Before the election in December, I had a ‘lively debate’ with a friend – an old-school Labour supporter and Corbynite – who was trying to convince me that the only way that we can have an effective social safety net is by voting in a genuinely redistributive party, taxing the rich properly and spreading wealth… Continue reading Disillusioned with the parliamentary route to a better society? Here’s an alternative. Read more

This is Part 2 of an interview by Dave Darby of Lowimpact.org / NonCorporate.org with Lynne Davis of the Open Food Network as part of a series of interviews with people building the new economy. Here’s Part 1, and below is the transcript of the interview, plus the video. Read more

I identify with Greta Thunberg. I’m also aspergic, and I understand why she’s so motivated. I talked with several people over the Christmas period who don’t like her, for various reasons – her voice; her team fly even though she doesn’t; her parents are manipulating her; she’s too angry; she once used a plastic bottle,… Continue reading Is Greta Thunberg right, and if so, what do we do about it? Read more

In the summer of 2018 I went along to Open2018 to see Matthew Slater talk about how we might shake up the money system with a global Credit Commons. After his presentation, Matthew and I met with Oliver Sylvester-Bradley of the Open Co-op, who organised the event, and decided to build a mutual credit network… Continue reading What I’ve discovered about the money system and how the world is run, since working with the Open Credit Network Read more

Today I’m talking with Debbie Clarke of Unicorn Grocery – a cooperative grocery store in Manchester; and the thing I’m particularly interested in about Unicorn Grocery is that instead of wanting to become a huge chain, they’ve got a toolkit called ‘Grow your own Grocery’ to help people set up cooperative grocery stores in their own towns. Read more

Lowimpact.org are working with Open.coop to build a new, co-operative, moneyless, mutual credit trading system for the UK, with a view to joining many similar schemes around the world to create a new global trading system, that requires neither banks nor interest. The point of this article is to invite you, if you own or… Continue reading Become one of the first movers in a new, collaborative economy: Open Credit Network Alpha launch Read more

Dave Darby of Lowimpact.org / NonCorporate.org interviews Lynne Davis of the Open Food Network as part of a series of interviews with people building the new economy. Here’s the transcript of the interview, plus the video (below). Read more

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

It’s that time of year again when the fab folks at OrganicLea invite grape-growing Londoners to join their community wine-making scheme. It’s over to Craig to tell us more, with a useful guide to harvesting grapes to boot. Read more

This is the second part of an interview with Cath Muller of Radical Routes (here’s the first part). Cath hitch-hiked across the Atlantic on a sailing boat, to visit co-operatives in the States. I talked with her about the differences between co-ops over there and in the UK. Read more

Are you fired up to find practical solutions to the climate crisis? If so, this job opportunity as a Project Officer with Big Solar Co-op could be right up your street. Over to Jon Hallé at Sharenergy to tell us more. Read more

This is part 2 of a conversation with Micky Metts of Agaric – a co-op in Boston, Massachusetts that provides online tools for other co-ops. Part 1 is here. I told Micky about some of the meetings and discussions we’ve been having in the UK with people working to build ‘new economy’ infrastructure, like community… Continue reading Networking small businesses and co-ops to replace corporations: Micky Metts on the new economy Read more

We talk about a strategy for challenging the giant corporate platforms in Part 2 of an interview with Duncan McCann, who’s working on a platform co-op alternative to Über in Brighton. Read more

Dave Darby interviews Micky Metts of Agaric, based in Boston, Massachusetts, who is active in both the co-operative and free/open source movements. Read more

As you know if you follow this blog, Lowimpact.org and the Open Co-op have partnered up to build a mutual credit network for the UK, the Open Credit Network (OCN), and that we have people on board who are working to develop the ‘credit commons’ – a way of linking together mutual credit schemes anywhere… Continue reading Come to our public event on the Open Credit Network, July 18th, London 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. Read more

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

Dave Darby explores the ‘Preston Model’ and Community Wealth Building in an interview with Frances Northrop of the New Economics Foundation. Read more

Taking place in Arlington, East Sussex, on 29th June 2019, the Ecological Land Cooperative AGM 2019 is your chance to learn more about their important work – and check out their brand new barn! Lauren Simpson tells us more. Read more