Executive Committee

In memoriam: Richard Douthwaite

Richard Douthwaite, co-founder of Feasta and much-loved colleague and friend, died on November 14th 2011 after a long illness. We will miss his unique and far-ranging intellect, the clarity of his thought and writing, his warmth and his laughter. Tributes to him have come in from around the world and you can read them here.

In line with his wishes, we are continuing with our scheduled events and publishing of articles.

“And The Heat Goes On”: radio documentaries on climate change in East Africa

Independent radio producer and Feasta member Mary Phelan travelled to Tanzania and Zanzibar earlier this year in order to make two radio documentaries on the effects of climate change in East Africa. The first programme, which focuses on the impact climate change is having on Zanzibar, will be broadcast on Saturday 5.3.2012 on Newstalk 106-108fm at 7am. The second programme, looking at the situation in northern Tanzania and Mount Kilimanjaro, will be broadcast the following day, 6.3.2012 at 8am.

From crisis to resilience: rethinking Ireland’s economic future

Schumacher Ireland Summer School

Exploring the transition to a sustainable society on the island of Ireland

Schumacher College is organising its first Summer School in Ireland from 11th to 15th June 2012, in conjunction with Queen’s University Belfast. Feasta members Jonathan Dawson and Peadar Kirby will be among the course teachers. [...]

Latest paper on climate change by Jim Hansen

Jim Hansen’s latest paper, shortly to appear in Proceedings from the Natural Academy of Sciences, is comprehensive and well argued. His discussion of the possibility of taking a legal approach to tackling greenhouse gas emissions, taking into account the rights of young people and future generations, ties in with the Feasta climate group’s ideas as described in Sharing for Survival.

The Centre Cannot Hold!

On April 8, Feasta’s David Korowicz was the featured guest on From Alpha to Omega, a weekly podcast by Tom O’Brien. He spoke about the likelihood of economic collapse and what to expect in the coming years. You can listen to it here.

New book by the New Economy Working Group: How to Liberate America from Wall Street Rule

This report’s primary author is David Korten, who also authored the book When Corporations Rule the World. He is a former Feasta lecturer. The new book “spells out how Wall Street dominates virtually every aspect of our lives through its control of the creation and allocation of money and how we can strip Wall Street of that control.” You can read and discuss it online here.

Ronan Lyons’s Irish Times Opinion Piece on Site Value Tax

A good property tax is about getting land used well and financing local services and amenities. A RESIDENTIAL property tax in Ireland is a key part of fixing the gap between public spending and public revenues. [...]

Dr Constantin Gurdgiev “Water and Property Taxes”

Years ago, I quipped that Ireland doesn’t do evidence-based policies, instead we do policies-based evidence. Current whirlwind of taxation initiatives is the case in point. These include [...]

A useful resource to learn about Land Value Tax from Scotland

Here are some links from a website of Andy Wightman, a Scotish supporter of LVT [...]

Comment on Will New Zealand be the first developed country to evolve a steady-state economy? by WideAngleVision

The New Plymouth area alone has enough energy to last so far into the future that this kind of fear mongering analysis is worthless, to say nothing of the other discovered but untapped on and offshore sources [...]

Comment on Busy doing nothing – seven reasons for humanity’s inertia in the face of critical threats and how we might remove them by Floro

My apologies Brian. My criticism was clearly aimed at Mark’s “Reason for Inertia 6: Our brains are maladapted to modern life”, and, due to my haste, I made the mistake of putting your name. I quite agree with your reply. May I also add that I’ve just read your “Changing the Lifestyle Package” at Opeindemocracy.org and I found it enlightening and inspiring. Thanks for including a link to Paul Hawken’s “Blessed Unrest”–the best commencement address I’ve read so far. Keep up the good work!

Comment on Busy doing nothing – seven reasons for humanity’s inertia in the face of critical threats and how we might remove them by Brian Davey

I’m not sure why I am critised at the beginning of this comment. The evolutionary psychology, if such it is, was by Mark Rutledge. I made clear that I had differences with him.