August 6, 1998
Founded in 1980, the Schumacher Center was named for the British economist, Fritz Schumacher, author of Small is Beautiful: Economics as if People Mattered. Schumacher’s 1973 book questioned the soundness of an increasingly centralized global economy which separates the consumer from the production process. Schumacher argued that in a system of healthy regional economies, production … Continued
July 14, 1998
In this last part of the twentieth century we find ourselves at an extraordinary historical time in which, as a result of a rapidly growing global economy, we can purchase nearly any good, from anywhere in the world, at any time or any place. However, the advantages of this carry a cost-we no longer know … Continued
September 1, 1997
The publication of Small Is Beautiful: Economics as if People Mattered in 1973 marked a cultural shift in the understanding of the consequences of our everyday economic transactions. E. F. Schumacher introduced the concepts of human scale, local community, environmental responsibility, and permanence to our economic decision making. Following the death of Schumacher in 1977 a … Continued
April 1, 1997
People, Land, and Community Yale University Press has just released People, Land, and Community: Collected E. F. Schumacher Society Lectures. Edited by Hildegarde Hannum with introductory material by Nancy Jack Todd, the collection of twenty-one lectures was gathered from fifteen years of Annual E. F. Schumacher Lectures. Contributors are: Kirkpatrick Sale, Winona LaDuke, Dana Lee Jackson, … Continued
July 4, 1996
Anguilla: Small, Beautiful, and Complex Leopold Kohr hoped that the Caribbean island of Anguilla would develop into a self-managed city-state, an elegantly small nation amidst clumsy giants. In the late 1960s he worked in an advisory capacity with the island’s revolutionary leaders. The most important of these leaders was Ronald Webster. As a boy in … Continued
June 1, 1995
Roused by the excited activities of the many returning birds to the woods and fields surrounding the Schumacher Center, Bob Swarm worked diligently to complete construction of the sixteen unit purple martin house. It sits now in the orchard atop a fifteen-foot pole, overlooking the Berkshire Mountains, awaiting its first shiny-feathered tenants, a testament to … Continued
October 25, 1994
Dear Friend, I would like your help. I am now seventy-six years old, and I have decided to dedicate the rest of my life to completing the E. F. Schumacher Center and placing it on solid financial ground. I need the help of long time friends and supporters of my work to accomplish this task. … Continued
March 19, 1994
Monterey Common Cents: Notes on a project in process This paper represents a dialog that is going on right now between the staff of the Schumacher Center and a citizens group in Monterey, a small town in Western Massachusetts. The thoughts should not be considered to be finished; instead, think of them as part of … Continued
December 1, 1993
The day was sunny, the lecturers inspired, the audience was wonderful, and the Yale Student Environmental Coalition delighted everyone with a delicious locally-grown lunch: the Thirteenth Annual Schumacher Lectures were a resounding success! For those of you who could not attend, you can still share in the thoughts and work of Wes Jackson, Winona LaDuke, … Continued
September 1, 1993
This year’s Annual Lectures will focus on new forms of land holding, and present three speakers intimately familiar with the challenges of land reform work: Wes Jackson, co-founder of The Land Institute, whose current project is the revitalization of Kansas prairie town Mattfield Green; Winona LaDuke, an Anishinaabe of the White Earth Reservation in northern … Continued
July 10, 1993
What a wonderful response to our March mailing! In that letter we (Terry, Susan, Matt, and Becklev) introduced ourselves and described the projects that we have undertaken for the Schumacher Center. In reply, many of you not only became members or renewed memberships, but wrote or called the Center to express your enthusiasm for our … Continued
April 1, 1992
Vision for a Sustainable Economy The Schumacher Center for a New Economics was founded in 1980 to further and promote the vital work which Fritz Schumacher began and outlined in his book Small is Beautiful: Economics as if People Mattered. His vision of a sustainable economy remains one of the most compelling arguments for the … Continued