Economic Resilience
what can be done, or is being done, to develop economic resilience -- particularly within grassroots communities
Divest and Reinvest
What is “divestment”? You can think of it like “un-investment.” Or more significantly, investing your money in something else. In this case, we’re talking about divestment from fossil fuels. Coupled with reinvestment in clean energy and post-carbon infrastructure.
Why a “local cup of tea”?
I like poetry. I delight in hidden messages and creating layers of meaning for people to discover. When I was figuring out a name for my business guidance, I began thinking of what is currently available to (conventional) businesses: hard-hitting,…
How do we help small businesses thrive?
If you are a sustainability-oriented business owner, you probably wish your small business would provide you with a more reliable livelihood. It’s hard to find business guidance which reflects the ways of the new economy. It’s hard to make the…
The ProAction Cafe
When is the last time 20 people devoted 3 hours of their Saturday exclusively to you as a small business owner, and helping you achieve success? In a nutshell, that was last Saturday’s ProAction Cafe at Transition Mar Vista/Venice. And…
The Econ Puzzle’s Debut
This week marked the trimphant wrap-up of our Human Ecology class at Otis College of Art and Design. It was a great group of students this semester, and their enthusiasm shone through in their final projects. We celebrated with people…
Collapse? Maybe not.
It’s all a matter of perspective. In a previous post I argued that economic contraction is necessary and in fact underway. Is this “Collapse” — that scary term that so many authors love to throw around? I find the C word to be counterproductive.…
Economic Descent, hopefully with skillful means
This post is in response to one by Rob Hopkins, which was in response to one byDavid Holmgren. In case I don’t use sufficiently ‘skillful means,’ please let me begin with stating: I am not advocating for intentionally creating an…
Revolt and Change our lives
It’s a sign of a really good essay when bits of it linger with you for days after you’ve read it and it keeps popping up in your mind. Naomi Klein’s “Why Science is Telling All of Us to Revolt and…
A Gratitude Economy
In many spiritual circles, it is popular to talk about gratitude. Gratitude encompasses much more than a quickie “thank you.” It implies a much deeper state of mind, one that practitioners realize will position you to receive even greater abundance.…
Hau to be erotic: going deeper into the gift economy
Gifts have the function of bonding communities together. … If your entire life is nothing but money transactions, … then you don’t have community because you don’t need anybody. — Charles Eisenstein, Amsterday Sept 2009 http://youtu.be/cS07gM74tww My dad just gave…