfillment: resource depletion, political paralysis, and cultural ADHD. Scharmer says that we are called “to evolve that civilizational dream in a way that reflects and transforms these shadows by reinventing how we live and work together, by articulating what kind of civilization we want to be and cultivate.” The problem with current economic thinking is that it is based on a paradigmatic framework formed by ego-system awareness. If capitalism is to be transformed, economic thought must be reframed to represent eco-system awareness. And if the American dream is to be preserved, we must take responsibility for revitalizing its three parts—the cultural, the political, and the economic. Scharmer has dedicated his career to helping bring about this regeneration.
Jones speaks of the numerous initiatives he has been part of, including his role as Special Advisor for Green Jobs, Enterprise, and Innovation at the White House Council on Environmental Quality. As founding President of Rebuild the Dream, a think-tank championing innovative ways to alter the U.S. economy and uplift the next generation, he asks the question “What is the future that we’re fighting for?” Throughout his lecture Jones speaks of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Trayvon Martin, robots, and ways to create a just economy for all.
Schor critiques both the free-market and Keynesian paradigms of macroeconomics. She argues that in this day and age we need to construct new economic relationships, a new economics, which take into account ecological dangers, stagnation and inequality in the global North, and global poverty. Schor insists that we need to move beyond the paradigm whereby planetary and human well-being are understood to be mutually exclusive. She proffers “an economic model for a post-growth society.” This model involves a shift of labor from the formal labor market, a reduction of average work hours per employee, and the expansion of the local economy. She also draws on the new models of consumption and production that are being developed in our contemporary moment, highlighting how self-reliance today does not mean a return to 18th century practices, but ‘high-tech self providing,’ that is, the use of highly productive, smart machines on a household level.
In this lecture, Alperovitz starts to formulate a response to the simple yet unnerving question: “what do you want?” He argues that the decay of the labor movement in the United States calls for new forms of progressive politics and systemic change. He offers an overview of the myriad, underreported projects and ownership structures in the United States from macro-level planning to small, worker-owned co-ops. He asserts that the amalgamation of such diverse institutions can lead to viable decentralized, democratic alternatives – what he calls a “Pluralist Commonwealth.”
Wallis identifies overconsumption as a primary source of inequality and natural destruction. He outlines a new economic model that emphasizes well-being, efficiency, and development within the bounds of our global ecosystem. For change to come about, he says, society, business, faith, arts, and education will all have to become a part of the transition.
Goodwin expects the next sixty-five years to be a time of rapid change in America and worldwide. Based on the best projections available, the energy sources we rely on today will become increasingly scarce and expensive, and the percentage of the population that is of working age will diminish. The likely result of this, for the U.S. at least, is “a future with less stuff per household.” But while some outcomes are largely out of our control, Goodwin argues that the opportunity still exists, maybe more so than ever before, to make the best of this imminent period of change by finding alternative energy sources, recognizing the importance of the commons, learning to live within our means, spending more time on leisure, and reforming and/or reining in corporations.
The task of aligning the interests of liberals and environmentalists is not an easy one. There is a fundamental split between them on the question of economic growth. For most mainstream liberal thinkers, economic growth is a necessary ingredient for a positive future, holding the potential to lift people out of poverty, but environmentalists argue increasingly that continuing economic growth will not be ecologically sustainable much longer. Despite this schism, Speth argues, liberals and environmentalists are mutually reliant. Environmental campaigns cannot succeed without the strengthening of liberalism, nor can liberal goals be met without progress on the environmental front. Therefore, Speth calls for liberals and environmentalists to set aside their ideological differences and work to reinvent the economy, not merely restore it. Sustaining people, communities, and nature, he argues, must be seen as the core goal of economic activity.
We have created a system in which votes made with the dollar speak louder than votes at the poll. Today’s capitalism, Barber argues, makes little distinction between wants and needs. Half a century ago, the model capitalist was one who figured out how to produce something that people truly needed and made a profit selling it. Now that our needs are met (for many, but certainly not all, in the US and the rest of the world) a version of “paper capitalism” has emerged, in which making a profit is more important than making a product. Barber points out that there are dire crises—global warming being the most pressing—for which solutions need to be invented to combat them. His argument is that this cannot be done in a system where individuals think of themselves first as consumers and only secondarily as citizens. To solve today’s most pressing issues we must reclaim our citizenship and strengthen the voices speaking out for the common good.
Beginning in 2007 we saw a dramatic and rapid melting of ice across the Arctic resulting from a one-degree increase in the Earth’s temperature. McKibben saw this as an imperative reason to take action and knew that it meant more than talking and writing about climate change. In this lecture he describes the building of a climate- change movement that began with a local demonstration in his home state of Vermont and grew to a global movement that has changed the way we think about carbon. The organization McKibben founded is called 350.org, which refers to the maximum number of parts per million of CO2 tolerable in the atmosphere if the world is to remain habitable.
“Who’s the farmer here, and who’s the chef?” This is the question Barber asks himself after witnessing the production of natural foie gras. Normally the epitome of unnatural food, most foie gras is made by force-feeding geese copious amounts of grain in a process called gavage and slaughtering them while their livers are enlarged, fatty, and particularly delicious. But when Barber pays a visit to a unique Spanish farmer, he learns that by allowing geese to eat as they please from a landscape of natural and local grains without any force-feeding, the result is a foie gras so flavorful that it doesn’t even need to be seasoned. The farmer and the chef are one and the same. Equally amazing is the way the flock is perpetuated: the geese are so happy and well-fed that they signal wild geese flying overhead to join them. The future of food, Barber suggests, could consist of working in concert with natural patterns and animal behaviors rather than against them.
There is a fairly standard list of environmentally friendly actions American consumers are typically encouraged to take: “drive less, buy a hybrid car, buy energy-efficient appliances, change our light bulbs.” But Lappé points out that this list entirely neglects food. Since 31 percent of greenhouse gas emissions can be traced back to food production, this is an extremely important element of climate change for us to consider. The food industry, she argues, does seem to acknowledge (at least to some extent) its role in the climate debate, but food companies seem to be making a concerted effort to portray themselves as part of the solution rather than part of the problem. Lappé calls on us not only to consider changing our own behavior but also to go a step further and question larger systemic issues such as continued government subsidies for agribusinesses.
How do we restore our land, create prosperous villages throughout the world, and solve our health crisis? Sally Fallon Morell’s solution: Drink raw milk. Human beings live in a symbiotic relationship with microscopic organisms. Without them we could not digest our food or absorb the nutrients it contains. She believes that a healthy diet is one rich in animal fats, organ meats, and raw-milk products from grass-fed animals as well as fermented foods full of beneficial bacteria and enzymes. She envisions the farm of the future not as the mechanized animal-confinement operation or the mega-monoculture but the 30-cow dairy farm that sells directly to the public or provides products to shareholders.
Founder and Executive Director of Sustainable South Bronx, Carter points to environmental justice as the civil-rights issue of the twenty-first century. She advocates economically sustainable projects informed by community needs. Her work to counteract environmental health hazards and high unemployment in her community includes the promotion of green roofs, greenways, clean technology, and a green-collar job-training program and workforce.
As the old paradigm of materialism that is causing social, ecological, and economic injustices crumbles, it is essential to consciously participate in the shaping of a new paradigm. Turner describes the transition from a material to a spiritual consciousness, saying, “We have gone through the materialization of consciousness to the extent that this age has focused on human beings as material objects . . . and now we are on the brink of an age that will bring the opportunity for our consciousness to be spiritualized.”
Shuman asks his audience how many have pension funds, and a fair number of hands go up, then enquires of those who have them, “How many are primarily invested in local business?” Almost no one raises a hand. Why is it that even “the most local-economy-minded people” do not own stock in local companies? It’s not because local businesses are poor investments; in fact, Shuman details ways in which small place-based businesses are more stable and do more for local economies than large corporations; the problem is the legal and financial industry infrastructure. Securities law discourages individuals from purchasing local business stocks, and issuing stock is tricky for a small business; nonetheless, Shuman argues, the potential exists. Some local stock issues have already been successful, and states can help by revising securities laws. There are a few hurdles to overcome, but local stock exchanges offer the opportunity to help build local living economies.
Using the examples of the Intervale Foundation and Gardener’s Supply, both of which Raap founded, he demonstrates that economic gain can be linked to social and environmental gain. A business can flourish by enhancing the environment and supporting community while still generating a profit. Raap recounts the encouraging story of the Intervale in Burlington, Vermont. Once a dumping ground, the Intervale has been rejuvenated as an incubator for beginning organic farmers, providing a model for putting marginalized land into productive use to benefit the surrounding community.
Independent businesses in the United States have been under attack in recent decades. Large chains, or “big-box” stores, have dominated the market for nearly every product, in the process homogenizing our once unique Main Streets. Now local communities across the country are fighting back, and Mitchell is helping to shape the tools. As a staff member of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance she creates effective guidelines for communities struggling to resist corporate invasion. Her lecture describes the application of innovative programs that provide hope for the future of independent business.
It is high time that the discussion of peak oil includes a solution to the decline in supply. Heinberg conveys to us the urgency of converting our current agricultural system while options for doing so are still available. There is something highly dysfunctional and ultimately destructive about a system of food production that requires ten kilocalories of energy to produce one kilocalorie of food. His solution is a decentralized agriculture system relying on the productive capacity of regions, not long-distance transport of products. Small-scale, organic farming would decrease our current dependence on fossil fuels and prepare us for the inevitable end of cheap oil.
Explaining how we as individuals relate to the complex worlds of Money and Capital, Houghton Budd shows that an understanding of these aspects of the monetary world as well as an awareness of the importance of accounting give new meaning to the maxim, “Think Globally, Act Locally,” both in terms of macro-economic realities and micro-economic decision-making, and outlines how these two are linked. He concludes with profound advice for those who care about investing their money in ways that truly make a difference at the local level.
Todd shows us that the power of positive work can overcome horrific destruction. Describing the models created by the New Alchemy Institute and Ocean Arks International, she demonstrates the evolution of ecological design as a viable option for creating a sustainable world. Her lecture reminds us that nature is our best source of reference. Through adherence to natural systems we can “provide for the present population of the world sustainably.”
As the co-founder and staff attorney for the nonprofit Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund, Linzey is engaged in the work of “collective nonviolent disobedience through municipal lawmaking.” He has dedicated himself to changing the method of governance in the United States. Linzey believes that for democracy to be a reality, a shift must be made from “regulating the activity to defining the actor.” His lecture gives hope and direction to our communities that are too often plagued by absentee governing and ownership.
Writer, editor, ecologist, and activist, Mills has been involved with matters ecological, bioregional, social, and political for over thirty years. Although her books and essays have largely fallen under the rubric of nature writing, she presents here a portrait of Robert Swann, co-founder in 1980 of the Schumacher Center and its president until shortly before his death in January 2003. Focusing on his life-long active nonviolence, participation in the civil rights movement, and introduction into this country of the community land trust, Mills describes how Swann became an inspiring spokesman for community economics and was instrumental in advancing a community-based economic movement that continues to grow. She is eloquent in her portrayal of Swann as “a visionary of the here and now.”
Lyons is a tribal chief of the Onondaga Nation. Although referring to himself as unlettered, he communicates the wisdom Native Americans have passed down over the centuries. As Faithkeeper of the Turtle Clan he is responsible for maintaining the Clan’s customs, traditions, values, and history—all of which he tells about in his compelling lecture. He takes us back to the days of the Founding Fathers and shows how influential Native Americans were in guiding them in the formation of a democratic government. Chief Lyons focuses on what is urgently needed today: waking up to the coming global catastrophe represented by global warming; a return to responsible leadership; and giving thought to seven generations ahead in our decision-making.
Despite the dominating and destructive power of large, monolithic corporations, business can be an essential and effective force for community empowerment. Wicks shows how locally rooted businesses can address the needs of all stakeholders—employees, customers, investors, neighbors, and the earth. She describes the evolution of her restaurant, the White Dog Café in Philadelphia, and the way her personal experiences and beliefs gained in her business led her to adopt practices such as paying a living wage, supporting community service and educational programming, purchasing 100 percent wind-generated electricity, and sourcing produce and humanely raised animal products from local family farms.
Berry reminds us that we are a part of a common universe in which every being has the right to fulfill its destiny and the right to joy. Berry presents a worldview in which what will save us is beauty, not measurement, a worldview in which care for the earth and its people is the chief aim. His thought is based in the principle that “rights come with existence. That which confers existence confers rights.”
What if our economics were based on laws of nature rather than fabricated laws of supply and demand? Kimbrell turns to Alaskan salmon for insight. In their spawning journey he sees examples of redistribution, reciprocity, and gift-giving—all aspects of pre-capitalist human economies—making the case that while most of us have come to see competition as natural, it was until recently a luxury that humans couldn’t afford if they wished to survive. But with the rise of capitalism, humanity collectively traded a life of doing for a life of having, making commodities out of everything, including land and our own labor. Rather than trying to make our economies fit natural systems, we now put enormous resources into reshaping nature to fit our economies. Salmon, subject to enclosed farming and genetic modification, are primary victims. Rather than despairing, Kimbrell sees the tenacity with which salmon fight their way up river as a sign that we can and must align human and natural economies.
Barnes defines the commons as “the sum of all we inherit together and must pass on, undiminished and more or less equally, to our heirs.” The commons includes watersheds, air, DNA, playgrounds, Main Street, radio waves, political systems, and numerous other natural resources and social innovations. Barnes suggests that the commons should be held in trust for the benefit of current and future generations as a way of countering the power of the market and its search for short-term private profits.
Why is the environmental movement failing in the face of current political strategy? David Orr discusses the points of failure in confronting the greatest challenge that faces us, and how best to alter our strategy for protecting our communities and the earth.
To talk of the importance of using more ecologically responsible products is easy; to implement their use in our institutions is a different journey. As purchasing agent for Rutgers University, one of the largest state educational institutions, Lyons had the opportunity to put theory into practice. His story reveals his dogged determination, attention to small details, consensus-building with stakeholders, frustrations, humble courageousness, and willingness to be marginalized—all necessary to effect change. It is the story of an unsung hero of our times.
It is fortunate for us all that Lovins applies his brilliant ideas to caring for the environment. Here he argues that those industries creating energy-smart products are not only viable but also profitable. Not content to merely observe and comment, he jumps in to the designing of new-products design—taking risks, investing time and money, giving practical examples, and making a future industrial society based on sound biological principles seem feasible.
To hear Todd is to be struck by his dedication, modesty, integrity, and humanity. A biologist and Earth steward, he is in the forefront of the new field called ecological design, which applies the intelligence of nature to human needs. By decoding this intelligence it can be used technologically in order to reduce the destructive impact of humankind on the planet. Todd tells about the work being done to create living technologies in the areas of food production, generation of fuels, conversions of wastes, repairing of environments, and in his own case restoring of degraded and polluted waters. He describes his current involvement in an eco-industrial park in Burlington, Vermont, which will consist of small enterprises, such as a brewery and a fish farm, that share their resources so the waste or excess of one will be an in-put component of the other.
It is only in recent human history that land has been enclosed and the rights of use given to a few people, as opposed to a whole community. Hartzok points out that individual equality, even in a democracy, cannot exist without equal rights to the abundance of the earth. She presents solutions that have been successful in Pennsylvania and elsewhere, including restructuring taxes so that land value, a communal asset, is taxed instead of wages or buildings.
At the end of the 20th century, public attention was focused on a deepening struggle grounded in two sharply divergent world-views and sets of values: that of corporate globalization and that of a newly emerging global movement. Korten describes this period as a time of cultural awakening and places our present struggle in a larger context with an epic story that traces the birth of humanity from the cosmos up to the Scientific Revolution. Blending contemporary scientific knowledge with ancient religious truths, this story offers crucial insights into life’s deep secrets and creative power as well as portraying the unfolding struggle between money and life for the soul of humanity.
When asked by Vice President Gore what she would do if elected President, Cirillo said she would introduce a program of land reform. Since 1967 she has lived and worked in Clairfield, Tennessee, located in a valley hemmed in by two big mountains and made up of a network of twelve unincorporated communities, most of which are former coal camps. Her goal has been to gain some measure of economic self-sufficiency for the Appalachian people whose land and livelihood were wasted as a consequence of the extractive practices of absentee corporate owners. Cirillo’s first task was to regain control of the land for human settlement and restoration by establishing the Woodland Community Land Trust. Her struggle for and with the people of the region to achieve that purpose makes her one of the true heroes in the effort to reverse the patterns of globalization.
When Kimbrell examines what is causing the greatest social and ecological havoc in today‘s world, he sees that it is not what we traditionally think of as evil—crimes committed in the hot passion of the moment. Instead the problems stem from our misuse of technology, a technology wielded by some very nice people, neighbors we have come to like and trust. Kimbrell blames the scale of technology that creates a double distancing between the user of technology and the consequences of that use. The lecture is a highly original reflection on the current condition of our society.
