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 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 ‘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

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

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

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

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 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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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’, a ‘convoluted payments circuitry, tied together by institutions you cannot see, but who can see you’. Read more

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 (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

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

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