December 20, 2013
The Schumacher Center for a New Economics is recognized for its work modeling community-based systems for holding land, issuing currency, and engaging citizens in supporting their regional economies. That work is now growing, reflecting a “coming of age” for a new economics that considers what is just and equitable for all Earth’s citizens while caring … Continued
November 15, 2013
A perceptible alchemy linked speaker to speaker, speakers to participants, and participants to each other at Saturday’s 33rd Annual E. F. Schumacher Lectures in New York City. Otto Scharmer, Van Jones, and Judy Wicks outlined the emergence of new economic structures that embed social diversity, shared equity, and care for our fragile ecosystems. They … Continued
November 1, 2013
Ultimately the purpose of an economic system, as well as the businesses and transactions that make up that system, is to enhance the well-being of society. Events over the past few decades would lead us to expand that statement of purpose to “enhance society in a way that maintains the integrity of the eco-system.” Our … Continued
October 25, 2013
As a lawyer, as a person of color, and as a concerned citizen, Van Jones is deeply committed to improving racial and economic equality while at the same time mitigating environmental degradation. In his 2007 book, The Green Collar Economy, Jones suggested that invention and investment will be the vehicles to take us out of … Continued
September 3, 2013
America’s task among the nations is to shape a just, equitable, and ecologically responsible economy. The economic is our realm, our element. As Americans, we move in and through the economic confidently and flexibly. Even when we have achieved financial stability we do not hesitate to recognize a new spirit, a new direction in the … Continued
July 19, 2013
Is there an independent bookstore, a local bike shop, or an old-fashioned camera shop in your community? If so, they need saving as urgently as the Piping Plover or Plymouth Red-Bellied Turtle. To preserve these businesses, we need to preserve their habitat—a habitat of small, locally owned enterprises, trading with one another, welcoming customers by … Continued
July 5, 2013
In 1972 William Irwin Thompson founded the Lindisfarne Association as an alternative way for the humanities to develop in a scientific and technical civilization. Lindisfarne became an association of scientists, artists, scholars, and contemplatives devoted to the study and realization of a new planetary culture. Lindisfarne began its activities in Southampton, New York, in 1973, … Continued
June 21, 2013
On a shelf in the Library of the Schumacher Center for a New Economics sits a small wooden box with worn leather handle—13 inches by 8 inches by 2 inches. It opens to reveal the parts of an apparatus for spinning cotton. Govindra Deshpande presented this traveling spinning wheel to Bob Swann at the “Tools … Continued
May 24, 2013
New York City’s Left Forum is the largest annual conference of left and progressive intellectuals, activists, academics, organizations, and interested public. This year, the Forum is exploring ways that we can confront climate change and global economic crisis by “mobilizing for economic and ecological transformation” in order to create a more equitable and ecologically resilient … Continued
May 7, 2013
Judy Wicks’ 2004 Annual E. F. Schumacher Lecture described the White Dog Café and the vision and principles that inspire similar locally-based businesses that treat employees fairly, source materials regionally, and support other community businesses. “Let me capsulize the local-living-economy movement for you by contrasting what it is and what it is not, what it … Continued
April 7, 2013
In the 1950s Father José María Arizmendiarrieta, the village priest of Mondragón in the Basque region of Spain, inspired the development of a series of cooperatively owned industries to employ youth in his parish. His vision was that, through ownership by the workers, the wealth created by new industries would be distributed to the workers … Continued
March 27, 2013
Identifying a Strategy Building a responsible movement for a new economy will require planning how to create new jobs without increased growth. One approach is a strategy of import replacement, with more labor intensive, smaller batch production, transported over shorter distances. The goal would be to create more jobs, but not more “stuff,” with a … Continued