September 20, 2022
“In my opinion, only an economic program can reach to the heart of the world peace problem… Our vision should encompass the world as a whole… a cooperative vision concerned with all of mankind, excluding none, and should focus upon the task of bringing justice through non-violent means.” ― Robert Swann, The Economics of Peace (1967)
September 6, 2022
The following is a reposting of a May 4, 2020 enewsletter. We share it after learning today of Mikhail Gorbachev’s passing.
August 16, 2022
BerkShares digital currency sparks new conversations around a time-honored theme.
July 19, 2022
“People have lived and died, businesses have prospered and failed, and nations have risen to world power and declined, all over energy challenges.” Richard Rhodes | Energy: A Human History
July 19, 2022
Is our gigantic and immensely expensive technology conducive to democratic freedom? The answer is: no, it is not. It is conducive to the development of great concentrations of economic power. At the height of his public writing and speaking, E.F. Schumacher made two tours through the United States. The first, organized in 1974 by a … Continued
May 28, 2022
An intellectual giant, a force of nature, an influencer on ethical investing— the Schumacher Center remembers Hazel Henderson, who passed away at 89.
May 27, 2022
Land and housing insecurity are challenges faced by many small farmers. Citizens working through community land trusts can create a solution to land insecurity and thereby help achieve greater regional food sovereignty and climate resiliency.
April 25, 2022
Starting in 1969, one future-thinking group pioneered new avenues in bio-technology research and design. The New Alchemy Institute in Falmouth, MA on Cape Cod was founded as a research center to pioneer organic agriculture, aquaculture, and bioshelter with minimal reliance on fossil fuels. Its work was to discover and model greener, self-sustaining systems. Founders John Todd, Nancy Jack Todd, and … Continued
April 4, 2022
Community-Supported Agriculture (CSA) is one of those rare ideas which combine transformative potential with an elegant simplicity. The CSA model of funding and sustaining locally-rooted agriculture has grown exponentially around the globe over the past four decades. Since the formation of one of the first formal CSAs at Robyn Van En’s Indian Line Farm in … Continued
March 21, 2022
The local currency program of the Schumacher Center is focused on the research and development of place-based, non-profit, democratically controlled currencies that can serve as resources for the support of strong regional economies. BerkShares paper currency first issued in 2006 is an on-the-ground initiative in the Berkshires to create such a model. To respond to … Continued
March 20, 2022
“Antigone” is the last play in the Oedipus trilogy by the ancient Greek writer, Sophocles. In the drama Antigone’s brothers challenge and kill each other in battle at the gates of Thebes, both wishing to be its future ruler. Creon, their uncle, who assumed the throne upon the downfall of their father Oedipus, buries one … Continued
March 14, 2022
Some refer to Dostoyevsky’s The Brother’s Karamazovas the greatest novel ever written. It is the story of three brothers – the brilliant and cold Ivan, the dashing impetuous soldier Dmitri, and the gentle Alexey whom all love. Their profligate father is found murdered and all evidence points to Dmitri. He is apprehended at an inn … Continued