Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
This month is all about time. I have been running up against a major deadline with the new edition of the Transition Free Press and haven’t had a minute spare to write any posts. Ironic then that this week’s report should be an introduction to Playing for Time -a collaborative handbook about Transition and the Arts, authored by Lucy Neal. Last year we set off to Hebden Bridge in Yorkshire to visit the house where the main part of the book will be created.
Social pain, anger at ecological degradation and the inability of traditional politics to address deep economic failings has fueled an extraordinary amount of practical on-the-ground institutional experimentation and innovation by activists, economists and socially minded business leaders in communities around the country.
Compared to the default method of economic development – which usually involves giving tax breaks to lure an out-of-town corporation – local coops may be one of the best ways to bring quality jobs back to America.
Cooperation is the basis of human society. However, most societies today have been deformed and oppressed by small authoritarian groups for a very long time.
What I love most about this book is the feeling you get that there is hope: solutions to environmental, social and financial crises do exist, they have been tried and tested all over the planet and all we have to do is get on with it.
October is Co-op Month, and the U.N. has declared 2012 the Year of the Co-op. Two guests give us more insight into why people form and join co-ops, the main barrier to forming more co-ops, and what it’s like to form a grocery co-op in Barre.
