The Case Against Dumb Localization
By Michael Shuman Congratulations, fellow localizers! Our arguments are winning! Why else would the globalization elite...
Category Archives: Economy
Walter Brueggemann: Neighborliness & Solidarity
How can I be in solidarity with those who are different from me? The issue is...
Meditating on a Neighborly Economy
Father Richard Rohr shared that a neighborly economy “sounds a lot like the Gospel to me”...
Time Banks Providing an Alternative Economy
Edgar S. Cahn developed time banking where an hour of work is worth an hour of...
Living Abundantly in an Age of Scarcity
By: Tim Kraus We live in a world of Paradox. A Paradox is a phenomenon in...
Unfair Advantage Stacy Mitchell on How Amazon Undermines Local Economies
By Tracy Frisch This article was originally published in The Sun Magazine, and is reprinted here...
We Don’t Need Butter, We Need the CowOr, Why Universal Basic Income is Not the Solution We Think It Is
By Ed Whitfield Yes, I feel the current distribution of wealth is grotesquely unfair. Yes, I...
Podcast: An Alternative Economy Today
Economist Mark Anielski welcomes Peter Block onto his podcast to discuss initiatives that are looking to overcome the economics of isolation to create an alternative economy. From the Old Testament story of the end of slavery to the reconstruction of land after the Civil War in the U.S., Peter and Mark reflect on lessons from the past and how they are relevant now. In Cincinnati, the Economics of Compassion Initiative and Jubilee projects are showing what can be done today to shift the narrative and start living into a neighborly or indigenous economy. Listen:
From an Extractive to Neighborly Economy
Walter Brueggemann shares insight on today’s economy of extraction, a modern version of Pharaoh’s economy. The extractive economy is abnormal and the enemy of God’s intention for our neighborhood and our common humanness. Brueggemann describes to participants at the Conspire Gathering how when people left Pharaoh into the wilderness life supports were given. Listen:
Another Other Kingdom
Walter Brueggemann joins Peter Block and John McKnight in a continuance of the conversation from their...
Living into an Abundant Economy
The Christian narrative of abundance and hope is a radical alternative to the scarcity narrative and...
Economics of Compassion Initiative on the Ground in Spring Grove Village
By Derek Peebles As the local economy evolves, the Economics of Compassion Initiative is having conversations...
Neighborly Economics: A Way Towards the Exchange of Gifts
By Peter Block In other times, our culture, our way of being with each other, the...
Building a Jubilee EconomyThe J-RAB, INC. Business and Service Coordination Center
By Dr. Claver L. Pashi, PhD With an introduction by Trenton Davis Part of the Jubilee...
Pioneering Space for the Commons
In the city of Peterborough, Ontario, The Mount Community Centre is repurposing what was once home...
Common Good Fellowship pilot beginsFellowship program provides community for radical leaders
Last week 33 change makers in the Common Good Fellowship pilot program convened in Cincinnati for...
Walter Brueggemann: Pharaoh’s Economy Today
An intimate and powerful talk by Walter Brueggemann on how the modern economy reflects the essence...
Debt and Usary in Islam
Islam has a powerful view on debt forgiveness and welcoming the stranger. Dr. Waleed El-Ansary shares...
Announcing Common Good
Walter Brueggemann, John McKnight and Peter Block are the curators and conversation partners for the first...
Homeless: Technology Leveling the Playing Field
By: Ras Tafari What is it like to be homeless? Ras Tafari shares about living out...
Podcast: Freeing Yourself from Consumer Culture
What is the free market consumer ideology? How does its assumptions affect our lives? In this “The One You Feed” podcast, guest Peter Block discusses concepts from his book, An Other Kingdom, including the pillars of the free market consumer ideology: Scarcity, Certainty, Perfection, and Privatization. As people search for meaning and freedom, Peter shares how neighborliness and covenant are part of an alternative narrative.
Listen:
Quotes:
“Questions bring us together. Answers alienate us.”
“The scarcity mindset is a lie. There is enough.”
“The ‘how’ question destroys our faith in each other, as if the only thing that matters is how long, how much, how predicable.”
Related Read:
Peter Block on the Shadow Side of Culture
We live in a consumer driven market driven culture. How does this impact our lives? What...
The Consumer Economy and its Crushing Assumptions
By Peter Block What assumptions form the dominant free market consumer economy? What is an alternative...
The Jubilee Campaign
What is a Jubilee Year, and how does this Old Testament idea relate to today’s economy?...
Ground-breaking grocery store
Fare & Square VP of Retail Operations Mike Basher shares insight into the Chester, Pennsylvania supermarket formed by a Philadelphia food bank (Philabundance). Fare & Square is the first nonprofit grocery store of its kind in the U.S. bringing healthy, affordable food to what was once a food desert.
Operating in a low-income neighborhood, the store takes an interest in sharing how to prepare healthy food for low cost. Competing for low prices on meats, offering a special carry cash rewards system and educating customers on different choices are some of the ways Fare & Square is uniquely serving its community.
Don’t miss listening to the full conversation and hear how this model could be replicated across the country.
Listen:
Quotes:
“We’re trying to provide families in this community fresh affordable healthy foods that they can get right in their own back yards.” – Mike Basher
Related Links:
Fare & Square (store website)
Chester’s Nonprofit Food Market Tries to Square Mission with Bottom Line (online feature by Laura Benshoff for WHYY)
Chester Supermarket, ‘Fare & Square’ Changing Lives in Community (news clip by Matt DeLucia, NBC10 News)
The Poverty Industrial Complex
This article by Monica McGloin (edited by Trenton Davis), originally published in Streetvibes newspaper, discusses the...
Jubilee Forum: Islamic Economics on Debt Forgiveness
Dr. Waleed El-Ansary will discuss Islamic Economics on Forgiveness of Debt and Welcoming the Stranger at...
In Search of the Tie That Binds
Photo: torkhum on Flickr CC BY-ND 2.0 In his article, John McKnight shares about two new...
