The Schumacher Circle
There are many organizations that owe their existence to, or have been greatly inspired by, E.F. Schumacher. His books and other writings are still thought-provoking - in particularSmall is Beautiful, which was first published in 1973. The range of his thinking is reflected in the diversity of the organisations that recognise him as their inspiration: they share a vision of social development that is sustainable and benign to both people and the environment.
The Schumacher Circle comprises
- Green Books
- Practical Action
- The New Economics Foundation
- Resurgence Magazine
- Schumacher College
- The Schumacher Society
- Schumacher Book Service
- The Soil Association
It is an informal network of organizations which in their different ways all build on Schumacher’s legacy. They have a common concern with developing ideas and approaches to the ecological, technological, social and spiritual predicament which is faced by the world’s population.
Here are brief details of the other members of The Schumacher Circle. Please visit their web sites for more information.
Green Books
We are a small publishing company whose aim is to inform and inspire the general reader about ecological, spiritual and cultural issues of our time. We usually publish between four and eight new titles each year, and also distribute selected titles from two like-minded US publishers: Chelsea Green Publishing Company of White River Junction, Vermont, who publish in the field of Sustainable Living, including renewable energy, organic gardening and ecological building; and Council Oak Books of Tulsa, Oklahoma, who specialise in native American culture, consciousness, ecology and spirituality.
Our own books come under four imprints:
- Green Books (all titles prior to 1991)
- Resurgence Books (general titles from1991 onwards)
- Green Earth Books (practical titles from1995 onwards), and
- Themis Books (titles on indigenous cultures and eco-philosophy from 1996 onwards)
If you would like us to add your name to our mailing list to be sent information about our new and forthcoming titles, or if you would like a copy of our current Spring or Autumn catalogue, please email, phone or fax us. Please note that prices are subject to change without notice.
Practical Action
Everyone in the world uses technologies of some sort and is affected by them. How much control and choice do we have over them, and just how appropriate are those technologies? Practical Action was founded by E.F. Schumacher in 1965 as Intermediate Technology (ITDG). Practical Action aims to expand technology choices by promoting the Appropriate Technology approach which focuses on people and the environment, and by encouraging the responsible use of technologies by the powerful.
IT can tell the human stories behind the development projects and communicate the lessons, learned from working alongside people in rural areas of Bangladesh, Kenya, Malawi, Nepal, Peru, Sri Lanka, south India, Sudan and Zimbabwe.
There is an extensive range of projects, with particular emphasis in specific technological areas. A publishing company (Practical Action Publishing Ltd) and a consultancy company (Practical Action Consulting Ltd) help to disseminate experience and knowledge. With a huge amount of technological and cultural knowledge and understanding, IT has an international reputation for its work on the appropriate technology approach and its practice.
Regular newsletters and Local Group activities keep our supporters in touch with our work, and an active schools education programme promotes the concepts of appropriate technology in British schools.
The New Economics Foundation
Don’t you ever wonder why the world works as it does? How people in the rich countries can die of heart disease while those in poor countries are dying of hunger? How those in jobs can be overworked and stressed while others want the chance to be useful and are denied that right? How our throwaway society can waste so much and still want to plunder the earth's resources?
And don't you ever wonder if there's an alternative?
Over the past ten years, the New Economics Foundation (NEF) has been working to explore and promote an alternative vision of ideas and practical schemes based on the needs of people and the environment.
Current initiatives include formulating alternative indicators of sustainability, linking faith and ethics to economics, working with community enterprise and understanding social investment.
New Economics magazine, free to supporters, will put you at the fascinating and challenging frontiers of change. Contact the address overleaf for more details.
Resurgence Magazine
Resurgence is a bi-monthly magazine of vision and action. Resurgence brings its readers a unique blend of news and views on a range of topics that includes ecology, development, education, health, science and politics, together with art, culture and spirituality. In a world of unchecked materialism, Resurgence stands for an environmentally and spiritually sustainable future.
“Resurgence illuminates some of the most profound questions of our age; thoughtful, passionate, nevershrill, always challenging.” • Jonathan Dimbleby
Schumacher College
Schumacher College is based in the beautiful surroundings of the Dartington Hall Estate in South Devon. In a very short time it has become internationally renowned as one of the few institutions exploring the fundamental problems now facing the world and since its opening in January 1991 it has attracted over 1200 participants from 45 countries to its courses.
Whether the approach is via science, ecology, economics, spirituality or the humanities, its intent is to explore the foundations of a more balanced and harmonious world view.
See programme of forthcoming courses at Schumacher College...
The Schumacher Society
All over the world individuals and organisations are working to bring practical solutions and creative new approaches to our ecological and spiritual predicament.
Their work includes new economics, human-scale education, permaculture and organic cultivation, intermediate technology and green spirituality. Many of these groups and individuals who are working towards a wholistic and ecologically sound society draw inspiration from the life and work of E.F. Schumacher, the great economist and philosopher, author of Small is Beautiful, Good Work, A Guide for the Perplexed and other works.
Together with his deep spiritual vision and his rejection of western materialism and economic exploitation, Schumacher saw the need to give societies, communities and individuals practical tools for change.
His ideas live on in the Schumacher Society (founded in 1978), which is at the heart of a network of allied activities, playing a major role in encouraging the spread of ecological and spiritual values. The Society works to support and bring together the many strands of the world-view which is currently emerging. This vision is informed by a sense of the whole, the connectedness of the parts, a commitment to sustainability, and a reverence for the sacred.
The Schumacher Society builds on Schumacher’s legacy: it has been the seedbed for many initiatives that include Green Books, the Small School at Hartland and Schumacher College. Through the annual Schumacher Lectures, our Newsletter, Lecture Service and our wide range of contacts and networking, including links with Schumacher Societies in other countries, we help to spread the ideas and values that are needed to bring about a truly sane and ecologically sound society.
The Schumacher Book Service
The Schumacher Book Service is now being run by GreenSpirit Books. It is a mail order service with a great selection of books on environmental and eco-spiritual subjects.
Like a huge web, stretching from Creation Spirituality to Deep Ecology, from New Cosmology to Global Justice, and embracing scores of other vital strands, the booklist draws its inspiration from the Green Movement.
The Book Service is a not-for-profit personal service. Books are packed with great care, using mainly recycled packaging, and posted the same day whenever possible.
The Soil Association
Do you care about the quality of your food and the way farming affects our countryside?
Since the war, farming has become increasingly intensive. Government policies have encouraged farmers to increase production of both crops and livestock, creating a system that relies heavily on chemicals.
The Soil Association has been at the centre of the fight for safe, healthy food, an unpolluted countryside and a sustainable farming policy in Britain and worldwide, since its formation in 1946. Key areas of work include:
- Promotion of organic food and farming
- Agricultural reform
- Certification of organic standards
- Responsible forestry programme
- Information
- Education
- Campaigns
- Joining forces with other organisations involved in conservation, the environment, food quality and animal welfare.
Members of the Association receive the magazine Living Earth (our magazine with in-depth coverage of organic issues), regular newsletters, information on regional groups, and expert advice. By joining the Association, you can add your voice to the many who are concerned for the future of their food, the countryside, and the earth they will pass on to their children.