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    Stroud Commons 4: new website

    Dave Darby of Lowimpact.org | 14-May-2023 | 0

    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

    Why is the co-operative movement so successful in Emilia Romagna? With Matt Hancock (no, not that one)

    Matt Hancock of MH Consulting | 07-May-2023 | 6

    Today I’m talking with Matt Hancock, who’s been heavily involved with the co-operative movement in Emilia Romagna – the region of Italy around Bologna. There’s a huge, very successful co-op sector in ER. I want to try to find out in this interview is why – what’s special about ER, and can it be emulated elsewhere? Read more

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

    Dave Darby of Lowimpact.org | 23-Apr-2023 | 0

    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

    Matthew Slater’s review of recent money news

    Matthew Slater, co-author of the Credit Commons white paper, produces a biannual (usually!) roundup of money news he finds interesting. Here’s the latest. Read more

    How credit clearing can change the global monetary system: interview with Tomaž Fleischman of Informal Systems

    Tom Woodroof of Lowimpact and Mutual Credit Services talks with Tomaž Fleischman of Informal Systems about credit clearing. We believe that credit clearing is one of the four crucial tools in building a new commons economy. Read more

    The transition to renewable energy will not / cannot happen within the current economy

    This is the first of a two-part conversation, about whether we can transition to renewable energy within the current system, or whether we need system change. Read more

    Degrowth or ‘green growth’?

    Rosalie Bull of CASSE | 19-Mar-2023 | 10

    Degrowth’s foundational opposition to continued economic expansion presents a clear challenge to coalition-building on climate. But degrowth is grounded in the ecological reality that resources are finite, a key truth that mainstream climate advocates seem to ignore. Read more

    Stroud Commons part 2: starting a ‘commoners club’

    Dave Darby of Lowimpact.org | 12-Mar-2023 | 3

    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

    Rewilding or local food production?

    We like the idea of rewilding, but it needs much more thought when it removes good UK lowland farmland – because then, obviously, land elsewhere will have to brought into agricultural production to take up the slack. Read more

    A brief history of credit clearing, with Hans-Florian Hoyer

    Hans-Florian Hoyer of | 19-Feb-2023 | 0

    Hans-Florian Hoyer is a retired banker and academic who specialises in the history of credit clearing – especially credit clearing at medieval trade fairs. Credit clearing is a crucial part of building a new commons economy, because it reduces the need for money and banks in communities, and it helps small businesses survive through difficult times. Read more

    Career change? Work with Mutual Credit Services

    Invitation to apply to work with Mutual Credit Services. We’ve got more work in prospect than we can handle, and what we really need now is more creative human capacity. Read more

    Matthew Slater’s money news roundup

    Matthew Slater, co-author of the Credit Commons white paper, produces a biannual roundup of money news he finds interesting. Here’s the latest. Read more

    Commons housing: another brief explainer, this time by Dil Green

    Brief introduction to a new model of commons housing to replace the current, broken housing market. Read more

    Credit clearing: reducing the need for money and banks

    Dave Darby of Lowimpact.org | 15-Jan-2023 | 2

    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 of Lowimpact.org | 08-Jan-2023 | 5

    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

    Building the energy commons: Marcus Saul of Island Power

    Marcus Saul of Island Power | 18-Dec-2022 | 0

    Interview with Marcus Saul of Island Power, an energy company with incredible ideas that could be world-changing, in terms of building a new kind of (commons) economy. Read more

    How to contribute to the Credit Commons Society

    Fancy doing something new, interesting, rewarding and potentially world-changing in the new year? Matthew Slater, co-author of the Credit Commons white paper explains how you can join an interesting group of people, and contribute to the development of the Credit Commons Society. Read more

    Surviving the Future 2023: deep dive for anyone concerned about what’s coming

    In these tumultuous times, it’s good to pull back and think together — to share conversation — curated by experts and in the company of some of the most compelling people who have been thinking about these issues for a long time. Read more

    Review of ‘Change: How to Make Big Things Happen’ by Damon Centola

    Although the ‘viral’ approach (large networks, weak ties between people) can work for small packets of information, when it comes to behaviour change, it doesn’t seem to work well, and can actually be counter-productive. Read more

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

    Dave Darby of Lowimpact.org | 20-Nov-2022 | 11

    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

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