Small is Beautiful by E.F. Schumacher

Small is Beautiful: Economics as if People Mattered, E.F. Schumacher (Harper & Row, 1973)

How could we even begin to disarm greed and envy? Perhaps by being much less greedy and envious ourselves; perhaps by resisting the temptation of letting our luxuries become needs; and perhaps by even scrutinizing our needs to see if they cannot be simplified and reduced.

If we do not have the strength to do any of this, could we perhaps stop applauding the type of economic “progress” which palpably lacks the basis of permanence and give what modest support we can to those who, unafraid of being denounced as cranks, work for non-violence: as conservationists, ecologists, protectors of wildlife, promoters of organic agriculture, distributists, cottage producers, and so forth?

E.F. Schumacher

Schumacher’s collection of essays, Small is Beautiful, was published in response to the 1973 energy crisis and increasing globalization. His ideas predate today’s environmental destruction and economic collapse by four decades and yet the solutions he offers are both practical and practicable.

Readers of GoodFood World may want to read Chapter 2, Part 2, The Proper Use of the Land, especially carefully.

Get your copy here. Indie Bound will connect you with an independent bookstore on the street or online.