Helena Norberg-Hodge

The Economics of Happiness – film screening followed by discussion

Cultivate, in association with FEASTA, Grow It Yourself, Transition Towns Ireland and Northern Ireland, Slow Food Ireland, Happenings, Green Works and the International Society for Ecology and Culture are presenting a special Dublin screening of The Economics of Happiness. [...]

Food security in an energy-scarce world: Conference Programme

PROGRAMME SUMMARY

Opening Lecture at the Davenport Hotel, Dublin (19:30 Wednesday, June 22nd)

An evening lecture by Richard Heinberg introduced ‘Peak Oil’ and the potential effects on societies, on economies and on the world’s food supply. This lecture was introduced by Richard Douthwaite and is open to a wider audience.

Three Day Conference at the Faculty of Agri-Food and the Environment, UCD

Session 1: Food Under Threat (Thursday Morning, June 23rd)

Session 2: Examining Our Food Supply Systems (Thursday Afternoon, June 23rd)

Session 3: Possible Solutions 1 (Friday Morning, June 24th)

Session 4: Possible Solutions 2 (Friday Afternoon, June 24th) …

The Second Feasta Review

Growth: The Celtic Cancer, Why the global economy damages our health and society

Read this book online in its entirety

A new issue of the Feasta Review was published in November 2004. "The aim of the Review is to present in a permanent form some of the thinking that has been going on in the Feasta network since the previous one appeared" says John Jopling, who edited it with Richard Douthwaite. "It is three years since the last issue and there's a lot to report."

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.