Category: Envisioning the sustainable future
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Brazilian town shows way to sustainable culture with arts and crafts
They started to interact with the local community to design and manufacture decorative artworks almost entirely from recyclable materials such as used wood, wood reclaimed from old houses, cans, paper, etc. Toti trained a group of craftsmen, getting them to produce pieces of art according to his designs as they learned each technique. No design…
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Is Swedish Government in control over the country’s energy future?
From figures released recently by the International Energy Agency it looks as if the Swedish government has abandoned any control over the future supply of energy to the country. I hope I am wrong, but I find no comfort in the combination of signals in the media, from experts and from the government information. At…
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Living on biomass only: a thought experiment
Let’s suppose we design a society to live on biomass only. What sources do we have available and how are we going to divide the uses of that biomass to get the most out of it? And if there is a lot of carbon in the atmosphere will we still need to carbon compensate and sequester even if we…
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Time to form the culture we want – starting with small acts of kindness
This is a translation and adaptation of the leader column I submitted – in my capacity as JAK board member – to JAK’s alternative economy magazine, Grus och Guld. JAK is a member- owned cooperative bank offering interest-free loans. Like many JAK members I am driven by the desire to change society for the better.…
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New eco-village design
This new design (Click on it to see a larger image) is a first sketch for the assignment to design a village layout for a project in Brazil, a village that will house a conference centre in the middle of six sustainable farms. The centre and village will get its food (and coffee) from the…
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The V2V fund
A lot of people nowadays long for a different lifestyle – a feeling of being close to nature, being part of a community and having somewhere they can enjoy living with a good, green conscience. But making the change is a huge step for many. You need time to get to know what you are…
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Re-inspiring communities
It was great to meet so many people interested in joining in the dialogue around community development at Future Perfect festival held recently in Vaxholm, just outside the Swedish capital, Stockholm. So much arose out of that dialogue that I felt it was worth recording a summary from memory here it is:
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Is there a cure to stabilize an economy?
The modern economy has undoubtedly given better lives to millions. However, despite years of experience and development of macroeconomic theory, despite decades of Nobel prizes in Economics, there still doesn’t appear to be a way to run an economy without putting severe hardship on a large percentage of the population. And this state of affairs is…
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The community finance canvas handbook
Community Finance Design Handbook This handbook is for social economy innovators, community builders, and sustainable developers. It helps you develop communities that demonstrate people care, planet care in a way that provides the basic needs of community members. This handbook written by Stephen Hinton, acts as an introduction to thinking financially about community initiatives and…