December 5, 2011
On Saturday we received a copy of a letter from one of our members to his grandson. The twenty-two year old had just left college to join an Occupy group full time. The grandfather wrote: Dear Sam, I think the various Occupy Wall Street groups have been effective in highlighting an unjust condition. I was … Continued
November 25, 2011
In September of 2011 the European Spirituality in Economics and Society Forum convened “Responsibility in Economics and Business: The Legacy of E. F. Schumacher” in Antwerp, Belgium—one of many events marking the Centennial of Schumacher’s birth. We have posted keynote talks by Simon Trace, Barbara Wood, Susan Witt, and Stewart Wallis on our website. SIMON … Continued
October 28, 2011
Last week, the staff at the Schumacher Center for a New Economics’ New York City office returned to Zuccotti Park, where Occupy Wall Street has been based for over a month. We brought a selection of the thirty years of Annual E. F. Schumacher Lecture pamphlets to contribute to the growing OWS library on new economic … Continued
October 26, 2011
In June 2011 Gar Alperovitz wrote: “as citizen uprisings from Tunisia to Madison remind us, judgments that serious change cannot take place often miss the quiet buildup of potentially explosive underlying currents…there are reasons to think that new economy efforts have the capacity to gather momentum as time goes on.” As Occupy Wall Street enters … Continued
August 23, 2011
In this age of onrushing bigness— in government, business, labor, education, religion, and many other areas of what we call Western civilization, Fritz Schumacher’s inspiring and evocative arguments for decentralism, human scale and the human spirit remain well worth reading.
July 25, 2011
August 16th is the 100th Anniversary of E. F. Schumacher’s birth. Together with his family and other organizations around the world, we are celebrating his legacy. Posted online are: Our favorite quotes from his 1973 book “Small Is Beautiful: Economics as if People Mattered;” Multiple translations of the universally favorite essay “Buddhist Economics;” Barbara Wood’s … Continued
June 5, 2011
In October 1981 I attended the First Annual E. F. Schumacher Lectures, the propitious beginning of a tradition that has lasted for thirty years. Although I was already heading in the right direction, hearing Wendell Berry, Hazel Henderson, and Wes Jackson speak that day opened my mind to a larger, more promising view of the … Continued
March 17, 2011
The Laurel Hill Association in the town of Stockbridge in the Berkshire region of Massachusetts is the nation’s oldest Village Improvement Association. Founded in 1853 and still operating, its members pulled weeds, laid sidewalks, installed lamps, planted trees, and helped construct the town library. It owns the park-like Laurel Hill near the center of town … Continued
January 28, 2011
The economy is our new cosmos. Stars may still shine, but few now tend sheep under a starry night sky. In fact, half the world’s population seldom sees stars through the smog and artificially lit megacities of industrial civilization. Artifacts of the economy define our lives —buildings, vehicles, highways, processed foods, and electronic gadgetry. We … Continued
December 31, 2010
In considering the characteristics of a new economy, the question of money arises: What is the appropriate role of money? What entity or entities should govern its issue? How much should be placed in circulation and on what basis? What determines its value once in circulation? How might its very structure favor financing for regionally-based … Continued
December 15, 2010
In 1976 the economist Fritz Schumacher spoke at Findhorn in Northern Scotland in an address as relevant today as it was then. Historically, he noted, we are at the end of three distinct eras—first a Descartian informed world view which valued what was known through the senses above spiritual knowledge and encouraged an accumulation of … Continued
November 26, 2010
The 30th Annual E. F. Schumacher Lectures on November 20th brought together three strong voices calling for change in our economic system and outlining strategies for that change. It was a remarkable gathering. With appreciation to Peter Montague, the talks by Gus Speth, Neva Goodwin, and Stewart Wallis may now be viewed online. In his … Continued