At university, back in the 80s, we were taught about ‘the Tragedy of the Commons’ – an essay by Garrett Hardin, about how common resources are always abused, because humans are basically selfish. It seemed plausible at the time, but has since been shown to be false. Read more …

Can elections really change anything? Dave Darby of Lowimpact.org shares his views on the question in the run-up to the general election.
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Here’s the second part of our interview with Lynn Foster of Mikorizal and the Value Flows model. Part 1 is here. Read more …

Today Dave Darby of Lowimpact.org / NonCorporate.org is talking with Lynn Foster of Mikorizal and the Value Flows model. We’ve heard some very good things about her work, together with her partner, Bob Haugen. Read more …

Chris Smaje of Vallis Veg and Small Farm Future shares his thoughts as to why the elephant in the room is capitalism. Maybe. It’s over to Chris from here…
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People usually conflate the two, but I want to try to persuade (mainly the right) that capitalism is nothing like a free market, and (mainly the left) that there’s nothing wrong with a truly free market. Read more …

We hear from Oliver Sylvester-Bradley about exciting opportunities to collaborate at the OPEN 2019 Community Gathering, taking place in London next week.
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The stated aim of the annual CTRLshift gathering (that took place in Stoke-on-Trent recently) is to bring key people together to talk about practical steps to help shift power away from central government and multinational corporations, to communities and individuals. Well, you had me at ‘decentralisation’, so I went along. Read more …

Today, we’re talking with Hilary Wainwright – an academic, activist, editor of Red Pepper magazine, and a fellow of the Transnational Institute (TNI). Read more …

If this makes sense to you, you may well be working along these lines already – I hope it is encouraging. If it inspires you, then seek out others who feel the same, and rewrite it together. Make it yours. Make it specific. Publish it. Act on it. Forge relations with other groups. Federate and interact across the world.

This is the second part of an interview with Pat Conaty, senior research fellow at NEF and Co-operatives UK and author of the Resilience Imperative, with Michael Lewis. We’re talking about building a co-operative commonwealth. Part 1 is here.

So let’s start the year with a bit of optimism. Our last post was about the fact that there is a general lack of understanding of the implications of biodiversity loss, and the contribution of climate change to it. This post is for people who do understand what’s happening to nature, but can see no way to avoid catastrophe. Read more …

I’ve often suggested that Western states are beginning to resemble an admin department for the corporate sector. Read more …

Dear George,

Congratulations on your contribution to the Moral Maze last week – I switched on the radio just as your volley articulating the ideological differentiation between fiscal and legal rationing fairly seared the waves. Read more …

I’m using the original definition of the word, not its bastardisation that over the years has come to be used as a kind of insult in some circles. I’ve been called ‘too radical’, and I want to show why that’s an absurdity. Read more …

This is a conversation between Dave Darby of NonCorporate.org and Dave King of Breaking the Frame and the New Lucas Plan. Dave (K) is opposed to the ‘technocracy’ that he describes as the root cause of environmental destruction and lack of democracy. Read more …

I often trawl the web just speculatively looking for new people or new ideas, clicking on links from interesting sites. TEDx talks are a favourite. A few years ago I came across an intriguing TEDx talk by Professor Jem Bendell called ‘the Money Myth’. Read more …

Another of our interviews, first posted on NonCorporate.org, with people working on providing alternatives to multinational corporations – this time in the health sector. Read more …

Herman Daly has been one of my heroes since I read Steady State Economics as a young man. I’m re-posting a blog article of his, originally posted on the website of the Center for the Advancement of the Steady State Economy (CASSE) in the US, because it’s a simple description of how it concentrates wealth in very few hands by sucking it from the rest of us via hidden inflation. Read more …

We’re pleased to announce the launch of NonCorporate.org – our sister site, dedicated to helping people move away from multinational corporations (MNCs) for everything they need. Read more …