In this month of our 50th anniversary celebration of Small Is Beautiful, we focus on the theme of “Localizing Production: Communities Supporting Industry.” The Schumacher Conversation on this topic will take place virtually Thursday, March 16th at 2 PM EST. As with each of this year’s online conversations, registration is free.
“Fritz’s deceptively simple but prophetic questions about scale are gaining force. Decades later, they are turning out to lie at the core not only of commercial competitive advantage, but also of appropriate technology and right livelihood — issues on which the future of the world depends.”—
Amory Lovins in Small is Beautiful: Economics as if People Mattered: 25 Years Later…with Commentaries
In Small is Beautiful, Schumacher extolled the virtues of organizing economic activities at “human-scale.” To shift from the prevailing trend of unaccountable globalization and cookie-cutter industrialism, a Schumacherian approach favors place-based, relational economies. This vision of production systems attuned to social and ecological needs has now become an imperative. As the world catches up to the urgency of climate change and growing inequality, the issue of scale must once more be put to the fore if solutions are to bring enduring change.
The stories of our March Schumacher Conversation participants bring the promise and potential of human-scale economies to life.
As an economist, entrepreneur, and advocate, Michael H. Shuman has been steadily advancing the case for localized finance and production for decades. Credited as one of the architects of the 2012 JOBS Act, his work has also influenced dozens of state laws overhauling securities regulation on crowdfunding, enabling everyday citizens to shift their investments from Wall St. to Main Street. Fittingly, one his many projects includes the publication of The Main Street Journal.
Michael’s 2002 address “Going Local: New Opportunities for Community Economies” remains an inspiring guide for active citizens to work together in encouraging local production in their own settings. In it, he contrasts the dominant approach to area economic development, nicknamed TINA (from Margaret Thatcher’s infamous phrase, “There is No Alternative”) with LOIS: Local Ownership and Import Substitution.
“Local elected officials, economic developers, and community planners have embraced TINA… [but] what can we do if every act to improve the business climate reduces our quality of life?…[T]he only way out of this dilemma is to embrace LOIS. The more of your economy that is locally owned, the more plausibly you can then raise labor and environmental standards with confidence that businesses will adapt rather than flee. The anchoring of local business brings several other benefits: Local businesses without ambitions to move… reliably generate benefits for a community economy for years, often for generations.”
The story of Zita Cobb and the Fogo Island Inn demonstrates the power of a “LOIS” approach in action.
Zita grew up on the remote Fogo Island, a rugged North Atlantic fishing settlement. She left in 1975, when the Island’s job opportunities had been diminished, and made her mark in the tech industry. She returned (as most Newfoundlanders wish to if given the chance) in 2003. Alongside two of her brothers, Zita formed Shorefast Foundation with a mission “to build cultural and economic resilience on Fogo Island. We believe in a world where all business is community business.”
To achieve that mission, Cobb asked islanders: “What do we know as a community? What do we have? What do we love?” Above all, Fogo Islanders are hospitable. An inn would provide jobs and a venue for that hospitality.
Out of that process emerged the impressive Fogo Island Inn — a concern that calls for furniture and quilts, wallpaper and pillows. So, instead of importing, Shorefast co-created new community enterprises with islanders to utilize their traditional skills as boat builders, quilters, and knitters. Local lobster and crab, unspuprisingly, are fixtures on the menu.
It is not inexpensive to stay at the Inn. But by sourcing everything locally and putting the creativity of Islanders on display, this ecosystem of enterprises shows how prosperity can be pursued while enriching cultural life.
The remarkable work of the Bronx Cooperative Development Initiative, led by Michael Partis, likewise shows how a focus on local production and ownership can uplift urban communities seeking to reverse disinvestment.
A non-profit focused on building shared wealth and community-based planning with working class residents, Bronx Cooperative Development Initiative takes an ecosystem approach to sustainable development. Drawing inspiration from the Mondragon Cooperative in Spain, BCDI is laying the groundwork for innovation and next-generation enterprise in the county. And with an emphasis on democratic planning and local ownership, BDCI is ensuring the retention of enterpises incubated through the BCDI ecosystem.
An educator and historian, Michael explains that community participation is guided by simple, powerful questions: “What if we built it?” “What if we planned it?” Only a few years in, this work of transformation is just beginning. So far, Michael says, the group’s Peoples’ Planning Initiative has generated twenty-one economic development proposals sourced by the community—ideas centering justice, equity, democratic governance, and redistributive wealth-building.
We look forward to hearing more from each of our panelists next Thursday, March 16th.