Essays written or co-authored by Robert Swann, Susan Witt,
Jay Rossier, Wendell Berry, and E. F. Schumacher articulate
the core ideas of the Schumacher Society and provide good
introductions to the movement for community ownership of
land, the decentralization of monetary systems, and the
use human scale technologies.
Or browse the summaries:
An Economics of Peace
E. F. Schumacher,
Wendell Berry, and
Susan Witt, 2001
In the weeks following the
tragedies of September 11, the Schumacher Society received
numerous requests from around the world for Fritz Schumacher's
essay, "Buddhist
Economics." This essay was first published in 1973
in the classic Small is Beautiful: Economics as if People
Mattered. We are happy to offer a reprint of it here along
with Wendell Berry's "Thoughts
in the Presence of Fear," written in response to September
11. Accompanying these two essays is "A
New Peace", comments made at the Global Dialogue for
Peace Gathering in Sussex, England, on September 17, 2001
by Susan Witt, Executive Director of the E. F. Schumacher
Society. Taken together, these three essays sound a clear
call for alternative economic systems as a means to a
lasting peace the world over.
A New Lease on Farmland
Susan Witt and Jay Rossier, 1990/2001
Farmers must be able to earn
a living from the land and do so sustainably if farmland
is to be preserved. True farmland preservation will require
economic structures which encourage and enhance the patterns
of mutual responsibility that constitute local culture.
A New Lease On Farmland discusses long-term leases that
provide for ownership of improvements as well as a variety
of local financing and marketing models that involve the
community in the support of local farms. The model outlined
in the pamphlet recently became the basis for the partnership
between The Nature Conservancy, the Community Land Trust
in the Southern Berkshires, and two farmers to purchase
Indian Line Farm, the first Community Supported Agricultural
Farm in this country.
Local Currencies: Catalysts
for Sustainable Regional Economies | En
Espanol
Robert Swann and Susan Witt, 1995/2001 (revised 1988 Schumacher
Lecture)
The current centralized banking and money system in the
United States has outlived its usefulness in a relatively
short time, say Robert Swann and Susan Witt of the E.
F. Schumacher Society. Since the Federal Reserve Act of
1913, savings have been funneled out of rural areas into
the large financial centers, where small businesses must
compete with multinational corporations for credit. Monetary
decisions are based on the needs of the largest depositors
in the largest cities while the needs of vast sections
of the country go unmet. With a locally-issued currency
circulating in an appropriately circumscribed area or
bioregion, credit decisions can be made by people with
particular personal knowledge not only of the borrowers
but also of the needs of the region as a whole. Only in
this way can we create diversified stable regional economies
made up of many interrelating small businesses.
Land: Challenge and Opportunity
Robert Swann and Susan Witt, 1995/2001
"Aldo Leopold presented a bold
challenge to environmentalists: if we are to foster a culture
of love and respect for land, land can no longer be an item
to buy and sell on the market.” The E. F. Schumacher
Society's Susan Witt and Robert Swann summarize the community
land trust approach to land tenureship pioneered by Swann.
They describe various working applications of the model including
affordable housing, affordable access to land for farmers,
ecologically based land use planning, and safe-guarding of
traditionally used lands by and for indigenous peoples.
