Living in the Cracks by Nadia Johanisova

Living in the Cracks

A Look at Rural Social Enterprises in Britain and the Czech Republic

Living-and often thriving-in the cracks between the business world and the state system is an amazing variety of organisations which, according to some economists, theoretically shouldn’t exist. That’s because their goal is not to make profits but to meet social needs which both the market and government either can’t meet nearly as well or have totally ignored.

There’s not even a good collective name for these organisations, although Third Sector is often used and causes most people’s eyes to glaze over. Yet, as this book shows, all human …

The Ecology of Money

The Ecology of MoneyRead The Ecology of Money online

In The Ecology of Money, Richard Douthwaite argues that just as different insects and animals have different effects on human society and the natural world, money has different effects according to its origins and purposes. Was it created to make profits for a commercial bank, or issued by a government as a form of taxation? Or was it created by its users themselves purely to facilitate their trade? And was it made in the place where it is used, or did local people have to provide goods and services to outsiders to get enough of it to trade among themselves? The Briefing shows that it will be impossible to build a just and sustainable world, unless and until money creation is democratized. Richard says that it is potentially the most important thing he has written.

Slideshow on the EU Emissions Trading Scheme from the UNSCD meeting

by Nicola Creighton

This year was a ‘review year’ at the 14th session of the UN Commission for Sustainable Development in New York, but there was nonetheless an unstated core topic, both at the official and the side events: energy, with a recurrent focus on energy access for developing countries. FEASTA’s focus at CSD was on gaining support for a substantial review of the EU’s deeply flawed Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS).…