by Pete Russell, from Fleeing Vesuvius. Ooooby began in December 2008 on Waiheke Island, Auckland, as an online social network of food gardeners. An evolving project, it now also facilitates the distribution of locally grown food and has launched a currency, Roobys, based on this food and on food processing labour.
Feasta’s particular approach to sustainability economics is to focus attention on the inadequacies of underlying systems. The development of local economies suffers from two particular adverse systemic effects – the in-built transfer of wealth from those that need money to those that already have money via the servicing of debt; and the transfer of wealth from the locality to the centre as globalisation progressively centralises economies. Local currency developers need to develop strategies that mitigate these two effects or they will remain limited in size and influence.
Credit rating agencies do a terrible job of forecasting their clients’ futures, and yet their ratings can have catastrophic effects on financial markets and on vast swathes of the world economy. Clearly something needs to change here. Could a proposed new European agency help?
From the New Zealand edition of Fleeing Vesuvius. John Mc Kay describes how freeing farmers from the stress of competing in a market place enables them to plan for ecological integrity: healthy soil, nutrient-rich crops and a satisfying diet for consumers.
Ronan Lyons’s report on Site Value Tax in Ireland is available for download. The report assesses the obstacles to implementing SVT in Ireland and how these can be overcome. It also assesses the revenue potential of the tax and the distribution of land values in Ireland.
Marshall Auerback is a Fellow at Economists for Peace and Security, a Research Associate at the Levy Institute and former Fellow at the Roosevelt Institute. [...]
Joan Burton – Opening Speech – National Strategies from Feasta on Vimeo.
Joan Burton is Irish Minister for Social Protection and Labour deputy leader. This speech was given on September 22 2011.
Fergal O’Brien is Head of Economics and Taxation and Chief Economist with the Irish Business and Employers Confederation (IBEC). He is a member of the National Statistics Board and represents Irish business on a number of fora at EU level. [...]
Paul Sweeney is the Chief Economist at the Irish Congress of Trade Unions. He is President of the Statistical and Social Enquiry Society of Ireland, a member of the National Competitiveness Council of Ireland and a member of the National Statistics Board and the Ageing Well Network. [...]
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.
Professor Mary Mellor –
Emeritus Professor of Sociology at the University of Northumbria
Chair of the Sustainable Cities Research Institute
Date: Saturday 11th February, 6pm
Venue: Boole 2, UCC, Cork
Date: 17th, 18th & 19th of February, Cloughjordan, Tipperary.
The aim of this weekend conference is to introduce the CSA concept to communities and growers on the island of Ireland. The event will bring together food producers and emerging Irish CSA’s while creating networking and learning opportunities with experienced initiatives from across Europe.
Feasta’s Autumn conference examined measures that this country could adopt to secure its economic future which would not leave it reliant on external factors largely outside of its control. Scenarios explored included the potential collapse of the eurozone. The conference featured prominent international and Irish economists and was aimed at economists, politicians, policy-makers, business people, social partners, and other key decision-makers.
‘Land value tax’ would be fairer, says Mark Drakeford AM Welsh Labour AM Mark Drakeford has given his backing to a “land value tax”. The Cardiff West AM’s championing of the tax comes as the Silk Commission investigates giving the Assembly new fiscal powers. In an article for the Institute of Welsh Affairs, Mr Drakeford [...]
Ronan Lyons’s report on Site Value Tax in Ireland is available for download. The report assesses the obstacles to implementing SVT in Ireland and how these can be overcome. It also assesses the revenue potential of the tax and the distribution of land values in Ireland.
By Philip Pilkington, a journalist and writer living in Dublin, Ireland. Cross posted in Naked Capitalism In 2008 profits in the US economy crashed out. But they soon bounced back. This bounce was largely due to the profits being reaped in the financial sector – which sickened many given that 2008 was in large measure [...]
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