"Eco-Hero"
Dear Friend,
It has been thirty-two years since Fritz Schumacher published the influential "Small is Beautiful: Economics as if people mattered." His message has not aged. He helped us understand the connection between economic policies and the health of the planet and suggested a new course of action to balance that relationship. His message was both a warning and a grounds for hope. It is ever more urgent.
Since 1980 the E. F. Schumacher Society has continued Schumacher's legacy by:
* stewarding his personal collection of books and papers, donated by his family;
* organizing an annual lecture program featuring visionaries working in his tradition;
* developing model regional economic programs, such as the BerkShares local currency, that incorporate ecological and social values;
* training a younger generation in the principles and application of these programs through the Building Sustainable Local Economies seminars and conferences;
* sharing the concepts more broadly through an acclaimed publication program; and
* maintaining a content-rich website (http://www.smallisbeautiful.org) that is an actively used research tool averaging 6,000 hits per day.
The Society is not alone in the recognition of the imperative of Schumacher's message. The British Environment Agency has named him second in a list of the hundred greatest eco-heroes of all time, following Rachel Carson. In a short biography in the November issue of "Your Environment," David Boyle recounts the reasons for this selection (see below).
Your tax-deductible donation to the E. F. Schumacher Society's Annual Fund helps us continue to raise Fritz Schumacher's voice of concern for the planet and right action for its future (http://www.smallisbeautiful.org/forms/membership_form.html).
Appreciatively,
Susan Witt, Executive Director
E. F. Schumacher Society
140 Jug End Road
Great Barrington, MA 01230 USA
(413) 528-1737, www.smallisbeautiful.org
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By David Boyle from "Your Environment" a quarterly journal of the British
Environment Agency (http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk)
E. F. Schumacher (1911-1977)
"Better known as Fritz, he revolutionized the way we look at economics and
provided insights--notably in his 1973 book 'Small is Beautiful' --that have
made genuinely green economics possible.
The book, subtitled ŒEconomics as if people mattered,' sidestepped the main
issue of environmental economics--how to price the environment properly in
the economic system--and questioned whether the objectives of western
economics were realistic or desirable. 'Mankind talks of a battle with
nature,' he wrote, 'forgetting that, if he won the battle, he would find
himself on the losing side.'
Schumacher emigrated to the UK from Germany before the Second World War, was
a protégé of Keynes and chief economic advisor to the National Coal Board
under Lord Robens, when it was a hothouse of alternative thinking. He
became well known in alternative circles in the 1960s with his concepts of
"intermediate technology"--a critique of the disempowerment of conventional
development aid--and Buddhist Economics.
He was an early critic of economic growth as a measure of national progress,
as well as other sacred cows of the 1960s like nuclear energy and the
chemical-driven 'green' revolution in developing countries.
'Small Is Beautiful' is named among the 'Times [of London] Literary
Supplement's' 100 most influential books since the war. Its success
catapulted Schumacher and his ideas to the forefront of international
debate, shortly after the energy crisis. He was invited to meet President
Carter and even received death threats on his final visit to the USA. He
died in 1977 on a lecture tour in Switzerland. His last book, 'A Guide for
the Perplexed,' was a critique of scientific reductionism and vindication of
human spirit."
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