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    Painting with limewash paint

    Using, creating and choosing limewash for your home. Read more

    Can governments solve the climate problem?

    Dave Darby of Lowimpact.org | 31-Jul-2022 | 2

    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

    Consider gifting land to the Ecological Land Coop to support agroecological farming

    At Low impact we love to hear about our companion organizations’ successes, this reblog from the ecological land coop describes why we are celebrating. The ecological land coop have been inspired to try a new approach in their campaign to reawaken our rural economies after they were gifted land by two very noble ecologically minded farmers in Wales… Read more

    New tools and ideas for building the commons economy

    Dave Darby of Lowimpact.org | 24-Jul-2022 | 6

    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

    Reflections on building the ‘Commons’ economy

    Dave Darby of Lowimpact.org | 17-Jul-2022 | 0

    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

    Communicating about degrowth, with Mark Burton of Steady-state Manchester

    Constant GDP growth causes ecological damage – there’s the constant expansion in the use of energy and materials, and the by-products of their use. Read more

    Grace Rachmany: comparing ideas for a moneyless economy, Part 2

    Part 2 of an interview with Grace Rachmany, of DAO Leadership and Voice of Humanity. She has some very interesting ideas around currency design and building a new economy based on community / reputation. As with all our interviewees, we think you’ll be interested in her ideas, and what she’s up to. Read more

    Is it time to rethink the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals?

    Dave Darby of Lowimpact.org | 29-May-2022 | 3

    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’

    Dave Darby of Lowimpact.org | 25-May-2022 | 0

    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 taking on a paid intern: you, maybe?

    Dave Darby of Lowimpact.org | 15-May-2022 | 0

    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

    Grace Rachmany: comparing ideas for a moneyless economy

    eas around currency design and building a new economy based on community / reputation. As with all our interviewees, we think you’ll be interested in her ideas, and what she’s up to. Read more

    Co-operative social care with sociocracy and mutual credit: Emma Back of the Equal Care Co-op

    Emma Back of Equal Care Co-op | 10-Apr-2022 | 0

    There are some very interesting aspects to the Equal Care Co-op, including ‘Teams’, sociocratic decision-making and an internal payments system that could be described as a cross between mutual credit, timebanking, tokenising, and recognition of informal labour, including emotional labour and care work. Read more

    Big Solar Co-op: solar as a hedge against energy price rises

    Jon Halle of Sharenergy | 06-Apr-2022 | 0

    We’ve blogged before about the great work the Big Solar Co-op are doing, bringing solar into communities. Here Jon Halle explores the potential for solar to provide some protection against energy price rises for small businesses and community-based organisations. Read more

    How the state favours big business and causes inflation with ‘Quantitative Sleazing’

    A new essay on the economics of the pandemic suggests that the recent inflation is a sign that that failure is accelerating towards us. It’s an important reminder for us to ask ourselves how ready we are to both cope and help others in a crumbling economy. Read more

    How to make wild garlic, nettle and cheese savoury muffins

    Chris Bax of Taste the Wild | 30-Mar-2022 | 0

    Here’s a recipe for savoury muffins using wild garlic and nettle tops that can be foraged in many places at this time of year. Read more

    Fairbnb and housing Ukrainian refugees: Emanuele Dal Carlo

    Emanuele Dal Carlo of Fairbnb | 27-Mar-2022 | 0

    We were interviewing the President of Fairbnb as a co-operative alternative to Airbnb. However, things have taken a bit of a turn since we started talking, and now they’re using the platform to help Ukrainian refugees. Read more

    Can jobs such as wood-turning return to developed countries?

    Robin Fawcett of Treewright | 23-Mar-2022 | 0

    We’d like to think / hope so, as climate change, environmental damage and fossil fuel depletion make huge supply chains unviable. Most wood turning, for the European market at least, is done in China and the Far East. But how long can this continue – the transporting of almost everything we need in the West from the other side of the world? It’s too damaging to global ecology, and it involves virtual slave labour. Read more

    Mutual Credit Services – keeping communities alive after COVID: Investment, saving & location

    Dave Darby of Lowimpact.org | 20-Mar-2022 | 1

    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

    Heating old buildings with heat pumps

    John Cantor of Heatpumps.co.uk | 16-Mar-2022 | 4

    It looks as though heat pumps are going to provide a lot more of our heating in the future – although there has been some controversy about how well they work in old buildings. Heat pump specialist John Cantor answers some of those concerns. Read more

    Mutual Credit Services – keeping communities alive after COVID: Community groups & individuals

    Dave Darby of Lowimpact.org | 13-Mar-2022 | 0

    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

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