Economic Renaissance

Subtitled 'holistic economics for the 21st-century', this is an informal account of a think tank held at Schumacher College towards the end of 2007. Among the 25 participants were many of the leading lights of the new economics, and the discussions are focused on the three key areas of money, energy and food. Resurgence readers will be familiar with these themes, as explained in the introduction by Satish Kumar. We have a good analysis of our predicament, but since it is inherently systemic, only a systemic change will modify our patterns of behaviour. The report suggests the reform and revolution do not represent the way ahead, but rather a renaissance, which we already seeing at a local level in many parts of the world. This will involve changes in the nature and scale of governance, and our new communications systems are able to facilitate far greater synergy and cooperation than was previously possible.