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  • Dave Darby

    Dave Darby bio

    Dave Darby founded Lowimpact.org in 2001, spent 3 years on the board of the Ecological Land Co-op and is a founder member of NonCorporate.org and the Open Credit Network.

    Articles by

    Dave Darby

    How co-operation developed in nature and humans: implications for building the commons

    Dave Darby 28-May-2023

    I came across a fascinating study from the Journal of Economic Behaviour & Organisation, and I’d like to share a summary with you. It’s a fascinating read if (like me) you’re interested in helping build the commons in your community. Read more

    Stroud Commons 4: new website

    Dave Darby 14-May-2023

    Stroud Commons now has a website – stroudcommons.org. Please tell anyone you know in Stroud about us. We’re looking for people to get involved. Read more

    Stroud Commons part 3: ‘Money Talks’ public event with Brett Scott, May 19

    Dave Darby 23-Apr-2023

    Stroud ‘commoners club’ is hosting a public event at the Trinity Rooms in Stroud on Friday, May 19 at 7pm. If you live in Stroud, please do come along, and if you know anyone in Stroud, please let them know. Read more

    Stroud Commons part 2: starting a ‘commoners club’

    Dave Darby 12-Mar-2023

    A group of us in Stroud (Gloucs) have formed a ‘commoners club’ to try to build commons infrastructure here, and to document what happens so that it can be replicated in other towns. Read more

    Worried about fruit & veg rationing? Let’s grow our own, in our communities

    Dave Darby 05-Mar-2023

    Every so often something happens that punctures our sense of what’s normal. In the UK one of those events was empty shelves that used to display fruit and veg. Then supermarkets began rationing some food items. Read more

    Credit clearing: reducing the need for money and banks

    Dave Darby 15-Jan-2023

    There’s a new topic on Lowimpact.org – credit clearing. It’s an important part of the move towards a new, post-capitalist, commons economy, because it reduces the need for bank-issued money. Read more

    Stroud Commons part 1: We’re putting our house into the ‘commons’. Follow our progress and replicate it in your community

    Dave Darby 08-Jan-2023

    In 2023 I’d like to see a move towards a new system, rather than futile attempts to ‘fix’ capitalism. I don’t think it’s necessary to to try to persuade the majority of people of this. There are enough of us already to kick-start the necessary change. I’d just like to bring to your attention the new ideas that are emerging for building this new system – the commons economy. Read more

    George Monbiot and friends are wrong: techno-utopianism won’t save us

    Dave Darby 20-Nov-2022

    George Monbiot has joined a campaign called ‘Reboot Food’, working with techno-utopians who would like to see governments remove support for organic food and deregulate the GM industry, as well as producing bacteria-based food in giant factories (‘precision-fermentation’), and getting rid of smallholdings. Read more

    New owner sought for low-impact pub and glamping site in rural Suffolk

    Dave Darby 09-Oct-2022

    Aldegarden is a wonderful site in Suffolk, with accommodation, a community pub, and a ‘glamping’ site with yurts, timber structures, a cob roundhouse, gypsy caravan and a converted barn, communal areas, solar hot water and electricity and compost loos. They’ve been in our directory for years. But now they’re looking for new owners for the property and successful businesses. Read more

    How much trouble are humans really in, and what can we do about it?

    Dave Darby 25-Sep-2022

    I’m inviting you to come on a journey with me. In an attempt to answer the question above, I’m going to research and write a series of blog articles (including interviews with key people), from which I’ll produce a book, and re-structure the Lowimpact website, including our message. Read more

    How to spread the idea of (much) more radical change?

    Dave Darby 07-Aug-2022

    We need system change, no less (i.e. system replacement, rather than trying to tweak this fundamentally damaging system). Here, I want to talk more about how I came to this conclusion, and what the route to radical change might be. Read more

    Can governments solve the climate problem?

    Dave Darby 31-Jul-2022

    Short answer: no, because governments are fixated on maximising GDP growth, which is the root cause of the climate crisis, and which far outweighs any (rare) beneficial legislation that they might introduce. Read more

    New tools and ideas for building the commons economy

    Dave Darby 24-Jul-2022

    The Commons economy is not, like capitalism, built around the private ownership of the means of production – but neither is it, like socialism, built on the state ownership of those means. It’s about reinstating the commons, that have been gradually enclosed over the centuries, first by the state and more recently by capitalists. Read more

    Reflections on building the ‘Commons’ economy

    Dave Darby 17-Jul-2022

    Lowimpact has been around since 2001, and we’ve provided lots of ways to help people live more sustainably. We’re going to also be focusing on how to build the ‘commons’ economy in future, as a viable alternative to the status quo. Read more

    Is it time to rethink the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals?

    Dave Darby 29-May-2022

    Time to rethink the UN’s ‘Sustainable Development Goals’: the concepts of ‘development’ and ‘progress’ based on eternal GDP growth are flawed. Read more

    Review of Brett Scott’s ‘Cloud Money’

    Dave Darby 25-May-2022

    Review of Brett Scott’s ‘Cloud Money’, a ‘convoluted payments circuitry, tied together by institutions you cannot see, but who can see you’. Read more

    We’re taking on a paid intern: you, maybe?

    Dave Darby 15-May-2022

    We’re looking for a paid intern. Contact us if you think this might be you, and please do pass it on to anyone you think might be a likely candidate. We initially have up to £600 per month available for the right person, depending on how much time you can put in – and there will be opportunities for you and others to bring in more income to pay for more work for you to do. Read more

    Mutual Credit Services – keeping communities alive after COVID: Investment, saving & location

    Dave Darby 20-Mar-2022

    Mutual Credit Services (MCS), whose mission is to help build local mutual credit ‘clubs’ in the UK and overseas, and to link them together to form a global moneyless trading network – the ‘Credit Commons’. Here we’re looking at savings and investments in a mutual credit world, as well as the importance of physical location. Read more

    Mutual Credit Services – keeping communities alive after COVID: Community groups & individuals

    Dave Darby 13-Mar-2022

    This is the fifth in a series of articles looking at the development of Mutual Credit Services (MCS), whose mission is to help build local mutual credit ‘clubs’ in the UK and overseas, and to link them together to form a global moneyless trading network – the ‘Credit Commons’. Here we’re looking at community groups and individual consumers. Read more

    Mutual Credit Services – keeping communities alive after COVID: Local authorities & anchor institutions

    Dave Darby 06-Mar-2022

    This is the fourth in a series of articles looking at the development of Mutual Credit Services (MCS), whose mission is to help build local mutual credit ‘clubs’ in the UK and overseas, and to link them together to form a global moneyless trading network – the ‘Credit Commons’. Here we’re looking at local authorities and anchor institutions Read more

    There’s a crash coming – a slap from Mother Nature. This isn’t pessimistic; it’s realistic.

    The human impact on nature and on each other is accelerating and needs systemic change to reverse.

    We’re not advocating poverty, or a hair-shirt existence. We advocate changes that will mean better lives for almost everyone.

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