Investing for Retirement
Conventional investments: Virtually all conventional investments (money market, 401K, stocks, etc.) are tied to the dependent-upon-growth mainstream economy and are thus fully embroiled in the issues discussed in Part I of this document. The idea of an investment-cash-funded retirement came…
8. Redefine “Success”
In the past, “success” has been defined by things we can count: our bank accounts, accumulated possessions, number of offspring, the square footage of our houses. It has been defined by fame, power, busy-ness and packed calendars. Our conventional economic…
What does this have to do with economics?
Over the past few decades, our society has become experts at specialization. We have sorted life out into distinct categories. Think of the disciplines at school: science, history, math — at first blush they seem quite independent of one another.…
Lietaer’s Shadow Side
The shadow side of the Great Mother archetype Bernard Lietaer, in a brilliant 1997 article, describes the repression of the Great Mother archetype: “The Great Mother archetype was very important in the Western world from the dawn of prehistory throughout…
What might it look like?
What it won’t be If we wait for the governments, it’ll be too little, too lateIf we act as individuals, it’ll be too littleBut if we act as communities, it might just be enough,just in time.– Transition movement, Cheerful Disclaimer…
Hartmann’s Older Culture view
Thom Hartmann, in The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight, gives us an idea of the magnitude of change that will be required. He reminds us of the Older Culture view, the tribal culture, of which Native Americans are an example.…
Beyond Emergency Care
Once our “trauma center” is up and running, we can turn to Holmgren’s Permaculture Principles: “Observe and interact.” We must learn how to observe, and what to observe. We must retrain our powers of observation for the new economy —…
10. Crafting the Shadow Structure
George Bernard Shaw famously said that all progress depends on not being reasonable. It’s time for a large amount of civic unreasonableness. – James Gustave Speth At the beginning of Part III, I quoted David Ehrenfeld. He reminds us that…
9. Strive for a Socially-Just Economy
Economics and social injustice is such a significant issue that it demands its own Practical Tool point. Our society currently has deep economic divides which are worsened by race, culture, geography and prejudice. NEF writes of the Great Redistribution where…
Social Enterprise
The concept of “social enterprise” has been gathering traction in the U.S. It’s kind of like a hybrid of the business world and the nonprofit world. In its most basic form, there’s the example of a gift store within a…