The Schumacher Lectures

John McKnight’s approach to community development is to turn attention to the assets of a neighborhood rather than elaborate on its problems.  For instance, he would suggest that the primary wealth in a neighborhood is the power generated by the investment of the capacities of the residents and their associations.  Called Asset Based Community Development, John McKnight has influenced and trained three generations of community activists in Chicago and beyond including, famously, Barack Obama. A close associate of Ivan Illich, he has provided both the vision and practice for a solution-oriented approach to community organizing.  Historian, political economist, and activist, Gar Alperovitz is a noted expert on policy issues as they pertain to cooperative ownership, diversification of wealth, fair labor laws, anti-discrimination, community control, and ecological sustainability.  Working for decades in Washington, DC to influence a transition to a more just society, he is also well known for his opposition to nuclear power and the role he played in helping to secure the Pentagon Papers.  

Heinberg and Norberg-Hodge are experts on climate change, localization, and sustainability. Their past lectures have been almost prophetic in their accuracy, and their ideas are more relevant now than ever.Richard Heinberg, Senior Fellow of the Post Carbon Institute, is regarded as one of the world’s foremost advocates for a shift away from our current reliance on fossil fuels.An author, educator, editor, and lecturer, he has spoken widely on energy and climate issues to audiences in 14 countries, addressing policy makers at many levels, from local city officials to members of the European Parliament. He has been quoted and interviewed countless times for print, television, and radio and has appeared in many film and television documentaries. Heinberg’s Museletter has provided a monthly exploration of current events and the world of  ideas. Its essays present an inter-disciplinary study of history and culture.Helena Norberg-Hodge is the founder and director of Local Futures/International Society for Ecology and Culture (ISEC) and The International Alliance for Localization (IAL). Based in the US and UK, with subsidiaries in Germany and Australia, Local Futures examines the root causes of our current social and environmental crises while promoting more sustainable and equitable patterns of living in both North and South. Its mission is to protect and renew well-being by promoting a systemic shift away from economic globalization toward localization.The Earth Journal counted Norberg-Hodge among the world’s ten most interesting environmentalists, and in Carl McDaniel’s book Wisdom for a Liveable Planet she was profiled as one of eight visionaries changing the world. The Post Growth Institute counted her on the (En)Rich List of 100 people “whose collective contributions enrich paths to sustainable futures.”

Every year during the first decade of the twenty-first century, the Business Alliance for a Local Living Economy (BALLE) would hold its annual conference.  Those conferences were a celebration of local economies and the small businesses that built those economies.  Judy Wicks, Michael Shuman, David Korten, Laury Hammel, Don Shaffer, Michelle Long, and Merrian Goggio Borgeson were among the regular masters of ceremonies. Part an articulation of a new economic vision, part story telling from the field, part a three day party -- the conferences inspired the growth of a movement.Judy Wicks and Michael Shuman were part of the original group that founded BALLE.  They have continued to dedicate their energies to support just, diverse, and place-based economies.  Both are prolific writers and engaging speakers, as demonstrated by their E. F. Schumacher Lectures.  

George Monbiot is an author, Guardian columnist and environmental campaigner. His best-selling books include Feral: Rewilding the land, sea and human life and Heat: how to stop the planet burning; his latest is Out of the Wreckage: a new politics for an age of crisis. George cowrote the concept album Breaking the Spell of Loneliness with musician Ewan McLennan; and has made a number of viral videos. One of them, adapted from his 2013 TED talk, How Wolves Change Rivers, has been viewed on YouTube over 40m times. Another, on Natural Climate Solutions, that he co-presented with Greta Thunberg, has been watched over 50m times.  In 2019 George edited “Land for the Many,” a report to the Labour Party, calling for a broad platform of land reform in the UK.He delivered his Schumacher Lecture at the 40th Annual E.F. Schumacher Lectures on October 25, 2020.

C. Otto Scharmer is a senior lecturer at Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Sloan School of Management. In 2015 he received the Jamieson Prize for Excellence in Teaching at MIT.He is co-founder of the Presencing Institute, which offers training and research sessions for executives and activists on how to advance the transformation of our economy, and is founding chair of the MIT IDEAS program, helping groups of diverse stakeholders from business, government, and civil society to innovate at the level of the whole system.He delivered this speech at the 33rd Annual E.F. Schumacher Lectures on November 9th, 2013.If you would like a physical copy of this lecture or others like it, visit centerforneweconomics.org/order-pamphlets to purchase pamphlets of published works and transcripts.The Schumacher Center’s applied work seeks to implement the principles described by these speakers within the context of the Berkshire hills of Massachusetts. Our work, both educational and applied, is supported by listeners like you. You can strengthen our mission by making a donation at centerforneweconomics.org/donate, or call us at (413) 528-1737 to make an appointment to visit our research library and office at 140 Jug End Road, Great Barrington, Massachusetts 

Van Jones is a CNN political commentator, regularly appearing across the network’s programming and special political coverage. The founder of Dream Corps, Rebuild The Dream, Green For All, the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, and Color of Change, he is presently a fellow at the MIT Media Lab.A Yale-educated attorney, he is the author of two New York Times best-selling books, The Green Collar Economy (2008) and Rebuild the Dream (2012). The second book chronicles his journey as an environmental and human-rights activist who became a White House policy advisor.He delivered this speech at the 33rd Annual E.F. Schumacher Lectures on November 9th, 2013.If you would like a physical copy of this lecture or others like it, visit centerforneweconomics.org/order-pamphlets to purchase pamphlets of published works and transcripts.The Schumacher Center’s applied work seeks to implement the principles described by these speakers within the context of the Berkshire hills of Massachusetts. Our work, both educational and applied, is supported by listeners like you. You can strengthen our mission by making a donation at centerforneweconomics.org/donate, or call us at (413) 528-1737 to make an appointment to visit our research library and office at 140 Jug End Road, Great Barrington, Massachusetts

Charles (Chuck) Turner has been a community organizer and civil rights activist in Boston, Massachusetts, since 1966.He graduated from Harvard University in 1963 with a B.A. in government. After a year spent in Washington, D.C. reporting for The Washington Afro-American Newspaper, he moved to Hartford where he joined the influential civil rights group, the Northern Student Movement.Turner has championed and been actively involved with cooperatives and worker-owned enterprises. In the 1980s he was a leader with the Industrial Cooperative Association (now the ICA Group), for which he provided training on worker-ownership issues.He delivered this speech at the 27th Annual E.F. Schumacher Lectures in October 2007.If you would like a physical copy of this lecture or others like it, visit centerforneweconomics.org/order-pamphlets to purchase pamphlets of published works and transcripts.The Schumacher Center’s applied work seeks to implement the principles described by these speakers within the context of the Berkshire hills of Massachusetts. Our work, both educational and applied, is supported by listeners like you. You can strengthen our mission by making a donation at centerforneweconomics.org/donate, or call us at (413) 528-1737 to make an appointment to visit our research library and office at 140 Jug End Road, Great Barrington, Massachusetts.

Jakob von Uexkull is a writer, lecturer, philanthropist, activist, and former politician. He is the founder and chair of the Right Livelihood Award (1980), often referred to as the Alternative Nobel Prize; co-founder of The Other Economic Summit (1984); and founder of the World Future Council (2007). He was a member of the European Parliament (1987-89) and of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Commission on Human Duties and Responsibilities (1998-2000). Von Uexkull has served on the Council of Governance of Transparency International as well as on the Board of Greenpeace, Germany, and was a member of the European Parliament for the German Green Party from 1984 to 1989. He is a patron of Friends of the Earth International and lectures widely on environment, justice, and peace issues.He delivered this speech at the 12th Annual E.F. Schumacher Lectures in October 1992.If you would like a physical copy of this lecture or others like it, visit centerforneweconomics.org/order-pamphlets to purchase pamphlets of published works and transcripts.The Schumacher Center’s applied work seeks to implement the principles described by these speakers within the context of the Berkshire hills of Massachusetts. Our work, both educational and applied, is supported by listeners like you. You can strengthen our mission by making a donation at centerforneweconomics.org/donate, or call us at (413) 528-1737 to make an appointment to visit our research library and office at 140 Jug End Road, Great Barrington, Massachusetts.

David Ross Brower (July 1, 1912- November 5, 2000) is considered by many to be the father of the modern environmental movement. Beginning his career as a world-class mountaineer with more than 70 first ascents to his credit, he became the first executive director of the Sierra Club in 1952 and successfully fought to stop dams in Dinosaur National Monument and in Grand Canyon National Park. He led campaigns to establish 10 new national parks and seashores, including Point Reyes, the North Cascades and the Redwoods, and was instrumental in gaining passage of the Wilderness Act of 1964, which protects millions of acres of public lands in pristine condition.He delivered his speech at the 12th Annual E.F. Schumacher Lectures in October 1992.If you would like a physical copy of this lecture or others like it, visit centerforneweconomics.org/order-pamphlets to purchase pamphlets of published works and transcripts.The Schumacher Center’s applied work seeks to implement the principles described by these speakers within the context of the Berkshire hills of Massachusetts. Our work, both educational and applied, is supported by listeners like you. You can strengthen our mission by making a donation at centerforneweconomics.org/donate, or call us at (413) 528-1737 to make an appointment to visit our research library and office at 140 Jug End Road, Great Barrington, Massachusetts.

Michael H. Shuman is the Director of Community Portals for Mission Markets and a Fellow at Cutting Edge Capital and Post-Carbon Institute.  He is a founding board member of the Business Alliance for Local Living Economies (BALLE). He is also an adjunct instructor in community economic development for Simon Fraser University in Vancouver and is one of the architects of the crowdfunding reforms that became the “JOBS Act,” signed into law by President Obama in April 2012.An economist, attorney, author, and entrepreneur, Shuman is one of the nation’s leading experts on community economics and the advantages of small-scale businesses in an era of globalization. A prolific speaker, Shuman has given talks mostly to local governments and universities, for 30 years—in 47 states and eight countries.  He has appeared on numerous television and radio shows, such as the Lehrer News Hour and NPR’s “Talk of the Nation,” and NPR’s “All Things Considered.”He delivered this speech at the 27th Annual E.F. Schumacher Lectures in October 2007.If you would like a physical copy of this lecture or others like it, visit centerforneweconomics.org/order-pamphlets to purchase pamphlets of published works and transcripts.The Schumacher Center’s applied work seeks to implement the principles described by these speakers within the context of the Berkshire hills of Massachusetts. Our work, both educational and applied, is supported by listeners like you. You can strengthen our mission by making a donation at centerforneweconomics.org/donate, or call us at (413) 528-1737 to make an appointment to visit our research library and office at 140 Jug End Road, Great Barrington, Massachusetts.