There’s a crash coming. We’re not talking about a financial crash, although there will be more, and bigger, financial crashes. But as damaging as financial crashes are, they’re insignificant compared to the coming ecological crash. We have to reduce human impact on the natural systems of our home planet. Otherwise, we may well become extinct.
Although there’s probably no way to avoid the crash now, there are ways we might push it back in time, mitigate its effects and catch people when it happens. This is realistic rather than pessimistic; in fact it’s the most optimistic story we can possibly tell. There are four distinct ways that you can participate:
Low-impact living
You can live in more sustainable ways, and gain the skills to provide things for yourself, to change career and to survive difficult times. Browse the boxes below for 220+ topics, each with an introduction page, plus books, magazines, articles, videos, advice, courses, products & services, links and more.
Non-corporate consumption
However, lifestyle change, although essential, is not enough on its own, as not enough people will do it. We need a new system – a new economy. Sticking plasters to cover the symptoms won’t work. You can help build the new economy by purchasing the things you need from it, rather than from ‘old economy’ multinational corporations. We’ve put everything in one place and made it easy to switch for (almost) everything you need. First, find out how non-corporate your life is:
Then browse the categories below, and reduce your score by switching to the non-corporate sector (You can do this without getting your score, but we thought you might enjoy it.)
Food & drink
From community-supported agriculture to producing your own.
Energy & utilities
From community energy schemes to installing your own renewables.
Banking & money
From credit unions and local money to cryptocurrencies and mutual credit.
IT
Free & open source software and Linux operating systems.
Telephony
Switch to the Phone Co-op for mobiles, landlines and broadband.
Transport
From driver-owned taxi apps and co-op buses to cycling and walking.
Media
It’s getting easier to access non-corporate, unbiased news and opinion sources.
Housing & land
From housing co-ops to self-build, and from land co-ops to your own smallholding.
Employment
From worker-co-ops to self-employment; no bosses!
Everything else
From furniture and clothes to books and electrical goods.
Then make amendments to your score, and go back and find other ways to switch your custom to the non-corporate sector. Keep improving and comparing your score.
Mutual credit
The current financial system makes building a new economy very difficult, because it concentrates wealth in very few hands, which then overflows into the political system and corrupts it. Mutual credit is a trading system in which businesses offer interest-free credit to each other and banks aren’t required. Lowimpact.org and the Open Co-op have partnered to launch a UK-wide mutual credit network called the Open Credit Network.
We’re looking for expressions of interest from small and medium-sized enterprises in the UK. Click the button below to express your interest, and please help us spread the word.
Mutual credit provides essential liquidity within trusted networks. It keeps wealth within the communities in which it is generated, and protects those communities from wider financial crashes.
New economy
We want to help build a new, democratic economy that prevents corporate branches from extracting wealth from our communities. The infrastructure of this new economy is already being built. You can help, by searching the relevant sections of Noncorporate.org, where you’ll find information on how to help build or join schemes to decentralise and mutualise food, energy, housing and all the essentials of life.
We’re liaising with the people building the new economy, and interviewing them for our blog and Youtube channel; and we’re organising meetings and discussions around how to federate and grow the new economy. We believe that networking local, new economy businesses and organisations – federation and decentralisation – is a better approach than consolidation and centralisation.
We’re looking at combining solidarity / co-operative organisations, mutual credit, a new kind of municipalism and systemic decision-making to federate and grow the new economy. Revolution is too dangerous, and gives power to violent people; and reform appears to be ineffective. We believe that we can build a new economy within the shell of this one, which in time will replace it – will transcend it – to produce a society that is sustainable, truly democratic and conducive to human happiness and fulfillment. The big question is – how quickly can we do it?
Subscribe to our blogs (and specifically our new economy blog) our newsletter (below) and our Youtube channel to be kept informed.
You can become involved in many of the ways outlined above, and you can join us in helping to build the new economy.
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