Leo Sammallahti explains the Co-op Data Club – a new venture to promote the co-operative sector. At the moment, the Co-op Data Club is about building a solid network of co-ops, and later, individuals will be able to join in. If you’re part of a co-op, please consider joining. Read more

We launched our new website in early January. It’s faster, more robust and (hopefully) easier to navigate. Please let us know if you find any broken links or any other problems. Since 2001, we’ve been developing a huge range of topics covering low-impact technologies, facilities and activities. But with the current economy and money system,… Continue reading New website and new plans for 2022 – your involvement welcome Read more

This is Part 2 of a conversation with Shaun Chamberlin (Part 1 is here). Shaun left the board of the Ecological Land Co-op as I joined. He’s been involved with the Transition Network – he wrote the Transition Timeline. His website is Dark Optimism. He took on the work of David Fleming after his death,… Continue reading Is money the root of all evil? Shaun Chamberlin Part 2 Read more

At Lowimpact we’re interviewing people who are working to build a new kind of world. We want to promote what they’re doing, and find ways to work together. Today I’m talking with Shaun Chamberlin. Read more

This is a 2022 New Year’s message to everyone I know, or who uses this website, reads our blog and/or watches our videos. I’m an optimist. Eventually, I think we can turn things around. And even if we can’t, if we help the people in our network to do what they do, at the very… Continue reading Happy new economy in 2022 Read more

In the run-up to Christmas (or for non-Christians, the winter holiday period, if you prefer) I’ve been trying to spread a little love with a series of articles looking at the growing polarisation of society along the left-right spectrum. I want to persuade as many of you as possible that positioning yourself on this spectrum… Continue reading The left vs right battle: 5. how ‘new economy’ thinking can unite left & right Read more

In the run-up to Christmas (or for non-Christians, the winter holiday period, if you prefer) I’m going to try to spread a little love with a series of articles looking at the growing polarisation of society along the left-right spectrum. I want to persuade as many of you as possible that positioning yourself on this… Continue reading The left vs right battle: 4. what left & right have in common Read more

In the run-up to Christmas (or for non-Christians, the winter holiday period, if you prefer) I’m going to try to spread a little love with a series of articles looking at the growing polarisation of society along the left-right spectrum. I want to persuade as many of you as possible that positioning yourself on this… Continue reading The left vs right battle: 3. why left vs right is so harmful Read more

In the run-up to Christmas (or for non-Christians, the winter holiday period, if you prefer) I’m going to try to spread a little love with a series of articles looking at the growing polarisation of society along the left-right spectrum. I want to persuade as many of you as possible that positioning yourself on this… Continue reading The left vs right battle: 2. the roots of left and right thinking Read more

In the run-up to Christmas (or for non-Christians, the winter holiday period, if you prefer) I’m going to try to spread a little love with a series of articles looking at the growing polarisation of society along the left-right spectrum. I want to persuade as many of you as possible that positioning yourself on this… Continue reading The left vs right battle: 1. the meaning of left and right Read more

The Systems Change Alliance share our view at Lowimpact.org that the climate change problem can’t be solved within the current economic system, which requires and generates perpetual growth and wealth concentration. Here, Roar Bjonnes explains that it’s capitalism’s growth imperative that renders it forever unsustainable. With COP26 over, a leaked report from the IPCC (The… Continue reading IPCC climate report: perpetual GDP growth is unsustainable Read more

At Lowimpact.org, we’ve been banging on about something called ‘mutual credit’ for about 3 or 4 years now – constantly trying to think of ways to explain it that can be grasped really quickly. We think it really is a world-changing idea – in that it can help keep wealth in communities, keep small businesses… Continue reading Explaining mutual credit to small business owners Read more

The IPCC recently conducted a study into the combined effects of all the agreed targets of the countries taking part in the ongoing COP talks. Tucked away in the report is this: “The available NDCs of all 191 Parties taken together imply a sizable increase in global GHG emissions in 2030 compared to 2010, of… Continue reading The problem with COP26 Read more

I was introduced to an interesting academic paper recently, in which Professor Jem Bendell explained that his predictions of societal collapse have been criticised by some in academia because they will engender fear, depression and apathy, which will harm our chances of solving environmental problems. Read more

What I mean by system change is system replacement, rather than system tweaking (aka ‘prolonging the agony’). This raises (not begs – please, not begs) three questions: Read more

This is the third and final part of an interview with weaver and mutual credit enthusiast Eloise Sentito of These Isles, in which we talk about the prices of craft produce, and how mutual credit can help. Part 1 contained advice for anyone considering a career as a weaver, and part 2 was about the… Continue reading Craft production, prices and mutual credit: weaving Read more

Here’s the third and final part of my interview with Caroline Bennett, founder of ‘Sole of Discretion’ (a community interest company that sells fish caught by a collective of small fishing boats in Devon) about why we should support small fishing boats over giant super-trawlers. We’re talking about how government quotas benefit super-trawlers and disadvantage… Continue reading Why we should support small fishing boats over super-trawlers, Part 3 Read more

Here’s Part 2 of my interview with Caroline Bennett, founder of ‘Sole of Discretion’, a community interest company that sells fish caught by a collective of small fishing boats in Devon. Here we talk about the life of small fishing boat skippers. Read more

Green woodworking – beautuful stools, chairs, tables, bowls, spoons and kitchen utensils. What’s not to like? ‘Price’ is what some of you might be saying, and this is a topic we’re going to be coming back to again and again. Price is the stumbling block that is pushing us towards a world of low-quality goods,… Continue reading Support your local green woodworker Read more

Career change? Making a living from weaving. At Lowimpact.org we’re interested in helping to bring production back to communities, and so we’re talking with craftspeople, smallholders, natural builders, renewables installers and small business owners in our range of topics. I’ll be asking them about their jobs, and for advice for people who might be interested… Continue reading Career change? Making a living from weaving Read more