Books

Review of the Second Feasta Review by James Robertson

from James Robertson’s December 2004 newsletter.

This fine collection of high-quality items (207 double-column pages), edited by Richard Douthwaite and John Jopling, and published in November 2004 by the Foundation for the Economics of Sustainability in Dublin, is something special. […] It can be read online at www.feasta.org/documents/review2/index.htm.

On that page, there’s also an option to order it for £9.95 from Green Books.

Unlike Feasta Review No.1 (2001), this one has a title – “GROWTH: THE CELTIC CANCER: Why the global economy damages our health and society”. But potential readers should not be misled into supposing the Review …

Before the Wells Run Dry

Before the Wells Run Dry Read this book online in its entirety

This groundbreaking book, published in late 2003 by Feasta, describes the challenge presented by depletion of oil and other non-renewable energy sources. Its authors conclude that renewables have the capacity to provide the people of Europe with all the energy they need to live comfortable lives without using coal or nuclear energy at all, provided that enough time and energy are devoted to beginning the switchover within the next few years.

Short Circuit

Short Circuit: Strengthening Local Economies in an Unstable World
by Richard Douthwaite. Expanded online edition published June 2003 with updates by Richard Douthwaite, Joanne Elliott and Caroline Whyte. Read Short Circuit online in its entirety.
Download pdf version(6 MB)

The global economy can no longer be relied upon to provide the necessities of life. Even in wealthy countries, the vagaries of free trade and the unimpeded movement of capital pose a threat not just to job security but to food and energy supplies as well.

Short Circuit proposes that each community build an independent local economy capable of supplying the goods and services its people would need should the mainstream economy collapse. It details the financial structures necessary for self-reliance, and it describes the techniques already in use in pioneering communities across the industrialized world. These inculde local currency schemes and community banks that enable local interest rates and credit terms to differ from those in the world economy. Efforts to meet local food and energy requirements using local resources are also reviewed.

The First Feasta Review

The Feasta ReviewRead this book online in its entirety

The Feasta Review was the first publication from the Foundation for the Economics of Sustainability.

The Review gathers together many of the ideas that had been circulating among people associated with Feasta. For example, it carries the full texts and the graphics of the 1999 Feasta lecture by the heretic ex-World Bank economist, Herman Daly and the 2000 lecture by David Korten, author of 'When Corporations Rule The World'. Papers by other people who have spoken at Feasta meetings are included too.